Aiming to portray what Quintela calls, a “Dystopian Paris”, the photographer along with stylist Samia Gibellina appropriately chose two historically charged locations: La Defense, named after a famous statue to commemorate the French soldiers of the Franco-Prussian War, and Tuileries the famous garden separating the Louvre from the Place de la Concorde, where many French royals found respite during the uprisings of the French Revolution. 

“As both together represent the classic & the contemporaneous Paris as well as the [passage] of time. The idea of a Dystopian world it’s stronger than ever nowadays. Societies, technology, morale, human behavior and economic system are some of the concepts that inspired this City Guide,” Quintela adds.

After moving to Paris four years ago, the city of love finally means “home” to the photographer. Fittingly, even after the height of the pandemic affecting more than 174,000 people in France alone, the city finds itself in a state of compassion and healing as it begins to function in the new normal. “In general, people’s mood is quite good and optimistic, work it’s more controlled because of the new social and health measures (yes, sometimes a bit uncomfortable), but people still have a lot of good energy, so, to me, we’re adapting really well to this new situation,” says Quintela. For him personally, he adds, “I just try to spend more time with my closest ones, out of Paris, in the countryside.”

See below the dystopian magic unfold: