Very well thought out assignment. I really like both photographs.
Let’s start by looking at your first image. You’re right, the spokes do act as a leading line helping not only draw your viewer’s eyes into the photograph, but also point them in the right direction in terms of what your primary interest is within the frame. You’ve used a very strong, dusty – grey color palette for this image and you’ve also used lines and shapes as another primary photographic element.
The one thing I would like you to play around with is symmetry. The objects of the photograph have very symmetrical attributes and I think you could have given your composition slightly more symmetrical composition. I like the off balanced look of the photograph, but the area that I’m referring to the tire spokes.
This image looks very planned and well thought out. It would have been interesting to see you play around with the bottom right corner a little more. The two spokes coming into the photograph are different lengths and both enter the frame through the right wall. It might have been interesting to experiment with changing your camera perspective a bit to try to find more symmetry in that corner. Maybe 2 spokes coming in, both from a different wall of the photograph, both the same size, both pointing at the dragon fly. I wasn’t there so it’s difficult to see what the possibilities are, but I think you could have angled the camera to find symmetry in those spokes like you did in the rest of the photograph. You would likely have to re-crop in post production, but it’s worth experimenting with.
Your second image is also very good and you didn’t blow out any of your white areas. Your camera seems good at being able to handle dynamic range. Good work.
The only concern I have with this photograph is that your focus is a bit soft. It’s not noticeable when the image is small, but when I enlarge the image the softness becomes really apparent. As you progress as a photographers you’ll want to start enlarging your work and therefore it’s necessary to always double-check the sharpness of your focus.
Great work overall though. I really enjoyed the composition of both of these images. Thank you for submitting.