lissener nailed it.
The thing about #1 - you might want to burn?dodge? whichever tool it is, to brighten up the shadow side of the arch, if that’s the one you really want to enter. The shadows in the middle of the page are so strong, they really compete with your foreground.
It’s interesting how all the comments are fairly similar - guess there must really “BE” something to Art Education, huh!
I personally like 6, but I’m really into layers. I count 7 different distinct layers in that shot.
There is really no telling how a judge or panel of judges is (are) going to subjectively rank or score your shot. Any of these have the ability to do well in front of the right judge or poorly in front of the wrong judge. I personally think they’re great shots, for what it’s worth.
#4 is my favorite too. I’m a sucker for mist and clouds, and the rocks against the sky left me cold.
Good luck!
I’d probably go with #6, but I’d crop an inch off the left, to make the composition more off-centered (“dynamic,” I think it’s called), and to strengthen the contrast between the barrenness of the landscape on the left and the lusher vegetation on the right. Nice crispness to this one – did you use a tripod?
I like #4, too, but I’d consider cropping just a bit off the top. Wish it was a bit sharper, too.
My first-impression favorite was #5, for the strong composition, but an earlier poster’s comments re. the distracting shadow were astute. Still a good pic, though.
Here are some demonstrations of how I might edit them to make them more interesting to me, personally.
There’s no doubt that you and I share very little aesthetic sensibility, Rik, so your YMMV pretty wildly. Still, just as an exercise in showing you what I mean:
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/6806/51290991edited3en.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/4011/51291016edited9yh.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/998/51512391edited4fy.jpg
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3712/52004881edited9md.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3984/52440579edited8ue.jpg
http://img517.imageshack.us/img517/3392/51293952edited6xs.jpg
http://img83.imageshack.us/img83/3721/52004855edited9if.jpg
#1 and #4 are my favorites.
Re. the composition in #1: I like it. I like the various lines of contrasting tilt: Foreground leaning right, first middle ground leaning right, second middle ground leaning left, and the far horizon is, uh, horizontal. The overall result is a nice balance to the whole composition. And the two back lines showing through the arch give a nice depth to the whole thing and a presence to the arch.
I like #4 and #6. I’m not qualified to judge objectively, but #4 just seems more interesting trying to figure out what is what, and strikes me as “beautiful”.
lissener’s got a good eye, and an even better work ethic… to the point of putting on a clinic! 
He/she seems to have a claustrophobic view of landscape photography, though. I can’t breathe when I look at those shots.
Funnily, I take that as a compliment.
4 and 6 were the only ones that appealed. The rest seem very “point and shoot”. I like lissener’s suggestions although my preference with 6 would be to crop top and bottom. Losing the sky at top right gives you a cheeky framing for the sky in mid picture. Now if only the bloody eagle had been there.
I would say 5 as it is stronger compositionally. 2 and 4 are also good but they look a little like Terragen landscapes - a little more contrast, if possible, would be nice.
lissener, thanks for taking the time to do your edits. Whether our aesthetic tastes blend well together or not (and in this case, I would have to agree that I find those crops too claustrophobic for my sensibilities) the main problem is, I know from previous experience that the man judging the contest doesn’t share them. When it comes to landscapes, he prefers things more wide open rather than narrow.
Update for everyone on #4…I don’t think that picture is going to work, as it seems to print out too “muddy” with not enough contrast. I’ve played around with it quite a bit in Photoshop trying to notch up the contrast, but it just ain’t happening.
I’ll have to point that out to the professional photographer who’s judging the contest and who has a picture framed almost exactly like number one on the front page of his website gallery.
#5 and #7.
Nothing’s wrong with pic #1. The colors are vivid, and it really shows off the arch of stone. It would look great on a postcard.
So, the contest judge may be a professional photographer, but what sort of a professional photographer is he? Does his work get hung in galleries, or printed on postcards? Even if he is a “postcard” photographer, he may judge others’ work by different standards than his own.
If I were sending a postcard, I’d probably choose the one with the arch or the weird holey rock, as I’d want a somewhat literal depiction of the area I was sending it from. If I was looking for something to hang in my living room, I’d choose another.
