My thoughts on cliches.
If any subject has been done so many times that we already know what to expect, it risks being a cliche.
So we depend on the stamp of the individual photographer to lift it above the ordinary, with their own signature style or their unmistakably high quality approach.
In other words, if most of us photograph trees it's a cliche. You on the other hand can photograph as many trees as you like.
EDIT 20 seconds later..
Looking at these two again, it's the second one in the fog, that is the most familiar approach. It's the type of picture we have all seen before, yet instead of being boring it is the one with immediate appeal and attracted most of the favorable comments. So perhaps that places it in another category called Icon?
The first pic is comparatively an ordinary scene. It's the sort of thing we might walk past in the park any day of the week, but it is sublimely composed and exquisitely printed. The tonal range and depth in the image, plus the nicely seen 'prop' makes this the superior picture.
