Arctic Love A photography project by Brice Portolano

After studying biology in southern Finland a few years ago, Tinja, a young Finnish woman decided to trade her city life for the arctic landscapes of northern Lapland. 180 miles from the nearest town she raises sled husky dogs, in the icy heart of nowhere.

Deeply in love with nature and animals, Tinja finds her inspiration in the arctic wilderness: “I don’t want material things. Nature provides all I need.” Tinja’s husky farm is off the grid: she cooks and heats with a wood stove, lights her home with candles and has to break the ice of the river every morning to get her water with a bucket. Inside her house is also a sauna where not only does she wash herself, but also does the dishes and her laundry. Deep into the Arctic wilderness.

Brice Portolano is a French photographer working on the relationship between man and nature through documentary photography and adventures in the wilderness.

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A pack of huskies walk through the deep-snow on the side of a hill. Two people are walking in front of the dogs (I'm one of them) to help the huskies go faster and save their energy. