Direction, like it the car adds the movement and gives context to the sign.
For me your fear is the better of the two, probably not technically brilliant, (And i'm sure there are people better qualified than me to give you guidance) but what a well taken shot it does what to me a photo is all about captures a little bit of history and tells a story, everybody knows about the troubles that NI has had, but will the next generation, this photo captures that, for me anyway, i would have liked to see the top of the other fella on the wall, maybe taking it
portrait may have got all that in.
Well done and i look forward to seeing the rest