Sorry if I am moving this thread away from Russ's original shot by adding one of my own, but yes I do think balance is one of those rules, that we really are better trying to adhere to whenever we can.
To my mind, composition leans heavily towards the subjective, but weight and balance leans more towards the objective imho.
However an experienced photographer consulting the "rules" is odd imo because after a few years composition should be instinctive and all the "rules" should be forgotten about?
Which I totally agree with but with one small caveat, as I believe that as we become more experienced, we apply compositional balance (or imbalance) to our work subconsciously, in other words we use compositional balance or the tension of imbalance without really thinking about it, which Russ has chosen to do here.
I also agree that personally satisfying photography which is what all should be aiming to do, has to become second nature based on what feels correct from deep within us, but isn't that 'knowing or feeling of correctness', based on all the previous experience we have inwardly digested and then learned to apply instinctively? In other words, learn all the rules and then forget about them, because you will apply them and be able to push their boundaries instinctively.
Here is an image of mine that I gave up working on (hence the many still visible dust spots) because the perceived imbalance across the shot, makes me think the image is a failure. When I took the shot which is a short stitched vertical pano, I was instinctively trying to balance the large weight of the central mountain and reflection, which I believe I have done quite well, but the clouds how ever ephemeral they may be, add so much compositional weight and imbalance to the right of the shot, I gave up on it.
I think my mistake here was to concentrate on the balance of the darker and heavier elements within the shot, to the detriment of the balance between the lighter elements, because subconsciously I must have thought that solid granite is so much heavier than water vapour, which it is in reality, but not so compositionally.
So yes, I agree, don't think about any of the rules when taking your shots, but only after you have learned all the rules first over many years and using your own experience to find out what works for you.
Dave