Photography Composition: Thinking Beyond the Rules

From the comments:

This is a great approach to the ‘rules’. I studied music and ran into a similar situation; the rules that people fixate on tend to be really heavy on the “how” but much less so on the “why” and it leads to misunderstanding. Focusing on the broader goals, which the rules support, leads to a better understanding and I think you illustrated that. - L. Dell

 Wow, thanks Sean for this. It's like hearing my own voice reverberating 40 years ago when I was teaching advanced photography at a very early age, before entering the film industry and having a successful career of over 35 years. Semi-retired I am back reinventing myself. Fantastic video for all those wanting a true insight, now get out there and do it, especially the part of stripping away all the lenses. Back in the day, I used to suggest putting tin foil over the lens mount and make a pinhole camera to expose the film stock. Processing it certainly gave some interesting results and forced people to think more about their composition. Great stuff mate! - Rex Ellacott

 Love this advice Sean, one thing that's always stuck with me in any creative endeavor is that the "rules" while useful, are also a set of preferences specific to a demographic's expectations. They don't represent all interests, all perspectives, or all creative ideas. What might be a broken rule to someone may be following a rule in another cultural tradition. So heck yeah to intuition, because the rules only go so far. - Cina