Wed Feb 09, 2011 6:30 pm 
This shot has competing "subjects." I'd call the roses primary because they are centered and unexpected and distinctive. But a case can be made for the larger, foreground subject--man with watch and cell phone. It's this tension between a) where the eye lands and b) other points of focus that I pleases me most. I also like a particular form of irony: the matching or pairing of unalike elements that feel somehow more justified than one or the other alone. Additional small elements that satisfy are the "Trump Park Avenue" branding on the building, the "Stop on Red" traffic sign that shifts my eye back to the rose, and finally, the nearly off-frame expression of the man at the far left. I have other "portrait" shots of these steel roses on upper Park Avenue, but this one is my favorite.
Show you shots that move the eye, compete internally for attention, and where the whole is more than the elements.