The above photo of Kaika with his grandfather was taken at the Bon Dance festival I wrote about previously. The bottom photo is a crop from the full image. I can’t decide which one works better. You be the judge (and leave me a comment if you’ve got time).
From a photograhic perspective, the bottom one looks better. As far as fitting it into the blog, the top one does a better job.
great picture!
For me, the bottom picture is the more effective. The top one is too busy and fails to evoke the same emotional response.
The focus, simplicity and tones of the bottom picture seperates this picture from place, transcending time, leaving us with a feeling of connection rather than exhaustion – a snatched hug on a busy day.
Just my thoughts…
Hmmm…. I like the bottom one better. I think I would have printed it like this. Is this photo digitally inhanced?
Dave
I like the bottom picture better as well. Seems more intimate, somehow.
oh you know it is totally the top picture that is way way way better. one of the greatest things about photography is the whole surrealness angle. i like the people on either side looking out of the frame, the lanterns, the fence that emerges from the mans head. and then kaika all baby faced saint like. its very dramatic.
I like the second picture 🙂
ditto what everyone else said … the second one is visually more pleasing.
At first I liked the top one, I don’t know where it was taken, but it looks like a dingy back-street.. it had a kind of “down-town” feel. Maybe your Father-in-law’s tank top and mafia look (sorry if it offends) adds to this. Then the awkward way your father-in-law holds him (sorry again if it’s offensive) looks as though he is trying to protect him.
It has great atmosphere.
Then I read some of the other people’s coments, and I started to like the second one, because of it’s simplicity, and it has a totally different atmosphere to it. One of tenderness as Peter points.
I also remember Lil told me a couple months ago when I asked for a one sentance photography instruction. “Get Closer.” If what you wanted to show was Kaika and his grandpa, definatly #2.
perhaps, if you had phrased the question of the two photographs differently… it is somewhat difficult for me to say which one i like better because the readings of each are completely different. i will dissent with the majority, however, and state my preference for the first. the second picture reads well if the subject is the tenderness and closeness that others have addressed in their comments, but as kevin suggests it it the first picture that tells a story. the placement of the figures in this enviornment explains the awkwardness of the embrace, which i read as one of the zillions of little adjustments one makes when moving around while holding a child. this adds the element of movement to the story of the first photograph, and also allows for kevin’s reading of the grandfather’s protectiveness (in the second, more intimate photograph, there is nothing to protect kaika from.)
the primary focus of both photographs is the expression on kaika’s face, yet in the first photograph it can be read as a calm observation of the people and place surrounding him and in the second the expression seems more introspective. i like the first picture for this reading as well.
i also like kaika’s free and relaxed arm in the first photo(cropped out in the second.) as babies we were probably all afforded the privilege of being able to “fly” through space in this manner, oblivious to the efforts our parents and family made to provide this experience.
thanks everyone for taking the time to comment, and your considered replies. They helped to clarify my own thinking and therefore I feel good I solicited your all’s opinions.
I started to make a long reply here, but then I decided to create a new post with my thoughts, here. As you will see, I went against popular opinion and chose the first one.
(Mark, I wrote my post at the same time you were writing your comment, apparently, and so didn’t see it until after, but I think it too gells with what I was thinking. Funny enough, I had a feeling you would comment on this post and was waiting for your comment, but then went ahead and wrote my thoughts out anyway!) Anyway, perhaps your ears were burning.
oh boy is the top picture better. the subjects have some room around them, their gaze can extend and breathe, the dark surrounding them is powerfull, they are in the middle of a busy scene but isolated at the same time.
great picture.
for crap (not your picture, but stock photos in general) stock photography, the bottom one will be better. 😉
I think if some of the black from the top image is cropped, down to not far from your grandfather’s head, that would improve it. The poeple floating either side give the inter-generational context – it is a family shot after all.
The bottom crop is, well, nice but without the peripheral interest – not quite as alive.
But i do really like that top photo.