Signs of the Times, my photo art portfolio, celebrates vintage advertising signs painted on brick walls. It’s available through MagCloud – $10 a copy includes free digital version!

I’ve long been fascinated with vintage advertising signs, documenting them before they vanish. As a clear writing proponent and former copywriter, I admire their concise messaging rendered in bold typography and clean designs. For me, they evoke a nostalgia for simpler times.

The 30 signs in this portfolio, photographed in Canada and the U.S., are all painted on brick walls. Clay bricks have a special connotation for me. Not only have I always lived in brick houses in Hamilton and Toronto, but I grew up listening to my mother’s stories about living in The Brickyard. 

My maternal grandparents with their four children emigrated from northern Italy to Canada in 1927. My grandfather found work at a factory making bricks and sewer pipes in Aldershot, Ontario. The family lived in a shack on the factory grounds aka The Brickyard.

As a child I loved playing with mini-bricks – those brown rubber pre-cursors to Legos. So, the images I’ve made of advertising signs painted on brick walls are layered with personal memories of times gone by. 

More Signs of the Times