The correct answer should be "Not only 'no,' but 'HELL NO!'" That picture needs the wide bridge span with people isolated near the middle. Cropped, it's nothing special. Why is it that everybody thinks it's important to zero in on a single point? Very often surroundings are as important as or more important than the focal point.
I regretted it the moment I posted it, but not for your reasons above. Mostly because I am reluctant to fiddle with work of accomplished photographers, assuming they had a reason to present it the way they did. So, see it rather not as a critique of Seamus' work, but what I would have done with that file.
My approach is based on the same wide bridge span you are talking about, except I see it as a distraction, because it curves down and out, effectively leading the viewer out of the image too quickly, without giving him a chance to even notice the people (I did not initially). The horizontal format also divides the image in two, almost unrelated parts, given the large negative space in between. The vertical format tightens the composition, imho. The increased contrast also serves to accentuate the main elements, i.e., bridge, people, helicopters, rather than drown them in a rhapsody in gray.
Seamus, if my intervention is not welcome or acceptable for whatever reason, I will remove it (and this commentary as well).
