Photographer Roger Janssen is the Edge of Humanity Magazine contributor of this photo essay. From the project ‘Paristique’. To see Roger’s body of work, click on any photograph.

Paris is never just a postcard. It is a feeling — damp, half-lit, and intensely private.

Paristique drifts through the city’s quieter hours: dawn commuters sliding through the rain, solitary figures contemplating in bars, the anonymous poetry of the glimpse of a red coat. These images avoid the landmarks. Instead, they find Paris in its margins — a blurred reflection in a wet window, a lone umbrella crossing an empty boulevard, the stillness of someone waiting for nothing in particular.

Paristique is about the comfort of being a stranger, in a city that has mastered the art of melancholy.

Roger lived his whole life in the Amsterdam area and was inspired to pick up a camera by creative parents. He chose a computer science study over photography but never lost touch with the medium. After moving to the city center of Amsterdam, he started capturing the beauty of the city with a human touch to it.

Roger evolved into an urban street photographer who is always on the hunt for that glorious light. 6AM hazy summer mornings, wind force 8 snow blizzards with -10°C temperatures at night and foggy autumn blue hours are when you can find him roaming the streets searching for that special moment. There he'll be patiently fishing for that one lonely street dweller to grace his frame and capture that unique fleeting glimpse in time. Roger tries to blend the light with the colors and mix it in with some small human element against the backdrop of gorgeous Amsterdam.

All images and text © Roger Janssen