The long Arctic nights can be so long that one loses his mind, especially if he lives alone, in the middle of nowhere. Slava Korotki is a a man who lives alone in Khodovarikha. That’s Northen Russia. He works at the Northest Russian weather post and his days are extremely peaceful, except for the weather outbursts and terrifyingly lonely. He was photographed for two weeks by Evgenia Arbugaeva who so happens to have grown up in the Arctic and wanted to document this man’s working hours and living days in an Arctic outpost an hour away by helicopter from the nearest town.
Evgenia has always been passionate about the:
“people who are so dedicated to the north, so open and calm”. “I spent two months on the ship and visited 22 weather stations. I was looking for this romantic person of the north, a lonely arctic wolf. But most of the stations weren’t at all as I imagined. Many have been modernised into characterless facilities staffed by young people using new technology”,
she says. But one didn’t and that’s Slava weather station.
You can see from these pictures how peaceful, simple and extremely romantic life can be on an almost deserted island, far from other people, only man and nature. These pictures are incredibly powerful, we warn you!
1. Slava writing in his journal
2. Slava enjoying a lonely night on his handmade boat on the Barents Sea
3. The lonely walk
4. Slava’s radio. His only connection with the world
5. Enjoying his lunch, at home, talking with his parrot friend. Outside it’s snowing.
6. Slava walking up to the old lighthouse near Khodovarikha meteorological station
7. Slava’s office and notes
8. Reading the wheather
“Cloudiness of 10 points, lower tier 0, Altocumulus. Moderate blowing snow, visibility of 4km. Air temperature -20 C. Relative humidity 83%. Wind North East 12mps with gusts up to 14mps, without precipitation. Northern Lights intensity from mild to moderate, yellow-green colour”
9. The quiet after the storm
10. When the snow hits…
11. Matchstick houses are a way of keeping sane and warm during long Arctic nights
12. And even rain is a good companion
All photos by Evgenia Arbugaeva | via: theguardian
