The Mission Beach boardwalk becomes a mass of walkers, runners, bikers, and skaters on weekends. Yet I found this man completely alone, surveying the scene from his rooftop perch. I used geometric design to create a structure for his surroundings, and placed his figure to draw comparisons with his environment. This scene reminds me of how one of my favorite painters, Edward Hopper, worked. He used light, shadow, and saturated colors to create a mood, and often drew on the effect of bright sunlight, and the shadows it casts, to create story-telling symbolism. Very often, his paintings speak of isolation and loneliness. Many of Hoppers paintings also use powerful diagonal shadows to draw the eye of the viewer to the subject. My photograph also speaks of human isolation. The lone figure sitting atop this building is dwarfed by the surroundings. Late afternoon shadows create a quietly mysterious mood – the long diagonal shadow entering the frame from the upper left hand corner draws our eye directly the building. The sky and building are richly saturated in blue and brown, while the subject wears a deeply saturated red shirt and cap. The lone window echoes the man who sits alone, just above it.