Underground

Title of the series: Underground. Technique: digital infrared photography. Year of completion: 2017 -. Status: series in progress. Number of photographs: 12. Notes from the author: "Underground" is a long-term photographic project started in the Paris metro during the autumn of 2017. Thought as a succession of scenes of life in the darkness, this project presents dark and undefined environments in which human beings absorbed by their daily. The main purpose of this series is to illustrate an imperceptible underground life where the artificial light of the urban environment is absent. Only the photographer's flash reveals the scenes taking place in front of him, giving a claustrophobic and anxiety-filled character to the moments captured. In the subway, a parallel can be made between the subjects going to work and miners moving in dark underground hoses with no visible purpose. The fixed attitudes alternate between moving in endless corridors, searching for invisible routes or using stairs leading to unknown levels. The realization of this project began in September 2017, when the arrival of winter usually slows outdoor photographic production. I designed my own lighting system allowing me to flash the scenes I want to photograph without being spotted. The emitted flashes are invisible, allowing me to keep the natural subjects and let them go on their journey. This project also allowed me to evolve in my photographic practice, following a more sensitive, more raw approach.