I was one of your 8s. I thought the composition was beautiful and the tones interesting. In fact, and I mean this as a high compliment, I was sure this was from one of my fellow Team Suckers. I'll be nominating this for an OOBie award for wonderful out-of-the-box shots.
I really like this but I have to say I'm on the fence about the faded border thing that's going on. Maybe if it appeared more random and "natural" it might appeal to me more? Regardless, this is still such an intriguing image.