Definitely food for thought - although i prefer the similar but slightly differently nuanced approach of "know the rules and then go and do your own thing" rather than what he stipulates of "do whatever works for you"

Also judging a photo on it's merit is always a personal thing, yet even then it is based on general guidelines.   To judge an image means there must be an image there to begin with.  So the building blocks of an image must be present: a set of pixels (in terms of digital onscreen) which resolve into something which one might call an "image".  Then if you want a colour picture, colours must be present; if you want a picture of a single flower, then the flower must be present; if you want to concentrate the viewer's attention on that flower then there are a few "techniques" which aid you to do so... This is where you have creative choice - however these are still loosely speaking "rules" - to name a few (in camera and post): selective focus, selective desaturation, uncluttered background, leading lines, and even in conjunction with all that the rule of thirds can help isolate the flower in the scene.  If you dont want to concentrate the viewer's attention on the flower then the flower isnt the subject any more so you need to then go back and decide what the subject is... unless you dont have a subject... but then you need to follow another (complete or incomplete) set of rules to make the image work anyway... (imo )

So i would tend to disagree that you just do what you think works as the rules are (as the author said) "arbitrary" - those "rules" are part of what a "self discovering" photographer might take a long time to codify as something which makes the images he takes work or dont work. Rules arent based on good/bad, but work/doesnt work in the first place - so that is why i think it is necessary to know them... and then disregard them as you see fit.

"In every colour, there's the light.
In every stone sleeps a crystal.
Remember the Shaman, when he used to say:
Man is the dream of the Dolphin"

Rich Meadows Photography