Thanks to everyone for their comments. I have read all at least twice and considered each comment carfully, they are very much appreciated. I have thought long and hard about your comments especially Seb and Elysian and appreciate the time you spent considering my images (that is not to lessen the efforts of others).

Each image still tells a story to me - I was there and experieced the elements of each. I have to agree that they do not convey those feelings to others as well as they might and in future I will be more aware of what I want to convey in the image to the viewer.

This question is like asking "How long is a piece of string"? buuuuuuut............ how much of the image do you show in "context" with the story in mind or how intimate do you get with the subject before loosing the story and the image becoming just a snapshot??? By the way, I see the word "snapshot" as having negative conotations, as in not quite up to par.

Elysian, I understand what you are saying about the emotive side of photography. I know that often an image has an emotive appeal to me that I am not able to explain in technical terms. Surely that emotive content is tempered by the viewer somewhat. Take my second image of the crab

Seb - "The second, the hand holding the crab down. What is the context? What is going on here? Why is the crab being held? This image tells me nothing as a viewer."

Trevor Ash - "I find the crab photo to be very "tense" and interesting. I don't think it needs a story to me. I imagine what it would be like if that were me holding the crab down and I get chills down my spine."

Elysian - "That's for me a snap shot. Nothing wrong with it, but you shouldn't include the fingers. One can say; "yeah, but then he runs away!". Sorry, but doesn't change the fact that fingers shouldn't be there. For some people a shot of this animal might create a sense of a anxiety, because they never saw one up close or never touched one that was alive."

mikehulsebus - "Yup, very snap shotty vacation photo"

kellybean - "I would have loved it without the hand."

All valid comments in their own right??

My take - I tried to catch the tension in what I saw - the crab is trying to scurry away and the young lady is trying to stop it, not wanting to actually hold it nor get her fingers too close to those sharp nippers. I feel the fingers should be there and without them the image would be just another crab.

I have learnt a lot from this post and your valuable comments. I was thinking of starting a thread over in viewfinder on images that tell stories just for me to compare peoples take on this subject.

Thanks for your input and help.
Andy S