Hey All,
Ray I see your point about densification and can see the reality of it's necessity. But I grew up on farms and ranches in Montana - I can't live in that environment. Too crowded too manicured - and yes I don't much like English gardens. I'll put it this way if I can't take a leak in my backyard it's too crowded. But returning to photography.
What drew me to your image was not compressed distance or colour or even composition - but subject matter. If the subject matter is there then all those other things come into play. All those other elements have one purpose - to help express the subject. I can't tell you how many photos I see where my instinct says pretty but no depth or purpose. Now don't misunderstand I like pretty and look at lots of pretty images too but too many of those images is like eating too much candy - tasty but leaves you hungry for something else. At the end of a bout with pretty I almost always end up needing to pull a book of the shelf of new topographics images or my favorite - those taken by the FSA photographers. Others probably go find a book by Diane Arbus or some street photographer. Like art I guess it often just comes down to what really fills you up.
As for zooming with your feet - sometimes you simply can't and that is where long and short lenses can help you. Also distance compression doesn't have to happen if you use a foreground element. Anyway really nice images - victorian architecture is beautiful and San Fran is full of it as are towns like Eureka where the famous Carson Mansion is.
I see where you use velvia a lot I'm going to have to use it more as provia is a bit bland. Do you use a lot of "in camera" settings like colour, sharpness, etc?
-Ed-