I don't agree about the crop. I think the original is better with its long sweep into the distance. I agree that sidelight would have helped, but we also probably ought to consider whether the sidelight should have come from the left side or the right side. Backlight might have been even better. It frequently can make a fine picture out of almost nothing. But there wasn't any sidelight from either side and there wasn't any backlight, so the picture up for critique is the one Todd posted, not an imaginary one with sidelight or backlight. I think it was a good try. I'd probably have shot it too. But it is flat. All this, of course, is just one opinion.