Reddit mentions of Learning to See Creatively, Third Edition: Design, Color, and Composition in Photography

Learning to See Creatively by Bryan Peterson.

Edit: Fixed the link because the reddit app apparently butchers markdown syntax.

I would actually tend to recommend Betty Edwards's Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain for training yourself to see. But YMMV.

But if you want to stick strictly with photography, I also like Bryan Peterson's book, Learning to See Creatively.

Sontag's book is fascinating (especially as she was Annie Leibovitz's partner for so many years), but it's not a how-to for photographers, it's more about the societal role photography plays.

I don't know how a purely aural medium can effectively convey a purely visual art form.

Instead, I think it would be a better idea to pick up some ebooks on composition, light or even painting to go through. Two books I would highly suggest are:

The Photographer's Eye

https://www.amazon.com/Photographers-Eye-Composition-Design-Digital/dp/0240809343

and

Learning to See Creatively

https://www.amazon.com/Learning-See-Creatively-Third-Composition/dp/1607748274

Let's see, there was Understanding Exposure, which is especially helpful for people who have only ever shot digital b/c it explains so much of the basic functions of the camera that most people take per granted and can improve your pictures dramatically, another one of Peterson's books, Learning to See Creatively is also really good, I also like The Photographer's Eye. Another really good book if you're into B&W is Black & White: Photographic Printing Workshop, which was written for using enlargers in a darkroom but can equally be used with basic Photoshop technique, shows how to convert blah pictures into really amazing imagery using basic dodging and burning techniques. I'll post some examples of his later when I get home.

I think you'll be pleasantly surprised. It's a solid lens for your camera at a very affordable price. There are a few other options like random and sigma but he 55-250 optically surpasses them.

You really can't find a better lens anywhere near that price for that camera. Make sure you shop around for a good deal. Check Adorama. BH photo. Amazon. Ebay.

It's not a very long lens but like I said you have a camera with which you can crop and still get usable images. Take a look at the canon 55-250 on pixel peeper or the flickr pool for it.

That's a couple hundred thousand photos to show you the quality you can achieve.

Remember photography is not about gear as much as skill. This is a great starter lens and if you're unhappy with photos you're making there are plenty of good books to read to improve your skills.

I usually recommend these three to start

Understanding exposure
Learning to see creatively
National Geographic ultimate guide to field photography

Levelling your horizon will improve the shot somewhat. In this photo, there is foreground interest, but it fills the frame from top to bottom almost entirely. Anyway, practice makes perfect. And I highly recommend Bryan Peterson's book, Learning to See Creatively.