Quoted By:
I also struggled to find the gate here despite having it dead in the middle, but I'm not sure what could be done to make it better. Maybe postprocessing/film simulation thingy that emphasizes of red? It's cheesy, but it helps with knowing what's where, so that's one idea.
I don't think second photo is a bad one though, I like the colors and this odd feeling of scale on those mountains. My mspaint crops and gimp edits are probably not very striking, but I'm trying to somehow visualize the idea of having less things that distract you from the subject.