The lone guard.

[Kevil]

1. in what area is critique to be sought?
Composition and photography techniques

2. what one hopes to achieve with the piece of work?
to use the idea of silhouette shooting to frame the lock and the old school letterboxes to act as a contrast

3. under what circumstance is the picture taken? (physical conditions/emotions)
taken during one of my walkabouts, where the buildings remains in a 90s style of flats. Around 9+ am, in monochrome style

4. what the critique seeker personally thinks of the picture
Personally felt that the subject was great, just not sure whether i justify it ;p. And that if i had shift my composition a bit the
silhouette of the lock would be more obvious against the light

 

[coolthought]

I'm not good in this genre of photography and hardly did any.
I will just say what I feel about the photograph.

The overall feel moody and somewhat seem fitting to the title of lonely.
A sharp perspective coupled with a swallow dof doesn't quite help to convey clearly of the lonely theme as there seems to have a couple of locks in the distance.

For me, what I will attempt is a straight on shot with the whole image sharp and clear with vertical and horizontal lines. It will be a cropped shot showing only the letter boxes and cut along the lines. The lock and chain will be placed somewhere in the thirds node.
This may not be a better photo than yours but at least I hope I can give you a reference what some other might do when taking the same thing.