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?
Photo A. this photo is stronger in terms of emotional context. it says more. a photo should say something and not just be pretty or compositionally correct. Oh and it’s compositionally interesting as well on top of making a statement. good job!
why do you even care what we think? it’s your photo…
you don’t see directors putting out scenes of a movie before it comes out asking the public which is better…
you don’t see musicians putting out unmastered verses asking which one fits better over this beat, etc
and there are no rules. if i like a or b for whatever reason, it doesn’t matter, thats my opinion, one which shouldn’t affect you
I believe he is trying to invoke dialog. I doubt he would ask the public to decide what photo to publish for a client or personal art collection. He has a tremendous following and it keeps people engaged and keeps people coming back when he does things like this. At least thats my guess….I could be wrong. If I had the following Chase had, I would be interested in the same things from my followers. Also, we can’t live in a vacuum.Sometimes its good to get other points of view. It helps us grow as artists. Good or bad, we learn.
i’m pretty sure Chase Jarvis doesn’t NEED your opinion – i’m wondering if at any point you considered that this as just a discussion…to get people talking…
A mosdef! human element, spectacular lines and mystery – i am all about that.
B does not speak to me at all though technically well executed. i do not see a subject here right away – appears dull contrary to A.
Chase – there must be a reason why A is A and B is only B. you digg? 😉
http://www.flickr.com/photos/42645476@N08/
.B
A — I’m interested in the story that you are trying to tell in this picture. You’ve set up a very peculiar establishing shot. Now I’m wondering where your mind’s eye will take me next. Where will mine take me?