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. By a mile. It causes me to ask questions. Why? Where? Who? It engages me. When I look at B, my eye travels all over the image looking for something to look at, but I find nothing.
Of course the answer is neither one is better. 😉 The question is what do you wish to express?
With A I’m a voyeur, with B I’m drawn in.
A has lots of interesting detail, juxtaposition, makes me wonder and search for clues. The lines, the pattern in the stones, the walking people vs man lying down; the hint of red. A is contemporary, current events, news.
B is emotional. I’m drawn in and am part of the story – whichever story I choose it to be. The symmetry is interesting yet the element of the Ferris wheel throws it off just enough to add another layer of interest from a visual perspective. It adds a potential destination but you’re not required to go there. B is nearly timeless.
A = active, interesting , not usual shot.
B = symmetrical scene,looking bored vs “A”
So I choose image A.
“A” is definitely the better of the two. “B” is a nice image, cool scene. But “A” has great composition, the way the angle of the walkers is directly opposite to the angle of the dark thin tile line. Plus you’ve got that other tile line going in another direction with some dude laying on it!
So you’ve got all these cooly composed angles, leading your eyes through the photo, and it’s got a great narrative with someone laying in the middle of all this commuting. Great image.
A for me. It would have been B all the way but there is that big wheel in the back that ruins everything.