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Originally Posted by esquire
^ Wow, my handle has a quirky local history connection and I didn't even know it. Right at Portage and Main, no less.
Great photo, by the way... such a lively spot in those days.
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The picture I believe is looking towards the North East corner of Portage and Smith. This was the united cigar store. My father told me the cashier's hands were black from handling money all day.
What is also interesting in these type of photos is the perception of congestion. If one looks closely, to the right of the photo is Main Street where Scotia Bank is.
The foreshortening created by the lense and how it was developed onto the photographic paper creates this compressed image. The photo does not appear to have a vanishing point creating perspective we are used to seeing in modern photographic images. Look at how the block from Smith to Main visually disappears in the picture .
This build up helps to create the hustle and bustle of the photo. If one counts the cars and trolleys in the actual image, it is substantially less than the volume one sees every moment on this street today.
It does seem more exciting then than today though...
Maybe it was just the Black and White days...