MENS' ENTRANCE [1st version]

A painted sign high up on the Talbot Street facade of this typical small town Ontario "beverage house" indicates that originally this was probably called the Cadillac Hotel. Painted on the rear facade, another sign shows an ice cream soda in a soda fountain glass and says "Hotel Rooms Coffee Shop".

Ontario drinking houses used to have separate entrances for men and

ladies.

great photo

Nice shot of a mores relic. And the varying angles of the brick and siding around it make the shot all the more interesting.

Nice quality in the sign, but I don't think the overall composition is strong enough. 4/6

Thank you Derek and Michael for your kindly comliments. Lots of old hotels still have these signs and they fascinate me because I can't make any sense of what was thought to be the purpose of having these separate entrances. -Louise

Simon, Thank you for taking the trouble to comment. You say you "don't think the overall composition is strong enough" and it makes me wonder, strong enough for what? What would you change about this composition and how would you do so? The whole Marlborough St. facade of the hotel can be seen in image http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3297161

 

-Louise.

I didn't say or mean to imply that you could necessarily do any better in the circumstances. My intention was to mean that the background is a bit of a muddle of weatherboarding, brick walls and windows. I do think the sign has an interesting quality to it, but in order to make a powerful image it needs a much starker background (which may not have been available). Sometimes there just isn't a powerful image there.

 

When doing critiques one has to be careful not to suggest how it might be done better; if I tell you to stand back a bit you may well tell me you would be in a river. The trick is to comment on what is there, not what might be there in an ideal world... oooh, if only there was a cat walking along the line of the roof (No, I didn't mean that!). ;-)

Simon, Thanks for replying. That's valid, it seems to me. I just kind of wondered, that's all.

I could have done some stuff to make the background less distracting, I guess, except I didn't see it as distracting. That's what I'm here learning and thanks for pointing it out.

Also, you're right that a cat might be a good detail. -Louise.

Please note that I recropped this earlier image and re-submitted it for critique as: http://www.photo.net/photodb/photo?photo_id=3301426

I think the new version is much better and I want to say thank you again for the positive responses and helpful suggestions.