Antoine Martin, a 500px Licensing Contributor and freelancer photographer from Paris, shares the inspiration, gear, and process behind the creation of his recent city series.
This is a new series I’ve been working on recently in Paris, called “The Canopy.” If you’re not familiar, the canopy is the upper part of the forest, higher in the trees. A lot of creatures live there, and the views are (probably) incredible. I wanted to recreate that in Paris—in this case, we are the creatures exploring the canopy of Paris.
I shot all of these photos on different rooftops in Paris. We found the locations randomly while a friend and I were walking around the city. I only started shooting once the sun had gone down, and mostly used a super wide-angle Sigma 14mm f1.8 and a 50mm with a Nikon D810.
I always position my subject in the middle of the image to pull it forward. Paris is a big city and I wanted to capture the atmosphere from the top as much as possible, showcasing its status and the Haussmannian architecture.
I shot one image with my feet in the void to show the height where we were.
Another shot is devoted to Paris’ historic architecture and its Haussmannian buildings.
I also shot my friend Ricardo overlooking the entirety of the city to add a sense of scale and how little we are in comparison.
I took this photo with my 50mm lens. Showing the sun setting over the rooftops at our eye level makes a visual connection between the city and the forest, like watching the sun sink over the last part of the forest at the tops of the biggest trees.
I don’t know if I can really choose a favorite part of these kinds of shoots, but with this one, the moment when I discovered the view from the rooftop that wasn’t at all what I expected from the street was awesome.
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500px: 500px.com/martinantoine
Instagram: @antoinemartiin
Website: martinantoine.com
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