I was in Paris last week. Part work, but mostly fun. Eating, drinking, being merry, and of course, snapping photos my iPhone–as I do everyday–with no end goal beyond staying creatively engaged.
I was just now kicking through photos from the trip and stumbled on a couple of snapshots I thought were interesting for various reasons. I’ve posted stuff like this before and was really excited by the resulting discussion, so I figured I’d throw it out there again… These are of course just snapshots, but even snapshots have merit. AND these photos are VERY different from one another…. So, simply put, I thought I’d ask for your thoughts, which is better, A or B? And why?
Vote in the comments. Also love to know ‘why’ if you care to explain. 500 px wide images after the jump…
[ASIDE, since Paris reminds me of good food… if you like chasejarvisLIVE, I’m bringing in 2 special guests TOMORROW (Wednesday) at 12 noon pacific/3:00 eastern time. The goal is to combine a few of my passions and share them with you: photography, food, the internet. As such, join me tomorrow to welcome….
Guest #1 Penny DeLosSantos: Food/Lifestyle/Travel and National Geographic photographer Penny DeLosSantos (@pennydelosantos). Well talk about photo, food, and travel…photographing in the world’s most suicide bombed markets in the middle east, travels to more than 40 countries, and the art of combining your passions into a career.
Guest #2 Barnaby Dorfman: Barnaby is a legendary tech guru turned entreprenuer who recently founded Foodista [@foodista] – the world’s leading online food encyclopedia/wiki and an overall amazing site. Combine food, tech, and storytelling and you get a thick slice of Barnaby. Hope to see you at http://www.chasejarvis.com/live tomorrow ….]
Now go vote on those photos below. Tell me what you think…
Here’s Photo A:
Here’s Photo B: 
Which is better and why?
A, ’cause it’s got human tension (between the man on the ground and the pedestrians) as well as interesting composition. B is okay and I like the composition, but the dark shadows make it less interesting. And yeah, okay, I like the bit of red color in A.
Got to be A.
I live in Paris and see photo B on a regular basis so for me it holds little interest. Infact I’d go as far to say that I find it rather boring.
A on the other hand makes me wonder what the hells going on? I also like the unusual view point, I even find the tiled floor add interest. Great example of iphone photography. An genre which I’m very much exploring at the moment and taking more snapshots than ever before.
A. There’s much more of a story to A. Is the man on the ground alive or dead? The red coat alludes to blood. Does he need help? Will the people walking past help? The composition if more dynamic and asymmetric. B. is more of a record shot.
However look at the two photos in a different light. If you had been asked to take a photo that gave you a flavour of Paris, B would be the better photo because it has a sense of place. A. could be anywhere.
“A” for me. Like the use of leading lines and color to focus on the subject lying on the floor.
It makes me instantly think: “WTF? Why is everyone ignoring this man? Why are they looking away?”
I thought photo A was interesting and makes one curious as to where each person is headed and what buildings and atmosphere surround those objects. However, I love shapes and lines and B is my personal fav based on opinion. I like that the only curves(ferris wheel ) in the entire pictures is the focus of the entire picture. Either way both are great pictures in thee own way.