A spectacular sculpture of Big Jim Larkin, founder of the Irish Labor Party, stirs the clouds from its pedestal in the middle of Dublin's O'Connell Street. Instead of recording the appearance of the statue from the front, as most photographers would do, I saw this statue as a symbol of an appeal to a higher authority. I moved behind the statue, backlighting it, and placed my spot meter on the brightest portion of the cloud. Larkin and the distractions of downtown Dublin – traffic, pedestrians, and the trees that frame the statue, all are abstracted into black shadows. The image becomes a symbol of a symbol. Instead of a describing a statue of an Irish labor leader, I attempt to create a metaphor for man’s futile efforts to control his own destiny. We may beg and plead and shout at the heavens all we want, but in the end it will still rain on our parade.