Who would have thought that this oak tree, perhaps deliberately planted or perhaps just escaping the exigences of farming, could have been positioned so perfectly in the bowl of the landscape?

It is normally very difficult to make a successful landscape photograph in the middle of the day, high noon, when the sun beats directly overhead, but in this case it was exactly what the situation demanded – it is important that the blob of shadow of the tree falls suitably beneath, so as not to disturb the symmetry. An olive grove peeping over a hill, and echoing cloud, provide the necessary foil (imagine it without), without which the image might collapse into the purely abstract and depthless.

Compositional rules are sometimes made to be broken. With a single strong remark such as this, don't be afraid to place it in the middle of the frame – there is no need to slavishly adhere to the rule of thirds.