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 actually don’t really like either of them. Photo A makes no sense. While some people say it leaves them wondering, and they like it for that, That is the exact reason I don’t like it. Photo B is not a bad photo at all, but it’s pretty standard. It would fit really nice in a photo essay, but by itself doesn’t stand up for me. Though I would be very intersted if it were part of a photo essay to see the rest of the photos.
Photo A, no doubt whatsoever. There’s more to discover, both visually for the eye as well as for the mind in the narrative of the shot.
B
Why?
Because you can look past it. Your not looking down on it like A.
I like the street view, the open sky, the one single car driving down the road along with the cars and motorcycles tucked closely to the sides that are tightly nestled against the tall buildings.
The ferris wheel makes the shot more dynamic and intriguing throwing a literal loop in the mix
Conclusions: I like photo B
Love both but going with A. Interesting that all the people on the delineated path are all prone, either sitting or sprawled. Everyone else, not taking the marked path, is on the move.
A. Tells a story, makes you think. Different angle that you don’t normally see. Makes you think about why, who, when, what. Like it. B is what we see every day, still a nice shot but doesn’t engage you as much as A.