Photo Essay Documents Young Woman Who Raises Sled Dogs Off-The-Grid
Photographer Brice Portolano‘s project No Signal is all about documenting the lives of people who have chosen to live “off-the-grid.” People like the subject of his first photo essay in the project who lives 180 miles away from the nearest town, raising sled dogs in the northern Finnish wilderness.
Now her days consist of taking care of and training a pack of 85 husky sled dogs, starting her days in -35°F (-37°C) weather and spending days on end in darkness during the polar night with her partner, a former professional skiier named Alex.
“Tinja’s husky farm is off the grid,” writes Portolano. “She cooks and heats with a wood stove, lights her home with candles, and has to break the ice off the river every morning to get her water with a bucket.”
When people talk about reconnecting with nature, Tinja’s sparse lifestyle might even be more extreme than what they had in mind. But it has its advantages, and it’s exactly what Tinja was looking for when she moved back north.
“I like being on my own with my dogs and horses,” she tells Portolano. “I think being alone is the most peaceful way of life there is.”
“I didn’t set up a dogsledding business for commercial reasons,” she continues. “It’s about my own love of nature and living out here in the wild […] nature provides all I need.”
It’s this intense, and intensely personal, connection with nature that Portolano captures in Arctic Love. Nighttime sled rides under the northern lights, “farm work” in unimaginably cold temperatures, and a life lived by candle- and fire-light:
To see the full series and check out the other 3 photo essays in the No Signal series, head over to Portolano’s website by clicking here. And don’t forget to follow him on Facebook and Instagram to see even more of his work.
Image credits: All photographs by Brice Portolano and used with permission.
