Actively Breaking those Photography Rules |

As I was playing with this image I started to realise that it actually breaks a standard 'rule' of photography (the rule of 'thirds') yet it still has a comfortable aesthetic, so why?
In a college 'print critique' sort of way, I started to analyse the shot I had taken. Not only does it break the rule of thirds, but it does so dramatically, by dividing the image exactly in half in such a way you can imagine the fold line. So my conclusion was this; the perfectly positioned yacht, and the small intersection with the handrail on the right both seem to smooth the eye's transition of the sharp line of sea and sky. The gentle stratus compliments the newly laid deck boards in a way that pure blue would not, all helping to balance out the 'error' of my compositional ways!
Do all of these thoughts pass through the mind of a photographer at the moment the shutter is pressed? Maybe, but if it does it's subliminal Somehow an image forms in the head that's right for the moment and it ends up with what you see here.
Rules eh? Good to know but even better to break.
GH.