Colour or Grayscale?

The question becomes almost impossible to answer at times! The same shot emotes really differently in the two styles. The images below present a classic case, where I am till date unable to decide which one I prefer.

The colour image has a very retro feel to it; which I would attribute to the old couple and the colour of the scooter and the helmet. It represents an era gone by; created by this couple and their scooter in the foreground and the architecture of the building in the backdrop. The modern cars add a little context in terms of the generation that the image was shot in.

But what it really fails to capture are the emotions of the old couple. This in fact caught my eye when I converted the image to black and white. The extremely strong eye-connect, the lady's expression. Almost poetic. Its a completely different shot in monochrome!!

I ran the two shots past a lot of people; and I was not surprised when I never got a straight answer to my question. Is this a shot for colour or grayscale? What's your take? I shot this image with my Nikon D3100

Hands Talk

The ability of hands to express the way one feels is spectacular. More so because the of the sheer spontaneity of these gestures. What really makes shooting hands particularly exciting is that you need to get really close, almost intrude into the personal space without distracting the subject or getting beaten up for eavesdropping!

One of the shots is of two men holding hands and walking. The concept never ceases to amaze me; but the more I look the more I realize that it is all around me. Even in my close circle! The shot required me to sneak up to this 'couple' from behind, squat and shoot; all of this while they walked away. 

The last one shows an elder sister almost dragging her younger brother. This is not really a hands shot, but I thought its a good fit here particularly because of the emotion of being in command with the grip. The shot came off particularly well because it was taken from the hip and the kids didn't become conscious.  

Pensive