As I've mentioned previously, one of my favourite artists is Edward Hopper. Most of his mature work features us as viewers looking inwards, never outwards. Think of Nighthawks, Rooms for Tourists, House by the Railroad, Early Sunday Morning and of course, the painting whose title I have borrowed here, Night Windows. Even the ones where we appear to be looking outward (Office at Night or Automat) are still looking in at the subjects with the outside world merely forming part of the background.

I was sent down to Melbourne to conduct some training on our budgeting system. The hotel that I was put up in the night before is The Vibe. Although fully refurbished and quite comfortable it does have a retro feel to it. It was the hotel of choice for people like Frank Sinatra or Nat King Cole back in their days, and it set out to retain a lot of the ambience of that period. This was of course a decade or so after most of Hopper's best work, but nonetheless I did feel something of an opportunity to capture the vibe, no pun about the hotel name intended. Consequently I set up a single point of light focused over the old style furniture with the night-time lights of Melbourne in the background beyond the windows. (Specifically, the hotel is located across the road from the Southern Cross railway station, and that's what you see in the background.)

Of course to be a genuine Hopper I'd need a lone figure in there and I was the only one available. And I don't get in front of a camera. Consequently I leave it to your mind to fill in the blank.