Digital

Going underground

The blurry silhouette of a man waiting on the platform of the Paris metro, from the series Going underground, by Emmanuel Pineau

Originally it’s a sound. A song I was listening to when I was a teenager. The raw energy from The Jam. They were playing loudly and I wasn’t able to understand all of the lyrics. The underground was something I didn’t know yet as I was living in a small town in the west of France.

I will discover it later when arriving in Paris. This souvenir is vividly linked to the first moments of my life as a young adult. The noise, the smell of the Metro in Paris, the rush hours. Something very special.

This series was shot over several months, around 2012, in Paris but also in New York or London for some pictures. I wanted to capture the raw energy from the crowd. The camera is moving with the train or with me walking in the corridors. Everyone is going somewhere, has something to do and I just follow them. Wherever they are going.

The feet of a woman wearing gold high heels on the Paris metro
A man's hand resting on his partner's knee on the Paris metro
A woman in a white dress waiting on the subway platform in New York
Close-up of a woman's hair seen from behind, wearing a Chanel hair clip
A woman wearing dark glasses waits on the subway platform in New York
The blurred silhouette of a man walking in the corridors of the Paris metro
Close-up of a woman's legs wearing black tights and silver shoes
The walls of a tunnel in the Paris metro
A woman wearing a black hat is sitting in a Paris metro train
Close-up of the legs of a woman sitting opposite me on the Paris metro
A man sleeps in a blue sleeping bag on a subway platform in Paris
Two young women are waiting for the subway at the 42nd Street station in New York
The legs of a woman in a skirt climbing stairs in the Paris metro
Close-up of the hair of a blonde woman seen from behind, waiting on the platform of the Paris metro
A homeless man's luggage piled up on a subway platform in Paris
Close-up of a black shoe on a man standing in a Paris subway car
The blurry silhouette of a person waiting on a subway platform in Paris
A woman seen from behind, wearing a short leopard-print skirt, walks through the corridors of the Paris metro
A dark, blurry figure in the corridors of the Paris metro
The blurred faces of people crammed into a subway car in Paris
A subway train in New York
A woman sitting in a subway train in Paris
Close-up of the legs of a woman sitting opposite me with a Vuitton bag on the Paris metro
The blurred face of a man sitting in a moving subway car
The blurry silhouette of a man climbing stairs in a subway corridor
A woman standing in a Paris metro train
The blurred silhouette of a man on the subway platform in Paris
A young woman sitting on the Paris metro fell asleep on her bag, which was resting on her lap
A young woman sleeps sitting up in a subway car in Paris
A young woman wearing black studded sneakers on the Paris metro
A man with his back to us, sitting in a Paris metro train and wearing a grey coat with the collar turned up
A newspaper trampled underfoot by passengers on a Paris metro train
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