Composition and Aesthetics

...composition refers to the structure, organization, and visual characteristics of the elements in your photograph. - http://photoinf.com/General/Gloria_Hopkins/Composition_in_Nature_Photography_and_the_Elements_of_a_Photograph.htm

Most photographers are so swept away by their emotions that they forget to identify their intentions. It pays to take a few moments to define what caught your eye and why you want to take a particular photograph. Focusing your attention on what is most important to you will help you make smart decisions about composition, exposure, film, and other technical choices. - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1306/is_7_67/ai_76697816

...built-in perceptual principle that the upper portion of a composition draws our interest first, even in a perfectly symmetrical composition divided by a horizontal line. On the contrary, in the case of vertically symmetrical composition, there is no built-in cognitive rule telling us whether the right or the left is more important...It is true only in Western culture where readers read...from left to right. In Chinese-speaking regions...people read sentences in the opposite direction...Therefore, the concept that "the left is more important or more interesting than the right" is not universal - http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1306/is_8_69/ai_106559912

Creating photographs is all about seeing and in this sense it is no different from other two dimensional arts such as painting and drawing. Creating photographs is really about studying and practicing "the art of seeing". - http://www.luminous-landscape.com/columns/aesthetics-1.shtml