Yes, the environment does make a difference.  My need was to get the lighting and distractions out of the frame and there was precious little to use for foreground.  I shot some at water before, not know what I was doing back then but the reflections did add value to the photo.   Yours has the added advantage of "excitement" with the people in the scene.

14 sec is a long one!

Thanks very much for posting..      Tom