Wow. Shot down by low relevance. I was honestly surprised. A case of me knowing the backstory clouding my judgment about the image. So this is a brief explanation but not a defense. If an image fails to communicate the intended message, it's the photographer's fault. And that's the case here.

These steps were once connected to a building. A building that is no longer around because of a hurricane. Either Ivan or Dennis. Not sure which. In MY head, these steps coming from nowhere and going down into the water were obviously from something broken. There was a lot of that kind of stuff around here. We were a broken town for a while.

If I step back though, I can see this as just a surreal scene of steps going nowhere but not necessarily something broken. One of the things I love about WS is the challenge of telling the entire story inside the frame. No context. No backstory. The image stands alone. I think that's what takes images past snapshot status. Past just memories of places we've been and things we've seen. Does someone with no connection to the image understand the message? Here I failed with broken.

But the funny thing is, I failed twice, because beyond the broken steps, I saw an image of isolation and possibly suicide. A person with nowhere to go and no way to back. A broken, desperate man in the dark. Maybe I was having a bad day when I saw that in this image. ;-)

Anyway, for those who asked about relevance, that's the story. Glad you liked the image even though it won't hit the front page.

@King - I shot several setups. A few of just the steps, a few with me just standing still on different steps and a couple of me walking down the steps. The hard part was trying to fire the self timer on my camera and climb up the rocks and get in position on the steps in time without breaking my neck. :-) It was a lot of fun though. I've been shooting a lot at night because I love that strange, surreal feel.

panhandling, As you might guess, I scored you very high in relevance, for the exact reasons you mention.

When I buy my first digital slr, the very same day, I will buy an electronic remote release for it.

When I was a working professional, my "Hawk" remote was one of my best tools. With it, I could fire my Hasselblad ELM remotely or fire my flash units no matter where I decided to climb or crouch to find the best perspective. In the field, it could also fire my Rollei portable flash unit that I could hide in nooks and crannies to add some light where needed.

I never tried opening my garage door with it, though...seemed irreverent somehow.

When I bought a cable release for long exposures, I thought it was either/or for the cable release or the electronic remote. I'm finding out they're two separate tools and I need both. I may wait and see if the iPhone will do that too. :-)

Okay, I get it now. Nice take (I didn't rate relevance by the way, as I knew there was something I was missing).

That's also one of my favorite things as well about WS, the challenge of seeing if others are seeing you r images the same way you are. It's quite a good tool.

panhandlin, I also scored you high on the relevance for the reasons you wrote of and I am glad that you had already given me the explanations I was seeking.