Eternal valley

I'd like to start off by saying this piece is, by technical standards, very impressive. Being able to capture the scene in such a dark environment, yet have it be that clear, is an achievement in itself. Night photography is nothing to scoff at.

That being said, I feel as though while the image is impressive, there isn't much of a vision to it. At least, how I'm defining vision, which is "what was the artists' intent for the viewer?"

I feel as though this is due to a perceived lack of focal point, from my eyes. When I first saw this image, I was taken aback by how detailed it was, but then after looking at it further, I started to feel as though the image was too 'crowded' in a sense. I feel like there's too much going on. We have the detail in the plants on both sides, the foggy mountains in the back, the clouds on said mountains, and the aurora in the sky. Out of those, which are we supposed to be looking at? What's supposed to draw our attention most? They all seem to be fighting for my eye's attention, and due to that, I start to feel almost overwhelmed while looking at it.

I feel as though the image would be better if the camera was repositioned. Possibly higher, to capture more of the mountains and sky, and less of the ground. Or, if the ground was the intended focal point, this picture might have been better done during the day, so the aurora and sky wasn't so distracting. Possibly moving further back on the trail, to minimize the sudden curve the road takes, would be a good idea as well. That could be throwing me off, admittedly. It seems as though the intent was to have the road loading to the mountain's peak in the background, but due to the natural curve of the road, this was lost. At least, in my eyes. Some could ignore it.

Overall, it's a very technically impressive photo as stated before, but the vision is unclear to me. Due to this, the impact suffers as well, which is a shame because as I keep saying: the image is very, VERY technically impressive.

Thanks for reading.