The first light

The sky, of course, could be a bit more fun, but the calm sea and warm morning light work nicely for me. There is great texture in the rocks too.

I believe if you cropped about 25% from the top and applied a digital ND grad of a further -1.5 to the remainder of the sky, you might further remove some of the bland from this otherwise fine morning shot.

I agree that the brightness of the sky makes it somewhat bland. The warm light on the foreground is really nice.

Roel,

I don't object to the sky tones, as I believe that they fit the mood very well - more contrast would ruin the peaceful feeling, I think. I do have two "nits": the sea looks a bit too bright, and the dark line on the horizon look unnatural (but I'm not sure what you can do about this). I'd love to have been camping there, though!

An interesting and stark image. I guess we all view these types of photographs differently, which is a very good thing. This is one of those, "if this were mine", sort of exercises. If this were mine, I would try to draw just a little more attention to the sky and to the cloud in particular. As is, for me, at this point in time, I think the foreground is overwhelming the rest of the image. I do like the subtle colors and the overall mood. It has an appeal that is hard to put my finger on.

Love the foreground rocks Roel. I also like the texture created in the sea by the long shutter speed. The sky is a bit too empty for me, though it does have some nice color. I wonder if it would help if that cloud was a little bolder. On the other hand, the more I look at it the more I appreciate the subtlety and simplicity of this image.

Works for me! "Stark" as Gary commented fits well as description. I like it and I think you did well using very basic ingredients to make an image that conveys "something".

I usually avoid vertical images where the horizon bisects it in half. It's a problem with horizontal images but more so with vertical. With this image I would make a commitment either to the sky and make it about the sky or about the rocks and crop much of the sky out. For my taste I would crop from bottom creating a three layer image - rock, sea, and sky with the sky dominating as the largest layer but the rocks providing a strong counterpoint because of their richer tones and texture.

I like the comp with the focal points of the pool and the cloud. The dark line on the horizon seems a bit strong.

The foreground is just great with nice light and texture. But for me, the sky and water as just a bit flat. Maybe some significant levels/curves work just on the sky and water to bring out some richness? Cropping out some sky could also benefit this image and put the focus on the gorgeous foreground.