Light On: Photographer Franck Bohbot captures the fascinating side of cities at night

The long exposures and natural light enable him to capture the essence and the breath of these deserted spaces, carrying the ghostly traces of abandoned social landmarks. As such, Bohbot immortalises everything from swimming pools, basketball courts, libraries, theatres, cinemas, train stations and fairs – a plethora of structures through which he balances the power of architecture with the poetry of everyday spaces.

As Kelly Richman explains on Bohbot's website: "While each structure is either brightly lit by fluorescence or bathed in a wash of neon, the photographs are rendered in subdued pastels and filtered through a hazy fog. This aesthetic, along with the predominant absence of people, results in a melancholic atmosphere reminiscent of Edward Hopper paintings and evocative of staged theatrical sets – further conveying the relationship between Bohbot’s real-life surroundings and the artificial touch of theatre.

"Retro in appearance yet contemporary by nature, the photographs featured in Light On convey an illuminated aesthetic that both celebrates modernity and longs for the past in an ironically ageless paradox."