Marilyn Mugot's Instagram feed teems with cinematic images of cluttered streets, slumbering high-rises, and empty shopping malls illuminated by the neon glow of city lights. Her photographs make mundane cityscapes look magical.

Mugot, a fashion photographer and graphic designer in the Parisian suburb of Vincennes, found a new creative outlet when she joined Instagram in 2013. Soon after, she departed for the United States, eager to take eerie photographs inspired by the films of David Cronenberg, Ridley Scott and Stanley Kubrick. Mugot visited San Francisco, New York, and many places in between, and quickly discovered she especially enjoys after sundown. "At night, I feel like I have to guess where the magic is hiding,” she says. “It's very intense, like a quest."

She visited China in November and spent six weeks exploring Chongqing, Guilin and Hong Kong. As the sun sank below the horizon each day, she'd set out for a different neighborhood to spend several hours wandering and shooting. Ambient and electronic music provided the soundtrack, letting her imagination run free."I prefer to work at night because it's exciting," she says. "The lights and the elements take on mystical and secret dimensions which are not always real but a result of my imagination.” Mugot's Instagram takes you along her journey, where every street corner and alleyway is a wonderful discovery.