What’s Paris like during the lockdown?

Drone Press, a company specializing in drone photography, has taken on the task of transcribing it for us. In a video that lasts just over a minute, we see Paris deserted, in its most iconic places. Memorable.

These images are historical: the capital has never been so deserted. The Place de la Concorde, the Île de la Cité or the Champ-de-Mars seem to be part of a ghost town. A heavy (or poetic, depending on your perception) atmosphere reminds us of an apocalyptic film, accentuated with the accompanying music.

The idea behind the staging
“The idea was to make an impact on the effect of a pandemic on a large city,” says Benoit Decout, co-founder of Drone Press. “I’ve been criticised a bit for putting on a bit too stressful music,” says Decout, co-founder of Drone Press, “I’ve been accused of putting on a bit too much stress. But I didn’t want the accompanying music to be too poetic either. People are dying. Even my partner didn’t agree with it at all, he thought it was too dramatic […] It’s a pandemic, I didn’t want to put on nice music with bird songs.

foto header: WILLIAM DANIELS, NATIONAL GEOGRAPHIC