Every now and then, we all need a little time to ourselves. So why would superheroes be any different?
In a series from French artist Benoit Lapray, popular superheroes -- from Batman to Wonder Woman -- are placed in somber nature scenes to show the lonely side of being a superhero.
"I think it's pretty easy to imagine [superheroes as lonely]. Because, they are different, and they have a big charge on their shoulders," Lapray told The Huffington Post about his project, which he calls "The Quest for the Absolute." "So I guess they need to be alone sometime to recover a kind of serenity and to remember why they fight."
The 33-year-old photographer first hatched the idea for the superhero series several years ago while he was living in the French Alps, where he would often take walks in the mountains. He says he liked the idea of placing the fictional heroes in nature, rather than in cityscapes, where they are usually depicted.
"It started with a picture of Superman. I had the idea to put him on a big rock balanced in the air, and it worked immediately. The result was really powerful. So I realized that there was an evident link between superheroes and nature," Lapray told HuffPost in an email.
Nearly five years later, Lapray has created about 20 photos of superheroes seeking solitude in nature. To construct each image, Lapray enlists models to portray the superheroes and shoots their photos in a studio. (In some cases, he substitutes figurines or film stills.) He then uses Photoshop to superimpose the superheroes into his landscape photography.
While the photographer says that he isn't trying to convey a specific message with the photos, there is an idea that he wants to express.
"Everybody is fragile. Every being with an awareness has doubts. Every being with an awareness needs to face himself one day to really know who he is. Every being, even really powerful, draws energy and inspiration somewhere," he said.
See a sampling of Lapray's superhero photo series below.
