As far as I am concerned the rule of thirds is a load of crock dreamed up by people with a third part active. The viewing area ('through' or 'at') IS the compositional space be it twisted, half focused &c. Try holding on to the imagination and think about what can be interesting with regards to angle and fill (colour / texture). The crop!!!! I think that to crop a picture for a good composition is much smarter than wringing your hands over the fact that you 'can't quite get it all in' to fit because of your distance from the topic ... so therefore I won't take this picture... boohoo. Take it! then fix it!!! To get a pleasing angle I've stood on railings, chairs, junkpiles, jumped into pools, crawled, sat, lain down, stooped, hidden, stretched camereas at armslength &c.&c &c. I think the freedom of a photographic space is more exciting than an empty canvas... why? ... you make magic art in a fraction of a second!