Alicia's Photo Challege #3: Rule of Thirds

The Challenge: "Have you heard of "the rule of thirds"? Well, "traditionally" when taking portraits, you would imagine your photo being split into thirds, horizontally and vertically... the eyes of your subject would be 2/3 ways up the photo... and centered. While there really isn't anything particularly wrong with this... and as darling as your subject is... it can get boring. Let's try something different...
Feel free to throw your subject far to the left or right, or halves... you'll only figure out what you like if you try it. Remember that with photography, there is no right or wrong. It is how you see something. The beauty of photography is the diversity!
So this week's challenge is simple. Play around with centering and off-centering your subject. See what you like best! But try it all! Don't forget to watch for distracting shadows on the face (particularly the eyes). Then come back next Thursday and link up to share your favorite(s)!

These pictures were taken about an hour before sunset with the camera facing the sun. I was reading the manual to my camera this week and it said something about how you shouldn't shoot directly into the sun or it could damage the camera, so maybe if I get a UV filter for my camera I'd be okay?? I don't know, but I think I'll ask around before I shoot straight into the sun again. :) And some of my pictures had the purpleish circle or streak on part of the picture from the sun, so I also wonder if a UV filter would take care of that too . . . Do any of you know the answer to these questions? . . . anyway . . .
These are my favorite 3:

This one is off to the the left side.


This one is more in the center.


This one is diagnalish and more in the top third.


I was trying to go for a red, white, and blue theme with the upcoming holiday and all, but I don't think that it was quite as obvious as I was hoping for . . . Oh well! :)