The Stark Slavic Steppe
I was struck by the harsh beauty of this scene and wanted the the viewer to taste the visceral expansive solitude of the steppe. Do you feel the two toned approach does it justice? I mean, who needs to see the odd sunflower on the hillside? ;)
Personally feel like both of your images are almost illustrations or design rather than photographs. While I like how graphic they are, don't really think they fit the theme all that well.
Great critique - maybe I took minimalism and applied it to the colour pallet too much!