Thanks, guys, I appreciate the compliments.
Looking through these pods again a couple of months after submitting them, I find myself thinking "I should have culled that one before sending in this year's batch. And that one too, and that one as well ...". But at the time db sounded so desparate for POD submissions

Every photographer (even us amateurs) has his own style, his own approach to composition that matches his own aesthetic senses. Personally, I usually try to isolate one (or at most two) elements of a scene (form, texture, colour, pattern etc) and then try to build a balanced shot on that.
More painterly? Well It's probably true that I've been more influenced by Monet than Ansel Adams, more by Degas than Diane Arbus, more by J.M.W. Turner than Pete Turner. But there's probably been more influence from decades of Sierra Club wilderness calendar shots than Constable, so maybe it's a matter of chance which artist I'm subconsciously trying to copy at any given time.
There are lots of other good photographers here in QJ-land, and lots of other equally viable styles of wilderness photography. What kind of approaches do the rest of you take when you pull out your cameras?