What makes a particular image enduring and worthwhile?

The results from a Realísima image poll have been illuminating. Different strokes, sure, but there were clear winners. Voters were advised to choose 6 top images, with 6 stars as the highest, descending from there.   50 friends participated, and it required a visual snap judgement that people aren’t always comfortable with.  I would have had the same discomfort choosing from 16 different wines. I didn’t vote in this contest, either.

I was surprised that a single image of a retail passage in Nakano Ward, Tokyo, emerged as an obvious favorite - so many points above the others.  Top images below, in order of popularity with overall point values. Please note that only images completed by Journal #17 were included.

161 POINTS, nakano ward

The grand mess of it all: the signage, lighting, masses of wires and merchandise, connected and disconnected people.

96 POINTS, Cignale ENOTECA

The fish image credit goes to Irene Shoikhet, aka Henri Cartier Bresson. The comparison to HCB was made by Jason Kaplan, and supported by Leslie Maslow.

87 POINTS, seto sea

A calm view of a calm sea. Oscar is post piss, in black foul weather gear.

80 POINTS, tsukiji

Lots of moods and motives can be read into the expressions here.

80 POINTS, sake naoshima

As I’ve mentioned before, the sake was served kinda warm, but it was raining and we were pretty cozy.

76 POINTS, cool kids

The naming of this photo….maybe a bit cringy, but it stuck. My New York friends responded well to this one.

74 POINTS, asakusa

This is a great building, and the energy of the quick and dirty sketch was appropriate.