It rains a lot in China in June. That fact should not keep photographers from making expressive images. It should actually help them. Flat lighting such as this eliminates harsh shadows, intensifies color, and wet surfaces can often reflect our subjects back at us. Such is the case here. For this photograph, I found a useful high vantage point, a children’s playground set into the middle of Shanghai’s most famous pedestrian shopping street. I climbed a small tower built over a series of slides and bars. It even had a roof on it so I could keep my camera dry. This high position allowed me to compose a picture filling half the frame with the paving tiles of the street itself, which created a glistening reflective patterned grid. The top half of the picture was dominated by the ornate entrance to the East Asia Hotel, with its arched doorway, illuminated display panels, and a pair of brilliantly colored advertisements. All I needed was a determined shopper to complete the picture. One eventually obliged, and I photographed him as the curve of his umbrella passed beneath the curve of the hotel’s entrance.