I found these images when looking through various photo blogs and really liked them, I am not sure what it was, possibly because they felt like portraits of people on the street rather than images of umbrella’s. Gordon Ball typically photographs people so that may explain why they look so like portraits.

It made me very curious though why photograph this? Was it as I had thought a kind of portraiture of umbrellas? A commentary on today’s disposable society where everything is used up and discarded? An umbrella fetish? What was it about umbrellas which captured the photographers attention, what did the symbolise?

It’s strange, I think years of going to art galleries has made me more curious of the intentions behind images, I still know what I like and have feelings about images almost instantaneously. But something in those art history classes must have rubbed off, as I now feel the need to know why. The useful thing about having an art, photography and culture zine is that now I have a genuine reason to ask these questions. Or at least a credible reason for artists to answer my inane questions. So I promptly sent off an email asking what motivated him to take such pictures…Turns out, I over think things…

Gordon’s answer to my query:

I was walking around Greenwich Village one day with my gf about 2 or 3 years ago, and it rained all weekend. All I saw was broken umbrellas everywhere. The weather sucked for days and it rained more and more, and i kept seeing these umbrellas everywhere. I guess since 911 the states have been trying to build their spirits, and pride, on a side note thank god for Bush not being in power anymore. Anyways, its just like that Dylan song; Everything’s Broken. There’s just something beautiful about it.

You can find more of Gordon Ball’s photographs here