Picturesque

I love the way the shapes and colors came together in this photo from May 19. The brown tree trunk and the Astor Hotel both seem flattened, sort of like a painting. You can see it better if you click on the image. I was walking around in the rain and drizzle in the vicinity of 15th Street and Franklin looking for something entirely different, when this scene caught my attention. I'm not sure what the building is on the left. The sky kept changing from white to gray to almost black. Here everything added up for a few minutes and the rain stopped, too. It looks Ivy League, doesn't it? Astoria has a bit of everything.

Do you use an umbrella? How do you keep your camera dry?