michaelwm
As stated above, I didn't post those becsaue I thought they were great images. I posted them specifically because they illustrate a problem, or perhaps a problem.
When I look at these images, I think something like, "Hmm, yeah, pretty nice, nothing special." But those types of images will sell to people looking for a postcard, which I sell from my site in the shopping cart. So I decided to include a lot of those. Now in my portfolio, which I still haven't organized and have just a bunch of random images in for now, I will post what I think is my best work, or at least work that demonstrates a breadth in photography.
To answer your question, the reason some people like what I don't is because they're right, period. Sometimes people just see a better image after I really think about it. I might have been caught up in some specific lighting pattern I wanted to get and had too much focus on that aspect of the image, for instance.
Another reason is becsaue I usually have several variations of the same shot, as you see above, and even if there isn't anything technically wrong with the variations, tastes differ, and even good tastes differ.
To address your last question, the far away feeling was definitely on purpose. If it makes you feel far away, then it has achieved it's goal. I don't always try to make images that make people feel good. The day I shot those images, it was overcast and low contrast. I was in a very isolated emotional state, and the scene reflected my feelings, so I tried to capture that emotion in the images.
Another thing I've learned about photography is that there are many way people relate to an image, none of which are necessarily wrong.
I think many people misunderstood why I posted these images. It was for technical discussion about edge of frame objects, not as a critique of the images themselves. (Not that I mind at all because the other side is even more fun than the tech side, but the tech side is important.)
If I had wanted to impress people with my ability, I would have posted something I think is more worthy, like the below image, but with different post processing .