BREAKING THE "HORIZON AT THE MIDDLE" OF THE PHOTOGRAPH RULES

Mad River Slough at Ma-le'l Dunes Area

There was a lot of discussion at today's camera club meeting about how it is generally unacceptable to have the horizon line of an image at the center of the composition. This image pretty well is flying in the face of that rule, and  I think I can get away with it.

I suppose that most rules of composition are there for valid reasons, but I assert that once an artist understands those rules, that they have a license to explore variants on the rule. I think because the foreground elements of this image lead the eye toward the horizon that the horizon becomes the subject. I think too, that in this image the subject is made up of elements of the brown fields, the water, the hills, and the sky. I think all of these elements make for a strong composition.