Letting go with composition

How a walk to Side Pike in the Lake District changed my approach and my attitude to using pure instinct for image construction

It is fair to say that we all fall into compositional repetition. I remember the good old 'rock in the foreground' days of 2007 - an approach that didn't last long thankfully. After mastering the art of hyperfocal distance at larger apertures like f/16, all I had to do was place the camera in a few more interesting places and repeat the same formula. The pictures were commercially stylized for sure, but as a creative person, the shallow concept was short-lived.

When I'm giving more technical talks at photography seminars, I often ask members of camera clubs to name me compositional rules...

"Rule of thirds," is always the first reply from the audience.

"Name me another," I reply.

"The one that looks like a snail shell." "Another..." "50/50, like a reflection." "Any more?" I respond. Then the room falls silent.