Hi Greg,
I really like the subjects and processing of both images. The light on the mountain in #2 is quite nice. I have a few ideas that would make them stronger in my mind. In #1, there are some needles coming into the frame at the top right that aren't connected to the rest of the plant, so cloning those out would help. In #2 I can see your logic in composing the distant Joshua trees within the sunlit mountain, however, the leftmost tree in the group cuts through into the sky ever so slightly, and there are a few more that cut through that don't make it quite work. Also the trees behind the foreground Joshua tree distract from it as the main subject.
Tim
