Well, I agree with what you're saying about learning to compose a shot before taking it, however there is always room for kismet as well. I have learned through the years of shooting 35 mm, that no matter how practiced you are or skilled in going after the right composition, sometimes it just comes down to luck. Many times the shot I was going for turned out not to be the one I kept, because the opportunistic impromptu shot was much better.
Also, given that we all shoot digital, the cost of experimentation is almost nothing.
Below are two experiments taken over the weekend that I thought turned out well. My idea was to position the camera (in this case, my iPhone) in the rocks to get the shot. I had already taken a picture of the rocks, and it made a good desktop image.
The first image, I called "Bones of Mountains Past."
The second image inspired me to write this little poem:
The perfect feng shui of a cloudless day,
nature's way,
when daffodils
and May
have gone away,
and summers breath is here to stay.
Leveled and cropped in Photos? Edouard.