Yes, I think I see what you're saying. I perfectly understand the desire to start with an idea and then flesh it out. However, I've discovered on many occasions that, during the course of work, I will stumble across an idea for something else completely different, as was the case here. First, I had made something similar to what my first image was (only as a test). And then I had a thought of making the lake so reflective you couldn't really tell where the sky ended and the water began. And, before you know it, I had the making of a decent image. And then I did a few more tests, and came up with the dark version. Sometimes, I don't always start with idea. Sometimes, an idea will come as I go along and then I'll chase that idea to its natural conclusion. Many times when I go shooting photography, I might not always get what I want or expect, but I'll almost always come back with something.
Both versions, light and dark, are viable, and both have (or can have) very different meanings. As always, I leave the final interpretation to the viewer. But, ultimately, what these were about, is testing how my skies look against the tree models I'm going to be using for my project, as that project will demand many instances of both light and dark skies against similar looking models. In most cases for thse scenes, there will be a pre-conceived story that I will be telling. This whole affair was just a fun distraction.
Yes, I know my 'final image' doesn't really fit the title of "The Forever Tree' as much as the first image did, at is it more crowded in, almost threatening to be choked out of existence by the dark clouds around it. Perhaps, 'The Lonely Tree' or something similar might be a better name for the darker image.
Hopefully that answers your question.
