11/12/2014

KALDASTI OG NYRSTI

As the Icelandic title translates: Coldest and most northern. It is not a secret that I have some fascination for very northern and cold settlements. Not only do I think it is interesting because it is extreme; the people who live in these places are often native inhabitants and have very strong beliefs and ways of surviving which many of their ancestors did exactly the same. 

The photos below are portraits of children in these places. Some of the settlements they live in are in the list of coldest places on earth, others make it on the list of most Northern. Longyearbyen in Svalbard is seen as the most northern inhabited settlement on earth and is part of Norway. There are flights going from larger cities in Norway, something I might consider doing some day.
The coldest settlement is thought to be Oymyakon in Russia. The record of the coldest temperature is measured at -71.2 C in 1924. There are actually some daring tourists these days that visit Oymyakon, so they can experience the utter cold days the city faces each year.


In case you are interested in getting to know more about extreme living conditions in the cold, I would recommend watching a documentary by National Geographic, called Life below zero. It follows several people who live in extremely remote areas of Alaska, most of them above the Arctic circle.

But for now, enjoy the photography of these children living in these extreme settlements.

Note: none of these photos are taken by me. Photo 3 taken by Andrea Gjestvang. Photo 4 taken by Alex Saurel.



 Child in Oymyakon, Russia. Coldest temperature: -71.2 C
 Child in Qanaaq, Greenland. Coldest temperature: -58 C
 Child in Svalbard, Norway. Coldest temperature: -46.3 C
 Child in Verkhoyansk, Russia. Coldest temperature: -69.8 C
Child in Yakutsk, Russia. Coldest temperature: -64.4

No comments:

Post a Comment