The photo I chose was Suzanne Stein’s Times Square from New York City Street Two. Stein photographed people on the streets of New York. It seems to mirror the life of the New Yorker, but there are so many differences in each person’s life. This photo in times square shows a tour bus guide standing in the rain while others make their way. It also reflects that it is crowded with people in New York. The guide stared ahead with his hands in his pockets. He doesn’t fit in with the crowd. It showed a kind of loneliness.
Stein did not use “Rule of Thirds” but “Centre Composition”. So the guide is clearly the subject of the photo standing in the middle. And the photo is easy to achieve left and right balance. The reflection of the glass achieves a symmetrical effect. But the raindrops blurred the reflection so that we couldn’t see the guide’s expression in the glass. This also achieves a kind of hazy artistic conception. The person on the glass is also different from the person on the left. In symmetry, something is not completely symmetrical. This gives the photo multiple effects. Influenced by the architecture, this photo also shows the composition of the leading line. First, the perspective is led to the guide by the mirror of the glass. And then you can also see the leading lines in the back of the building. These compositions mainly highlight the character of the guide.
https://www.suzannesteinphoto.com/New-York-Street-Two/i-RWTJ99s/A
More important than any compositional devices is the feeling a photo creates. You state very clearly that this photo captures a sense of loneliness and I agree.