I personally like #7 the best, as there is lots of stuff to look at. It draws my eye all around. I’d crop the top and the right, so the bird is closer to the corner, and the land itself takes up more of the picture. Thus the bird will become less of a subject, but will act as an element to draw your eye up there. The only problem is that it’s not really sharp. And I don’t know what I mean by that, but there you go.
I’m sorry to hear that #4 isn’t working out too well. It’s very dreamy.
I like lissener’s edit of the sunset pic, but I don’t know that I’d submit it to a photo contest, as it seems like the type of pic that sometimes gets captured by accident by an unskilled photographer. I hope you know what I mean. It’s gorgeous, though.
And just in the spirit of constructive criticism–the penis rock picture has a problems other than the fact that it looks like a big phallus. First of all, the composition is not great. The tip of the rock is too close to the top of the frame. That makes it look constricted, somehow. It might look neat jutting up against a big sky, but as it is it makes me think of a too-big penis in a too-small space. And the central composition is just too obvious. But the bigger problem, IMHO, is that the base of the rock is much lighter than the higher part. That seems to be partially because of the coloring of the rock itself, and partially because of the lighting of the pic. Either way, it just looks not quite right.
I enjoyed looking at all the pictures. Very beautiful. Thanks.
I would be interested to see that website, if you cared to share. It might be really interesting to contrast his photo with yours.
The more I look at that first photo, the more I dislike it, honestly.
The orange of the rock to the right is nice, and I like the way the shadows meet in an abstract shape to the left, but the shadow cast by the rock itself bugs me. The overall effect is monotonous - all the forms are about the same size and shape. The brilliant orange is eye-catching, sure, but then there’s nothing else going on. If the clouds were bigger and brighter, or the shadows in the distance less intense, or the mountain to the right was taller, or the shadow cast by the rock made an interesting shape, then I think it would be a stronger piece. And the way the cliff drops off to the right is so dramatic, but there’s no more information about it. It’s not really clear to me what this photograph is “about” - what part of it compelled you to snap the photo? There’s no focus.
Since you’re using the “professional” as an honorific, keep in mind that sometimes a pro is merely someone who’s found a niche. Even Thomas Kincaid (blah!ptooey!) is a professional. Not that you’re out of line to admire him, but it is possible that you’re in the company of Dopers with a stronger sense of aesthetic than the professional photographer in question.
All that aside, though ---- good for you for doing photography! And taking the risk of sharing it!! I hope it continues to bring you pleasure!
I understand that the picture is much-taken—hell, it’s on the freaking Utah license plate! 
But the contest is more on composition and other technical aspects than originality.
Yes and I find it very frustrating too. It looks AWESOME on the monitor…I am thinking of taking the file as best I can get it to a professional printer and seeing if they can do something I can’t here at home. Might work and if it doesn’t, it’s only a few bucks wasted.
Yeah, I knew before I posted it that the pic wasn’t as well composed as it should have been, but I just really like the way the sky looks in that picture. The rock is differently colored because of parts that have flaked off due to weathering. I have other views of it with better composition, but they don’t quite capture the sky the same way. If I was better at Photoshop I would try to put that sky with one of those shots, but layers isn’t my strongsuit.
The point I was trying to make wasn’t that his opinion was better than yours because he is a pro but that HE is the one judging the contest, so I have to consider his aesthetics. I know the Delicate Arch at Sunset shot has been done ad infinitum, but apparently this particular guy still likes it if it’s done well, so I gotta consider his tastes.
I think you should find a printer that can help you solve the issues with #4; that’s the winner. Barring that, I think you should go with #6. Keeping my odd aesthetics in mind (when I was in photo school my favorite photographer was Joel Peter Witkin), #1 is just not a good photo. It’s a good subject, but there’s nothing to recommend it as a photo. If that’s really the standard of the judge of this contest, then maybe it’s not a good contest for you. I wouldn’t enter a painting contest judged by THomas Kincaid. Well, maybe for fun . . .