Some of my favorites

[rebcastillo77]

These are some of my favorite photo, but they have recieved mixed reviews, so I'm looking for some new veiw points. Thanks

[gotrocks]

First thing I would do is clone out the wires from the "iron horse".

[Frog]

First, each pic has its own positives and negatives and it would be helpful to only post one image at a time for critique.

I think I see what you saw in the first but the background does not help. Not knowing your aperture or how close you were, I don't know if the bg could be even more out of focus.
The other thing that hurts it is the harsh light. If you caught it early morning or just before sunset, I bet the colors in not only the life ring, but also in the background would be softer and richer.

The picture of the boy is pretty good but I think if you cropped it to vertical, eliminating the background it would be better. Also it looks like your focal point is on his lips and not his eyes. Rules can be broken but I've yet to see a good example of eyes not being sharp.

The third needs another or more elements. You show the reflection without showing what's being reflected or any other point of interest.

The horse, again could be shot in better light, and I agree about cloning out the wires.
Not sure what could be done about the rest of the background.

Hope to see more