a man riding on top of a snow covered slope

Striking Photos Shows Young Woman Living Off-the-Grid in Northern Finland

2016-05-02

Through his beautiful visual project known as No Signal, photographer Brice Portolano shares the extraordinary stories of people who have chosen to escape from an intensely urbanized lifestyle and reconnect with nature. Arctic Love is the first of four striking photo essays in the series, which tracks a young woman named Tinja, who lives 180 miles from the nearest town. Portolano has documented her unique lifestyle in the wilderness where she raises 85 sled dogs and lives off the hauntingly beautiful Finnish land.

Tinja survives entirely off-the-grid, cooking from a wood stove, using candles to light her home, and obtaining water from a river where she has to break the frozen surface each morning. This is her life, and she adores the peace in the solitude that she has found in the wilderness. Together with Alex, a former professional skier who also understands the isolated lifestyle, Tinja is content to exist with nature and the animals as faithful companions.The young woman finds inspiration in the Arctic wilderness, explaining: “I don’t want material things. Nature provides all I need.”