Meet The Photographer Living In One Of The Most Remote Places On Earth

Cecilia Blomdahl shares her place of residence with polar bears and arctic foxes. From her house, you can see Northern Lights all winter while summer brings the “midnight sun”—sunlight 24 hours a day. This is her life in Svalbard, one of the most remote inhabited places in the world. Known for its rugged terrain, owing to its position between the Arctic Circle and Norway, Svalbard is as challenging as tough places go. But Swedish photographer and content creator Cecilia Blomdahl fell in love with this destination, and decided to set up camp here in 2015.

Her videos capture daily life in one of the planet's most isolated places, where polar bears outnumber people. She lives in Svalbard’s largest village of Longyearbyen, with her boyfriend Christoffer and her dog Grim, and highlights her survival routines, outdoor adventures, and the profound solitude of Arctic living, attracting a wide audience fascinated by her unique, resilient lifestyle in extreme conditions.

She recently purchased an off-grid cabin, about an hour’s distance from her permanent residence, and away from all modern amenities. “When you live here, you really get immersed in it; the quiet and peaceful nature,” Blomdahl said in an interview with CNN, “And every day being so close to the nature; it’s infatuating.” She adds, “Every day feels adventurous. It’s going to be crazy or wild or just a regular day,” said Blomdahl, “But a regular day here is so different; it’s drinking coffee with Northern Lights, or midnight sun, or reindeers.”

Her new photobook titled “Life on Svalbard,” offers readers a glimpse of her life in such a remote place. Even on social media, she shares pictures of two extreme periods of light: polar night and midnight sun. During polar night, from mid-November to the end of January, the sun never rises above the horizon. In contrast, the midnight sun period, lasting around 18 weeks from April to August, brings endless daylight as the sun remains above the horizon. But why move to such a remote place? “Everything up here is so pure and so beautiful,” Blomdahl tells CNN, “you think that it’s some sort of magic because it’s so unreal.”