I was on the last leg of my cross country drive from Chicago to Davis, California, with my girlfriend. We walked around Elko at night looking at all the retro neon hotel signs when I saw this bench next to this mundane ad for Airgas and was immediately reminded of a bizarre Edward Hopper setting. I told my girlfriend to go sit on the bench and look up into the sky as if waiting for something.

This photo is a finalist in The American Experience category of our 13th Annual Photo Contest. See all 70 finalists here.