Photos
Badly Lit First Frame
Your first photo is not mysterious. It is just badly lit.
Situation
The problem is not that the photo has edge. The problem is that it makes the viewer work to understand the baseline before they can trust the rest of the profile.
What he thinks
The man thinks the image is moody or clever. Mira reads friction, and friction gets mistaken for low effort even when the rest of the profile is fine.
What Mira reads
Use a cleaner frame, direct light on the face, and a composition that answers the easy questions fast.
Practical fix
If the first frame is doing too much storytelling, the profile starts behind the viewer instead of in front of them.
Field test
Swap in one cleaner frame and see whether the profile suddenly feels easier to trust.