Recently I went to Italy (Jan, 15th), I have wonderful friends in Milan.
But one of the toughest pictures I took was in fact one of the easiest subjects I had. The Duomo di Milano. I took a picture one day with bright blue sky and the other, grey and cloudy (both with my trustworthy EOS 5d iii, B&W, I also used a M7). In such conditions I felt that neither my setups were ok. I never got 100% confident.
When I see something that will go down just as a fragment in memory lane, I am not ashamed to say that I go 'full auto' and let it be done as fast as I can (before tourists kicks in). When something tells me that the picture could mean something else, I take some time to figure it out. One of my teachers always said to me the phrase "giving birth to a picture".
The point is. When theory gets in the way of a good picture? The drama, between guts and theory, is always on my mind.