By personal opinion I have paired Hannah Starkey the photographers photo of untitled café scene with Edward Hopper the painters work called ‘Automat’ 1927.
This photograph is in my opinion is remarkably similar to Hopper’s painting. Both show a solitary woman sitting at a table lost in thought with a mug. In both the women are deep in thought, distant and preoccupied. Both figures seem alone without expression and make us wonder if they are in despair, anxiety or awaiting a companion. Both images use dark hues and shadows only for a bright source of light to be on the subject. The café’s are stark, bleak and functional.
A key difference between the two is that Hopper’s woman is faced away from the window with her back towards the blackness of the night. She sits with an open frame if she were to be approached.
This is not the case with Starkey’s picture. We see the figure sitting side on against the window, her frame closed off. Her arm acting as a barrier to ward off potential people who may want to sit beside her. Unlike Edward Hopper’s painting the image is taken during the day.
However I feel both images are tantalising in that we want to imagine what each is thinking and what will happen next.
How Art inspires Photography 