Hi greetings from the CC, well... what I do not like about this shot is that I would of cropped it more on the left so you could not see the bench, and perhaps more from the bottom to make the in focus part more at the front of the image, tho it does not bother me as much as the left. What I love about this shot is that the guy on the bench (curious if he was intentional in shot or not?) looks like he is mourning, or at least distraught. I think it totally adds to your saying. This shot has going for it strong leading lines.
Nice DOF too. Hope that helps some. Keep shooting.
I see some great leading lines in this, but the crop seems too wide. A tighter crop elimating all the background distractions would of been a lot less busy and really emphasized your very interesting composition.
There are some parts of this picture I like, but I get a bit of a disconnected feeling with regards to the title. There doesn't appear to be any connection to the actual meaning of the saying, regardless of what kind of flower they are.