Perched on the rooftops of tall buildings in cities across the world , a French photographer has captured the essence of what people do when they 're alone , in places where they 're surrounded by millions of other people . In her photography project , Inside Views , Floriane de Lassee spots movement in the standstill of the night - she finds lone beating hearts who still have the light on when everyone else is sleeping . 'No matter whether it ’ s Paris or Istanbul . I do not photograph cities , but an imaginary City that inhabits each megalopolis . It is the product of the Man ’ s excesses , his genius , his madness . The City exceeds the overflow . She is about to devour us , ' de Lassee says about her project . Scroll down for video . From one window into another , French photographer Floriane de Lassee captures a photograph of a man practicing his piano in his London flat . A woman looks on at the vast skyline ahead of her as she stands on a balcony . With a light illuminating her from the front , she appears to radiate in the darkness of the run-down building beside her . In some of her photos , including this one , de Lassee gets close enough to her subjects that she can capture their facial expressions as well as the vast metropolises behind them . In was appears to be an empty building in Tokyo , a person gazes out the window into the night . There is n't a person or car in sight in the illuminated city . In this photo , taken in an unknown city , de Lassee snaps a photo of a person looking to the skyline as she appears to be on the same roof . De Lassee has been photographing the cities of insomnia for at least ten years , and she had a book published filled with pictures of the cities that never sleep in 2008 . The French photographer found her inspiration when she studied at the International Center of Photography in New York , according to Les Photographes . Her East Village apartment faced a police station 's 'recreation room ' , where officers , still in uniform , would play table tennis . She found the angle at which she could watch them to be one that should be photographed . ' I 'm just trying to move me , to move others , to bring them further in their dreams or in the perception of the world around them . The city that I show is both terrifying and touching . It is this balance that interests me , ' she told Les Photographes . A woman in Shanghai stands on her lighted balcony and stares at the massive buildings across the water . Shanghai has a population of more than 14million people . A person looks down from their balcony in what appears to be a private moment , but look above two floors and a neighbor close by still has his or her lights on , too . Two people have a conversation in a room high above the motorway , which is till filled with cars flowing in all directions driving through the darkness . Lights show that this building is home to many different things . The top floor appears to be filled with woman practicing their pole dancing techniques , while floors below show a boardroom and what looks like a high-top table . A woman in an unknown city looks out her floor-to-ceiling window into the city and trees below her high-rise apartment building . Her images show the moment vast cityscapes collide with sole protagonists , resting on balconies , doing work in offices and gazing out windows into the distance . Some pictures show truly how small one person can be compared to the sweeping cities surrounding him or her . De Lassee 's goal , however , is not to capture a particular city . She instead tries to find the common traits and emotions that the cities ' inhabitants share , according to Vanilla Magazine . The scenes in which her metropolis photos are set are found across the world , including Las Vegas , New York , Moscow , Paris , Istanbul , Shanghai and Tokyo . A woman in Istanbul lies down on her small bed in her flat that sits just in front of the massive and beautiful St. Sophia Mosque . De Lassee 's photos can open small windows into people 's lives . Her artwork can make a viewer wonder why this man is still up while others are sleeping and why he has such a variety of objects filling his living space . All of the lights are still on in this top-floor apartment . A person sits in front of a bookshelf in the fourth window from the right , while it appears as though no one else is home . Though the front door is wide open , a person takes a rest on the bed in this undisclosed city with no fears of intruders from below reaching the flat . A woman sits on her couch with her floor-to-ceiling windows wide open on what appears to be a warm Paris night on rue Lamarck .
French photographer Floriane de Lassee visited cities around the world to capture these intimate photographs . She uses small subjects to contrast their being against the vast cityscapes behind them . She found her inspiration while studying at the International Center of Photography in New York ten years ago and lived across the street from a police station 's recreation room . Photos are set in London , New York , Moscow , Paris , Istanbul , Shanghai , Tokyo and more .