I made this image from the front seat of a tourist bus during a rainsquall. Our bus was parked at a curb outside of our hotel when the rain hit. My auto-focus camera focused on the window because it was covered with rain. Normally, it would have focused on the closest subject beyond the window. This caused the man standing in front of the bus with his bicycle to become a soft abstraction. Yet the image is abstracted two more times. My vantage point is behind the man, making him unidentifiable. He becomes everyman, a symbol of the stoic Hanoi residents who have over the years endured French colonial rule, American bombing raids, and eternally bad weather. Ultimately, the sharply focused rain itself becomes the subject of this picture, further obscuring the man. The rivulets and drops of water create an abstract pattern of their own, creating a matrix of symbolic sadness.