This photograph is of Ed Mirvish in front of his store, Honest Ed's, on the corner of Bathurst and Bloor St. West in Toronto and was taken in 1983. The photograph was taken by Tibor Kolley for the Globe and Mail and was sourced on their website from the news article on the history of Honest Ed's. This image interested me because of Honest Ed's recent closure, as well as because I find it visually interesting as there is something going on in the fore, middle, and background of the image.

Reading Reflection #1: Barthes’ concepts of Connotation & Dennotation
This image relates to Barthes concept of the photographic message, specifically in relation to the “denotation” and “connotation” of the messages that can be read from press images. To summarize, Barthes describes that a press photograph has both a denoted message and a connoted message. Essentially, the denoted message is whatever is in the image (Barthes 17). In the case of my own chosen photograph, it is an older male in a suit standing in front of a street corner with a gathering of people around a building behind him. Secondly, press photographs also have a connoted message, which the public decides …show more content…
For example, assuming that the man owns (what might be) a store behind him is a connoted message. Or that the people behind him are lined up for a big sale is also a connoted message; it is