Rule of thirds? I don’t believe I ever heard of that, but you’re absolutely right: something about the proportions in the photo makes it all the better. Now, if I’d actually been trying to accomplish this. . .

Well, I am one of those self-deprecating people who, as the saying goes, is my own worst critic (as we all should be). But when it comes to photos, I’m crippled twofold: an archaic camera with limited functionality, and little ability or experience to know how to use one—old or new—including what might look good. I tend to just point and shoot and hope for the best.

I’ll be honest and say I critique these images from the perspective of what I hoped for rather than what I surprisingly accomplished. There are orders of magnitude more images that I don’t share because they simply didn’t turn out to be presentable, and a great deal of the time I’m quite upset and disappointed about that.

I’ll finish by saying this: Thank you very much! I love taking pictures because I love to capture what I see. Sharing them is a challenge only because I often think they could/should be better. It does warm my heart to know my feeble photographic fumbling has resulted in something that’s presentable and appreciated.

I think part of what makes this such a great photo is you captured the rule of thirds in multiple ways. Top to bottom, she takes up 2/3. From side to side, her chest takes up 1/3. It’s just a good shot.

And may I say, you denigrate your photos too often. The most perfect technical shot often lacks the warmth of subject matter that you routinely display. I likes your stuff!