I am so glad you came back. That was a very nice reintroduction. Yes, you DO deserve to be on this site, and you will learn as you go. You've got a good eye. I love the cottonmouth picture. Some might say it is a bit dark, but I would call it moody. The northern terrier picture that someone said the foreground blur was distracting, in my opinion, the bird is so beautiful that if you cropped the picture a bit, discarding more of the lower right area than elsewhere, the focus would go more to the bird - although I do like that dead weed thingy over his shoulder, top right area.
As you become more confident, realize that when people comment or even criticize, their remarks might either pertain more to the technical aspects of the shot (focus, clarity) but also might tend more to their opinion and preferences - if a shot is "dark," as long as it is sharp and clear with sufficient contrast to make out what it is, you might say well yes, that's the way I intended it to be for this particular image.
It has been my experience that some of my own images that I was most impressed with (ahem, I seem to be my own biggest fan) before I posted them attract far less attention than I had expected, and some of the images that I was not so crazy about but thought at least SOMEbody might enjoy seem to spark a surprising amount of interest. A couple of my very favorite pictures have never once sold, and most of the things that do sell, I think wow, really? You just never know.
So be your own best critic and take what others say and apply as it suits you.
Oh, that shot of the blue angels in formation is awesome - I can see right into the cockpit bubble!
