Filled with the trepidation of vertigo and the thrilling sensation of falling through air untethered, bridges innately carry an uncertainty to them. They display utility in terms of travel and aesthetic appeal as precisely engineered, soaring behemoths. The Paris-based photographer Floriane de Lasée now asks what breathtaking limits bridges can meet if they’re completely turned—at least, photographically—upside down.
Lasée’s choice to invert bridges (located in major European and Asian cities) challenges a viewer’s sense of gravity, creating images from the anti-bird’s-eye view while maintaining that dizzying sensation.
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The series is titled Ciels de Seine and was started in 2011 with a bridge along the Seine River. The series serpentines through the bridges of several French cities, including Arles and Paris, to list a few. Lasée also photographs bridges along the Kamo River in Kyoto, the winding French river, La Loire, and Le Rhône in Lyon, France.
Most astonishing is how the grandeur of these arches are instantly transformed. The photographer likens his results to freeways or roller coaster tracks. Lasée shared more about her unique perspective: “[With] a 4×5 view camera, and inversing perspectives, [the photos] makes us discover another dimension of our daily life: ‘the life from under.’”
She continues, “So why not consider life from a different angle to open the field of possibilities? Ones not locked into a single reality?”
To see more of Floriane de Lasée’s work, including more prints from Ciels de Seine, visit her official website, here.
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