As I waited for some film to develop at a local shop, I had an hour to kill and decided to take some more photos. And then it began to rain. This is how I started taking photos of people with umbrellas. While taking these photos the umbrellas slowly blended in with the people and often the umbrella replaced the person’s head. It gave an interesting twist on people in the rain. I also noticed how couples/groups used the umbrellas differently often with one holding the umbrella while the other used a hood instead. Also fascinating was how dilapidated some people’s umbrellas were and how they held on to them no matter how damaged just to protect themselves from the elements (often times ineffectually).

Interestingly, the whole time I was living in London, UK, I myself never once used an umbrella—strange for a city that’s generally known to be rainy. This project started in London, UK, but has since moved to include photographs from Toronto, Ontario, Canada, and London, Ontario, Canada.