Friday, April 11, 2008

Views and Comments

I post images on Flickr and sometimes I am surprised at the images that get the most views or comments. Take the two images of these boys. The first one has had twice as many people view it as the second image. Why? The first boy is smiling and it is a nice little portrait. But the second boy has body language and personality. When I look at him I want to know more about him.
In the last week I posted these two images made one afternoon of the Casquero Chapel. Flickrettes are looking at and commenting on the first one. It is the more formal of the two and I agree that the lines leading into it are interesting but the second one has this strange, kind of off kelter look. Things aren't squared up and what in the world is that "clown" doing in front of the chapel. And he has a interesting shadow.

If I really think about what I put on Flickr (or photograph), I might be able to guess which images they would like, but I don't want to do that. I would lose my own point of view.

3 comments:

jennifer rose said...

Of the photographs of the two boys, the scraggly kid on the right evokes a stronger response. At least to me.

I probably wouldn't comment on either image of the churches, but the first one strikes me as clearly the better photograph. It's tidier, and the garland draws the eye into the rest of the scene. The second looks more like a mistake to me, like something I might take, unbalanced and off-kilter. There is too much going on in the second to really pay much attention to the shadow.

pitchertaker said...

Yeah, the one on the right. The left is "pretty", well designed visually with the streamers flowing over our heads breaking the formal structure of the church. But the one on the right is just plain fun and crazy. The central figure AND HIS/HER SHADOW anchoring the bottom of the image. I love the slight lean of the church, the clownish figure with arm raised and brilliant colored hair, the little girl with waving bag, on-lookers in the doorway, just the right splash of color on the left -- all of this making for a rather comic feeling. This is a really good image. The left one is nice, but this one is good.

P'taker

Kathy said...

I LOVE the church on the left; I really don't even notice the church (because they are so common?) but the streamer is fascinating! It looks like it is floating up into the heavens. It really is the only thing my eye sees.