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?
They are both nice shots, but I like A much more because there’s more of a story to tell. B is nice because your eyes are drawn to multiple points of interests, but for me that’s where it ends. A is much more unique. It’s representative of American culture, in my opinion (even though it’s in Paris, I equate it to NY). It’s pure coincidence that the man that is passed out, happens to be passed out on the stone walkway as opposed to to cobblestone. The cobblestone is much larger and more representative of everyday people who are just passing this guy, who is on a small, skinny walkway – maybe an unfortunate sliver of life. Who knows how he got there, but no one else seems to care. It doesn’t have to even be normal people being disinterested in a homeless person – it can just be more fortunate people living their lives without a worry in the world, oblivious to other things in the world while the world passes everyone by.
Some pictures are nice just because they show a beautiful image. But for me, the majority of pictures I love can elicit an emotion or tell a story or have some sort of contradiction or contrast.
Ok I’m finally done.
Neither is better, both have differences that make them each have qualities that differentiate them.
Photo A presents a question.
Photo B creates anticipation.
Tony
B – Unique
Definitely A. From the moment I saw it, I was intrigued by the guy laying down. Why is he there? Did something happen? The compositional elements are there too: Leading lines guide the eye and even mark the main point of focus; he’s in the right third of the frame. It’s a more interesting, dynamic image. B is standard tourist fare.
Both have interesting elements to them, however I think A evokes a stronger emotional pull to the image then (B). B’s cemetery and leading lines does a great job at bringing the viewer into the picture. A on the other hand does have interesting lines with the people walking around, but interestingly the man lying on the ground breaks the leading lines making a viewer stop in his tracks. The beautiful flow of people and lines across the page makes it pleasurable to look at, yet when your eyes hit the man on the ground you get a interesting halt to the smooth flow of the image. Which I think adds to the story of Why is this man on the ground? what is he doing? what is the story behind the image? It draws the viewer in and creates visual interest. I think it is very interesting that you chose these two pictures because picture B has great leading lines like A yet has no stop to it like A. It flows much better with no stopping and gets a sense of joy or at ease with the Ferris wheel in the back.
In a nut Shell, A has a strong story
B makes me feel care free
Thanks for sharing.