Unoriginal Thinking

[David Eckels]

On a recent shoot in Death Valley, the dunes are a must see, but they were contaminated with so much foot traffic that it was impossible to point the camera in any direction without evidence of the hands (feet?) of man. I decided to make the footsteps part of the composition. Flat light conditions in case you can't tell Cropped a bit to create ambiguity, high(ish) key to emphasize path. Overall, low contrast. An experiment for me in processing an original treatment of an iconic site.
Wanted to get some feedback.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

Dave, I think color in this case is unnecessary. Also, I would go for a more elongated crop, eliminating some of the upper parts, concentrating on the curved path.

[David Eckels]

Something like this? Agree about the color, was trying B/W, and now realize it was more of a composition concern I had.

[Slobodan Blagojevic]

More like it. My own sense of balance would call for a bit shorter vertical path, but that is individual, of course.

[David Eckels]

Yet another approach; upward path on rule of thirds intersect. I could distort it in PS to get what you're thinking about and will play with that look.
Modified to show the skew you suggested.

[degrub]

You can have a little fun if you flip it top to bottom.
Frank

[stamper]

The posted suggestions are taking you in the right direction. A lot of potential to work with.

[SanderKikkert]

I like the the direction you've taken it in now, especially the one with 3 in the file name. Nice Mono,

Regards, Sander