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?
I like photo B, and it took me a little while to figure out why, but this is as close of an explanation I could find. For me, it had little or nothing to do with the actual composition of either photos.
Photo A shows the end of the story. Whatever that guy did before already happened, this is the end. It leaves me unsatisfied, like I heard the punchline to a great joke but missed the beginning.
Photo B, on the other hand, has potential. Here is this dreary, colorless road, filled with cars and square architecture. Suddenly breaking through is the ultimate sign (or one of them) of a good time; the classic Ferris wheel, and we’re headed right for it. Personally, I can’t wait to get there!
I like A because of the man laying down and the people passing and watching him. It´s somewhat a mix of humor and tragic since I get the feeling of that he is homeless and therefore just found a good spot in the sun to sleep on.
The image also has some lines that creates interest for the eye. There is the line he is sleeping on, and then the black line or shadow that is right beneath him and also the people passing creates a third line that is giving the image a symmetric balance.
Image B though is nice because of the way the road and the houses “forces” you to look in the center where the car is that is becoming the main focus in the image and when the eye have reached the car it goes to the carousel wheel and then starting to look closer on the buildings and cars around. A nice image but image A makes me think more, and more out of the box!
So A it is!
A , because of angle of view and having story by itself. B is very common shot.
Photo A is better. Photo B is static, cliché, and easily repeatable while A captures a “decisive moment”. Both are well composed, and without the man laying down in A, B would be the better of two uninteresting but competently artful images. The mystery in A keeps the image alive in the curiosity of the viewer forever.
I’d go with A- it leaves you asking more questions and has more of a story.