John, we will probably argue endlessly unless we agree that we disagree on this topic. I would only add this, as my final statement on this topic:(posted 8259 days ago)Chiaroscuro, an Italian word literally translated as “light and dark,” has typically been used to discuss the treatment or balance of light and shadow in paintings. More recently adopted to describe aesthetic characteristics of photography, Chiaroscuro —the word and the title—emphasizes not merely a visual quality, but the very essence of the medium itself. For at its most basic level, the photograph is a product of light—a literal manifestation of chiaroscuro.
And just to give an example that I think demonstrates this, I would refer to:
as an example of light leading the composition. (I've seen a print of this in a museum in Mexico, it is a truly spectacular photograph.)
On the other hand, I agree with you about drawing. Those photographs that I set up I usually sketch beforehand. I find this helps to crystallize my thinking about the photograph, even if I eventually end up shooting something very different. The Semana Santa photograph I posted here a while back is an example of something that I had drawn several times, in several different settings, before I shot it.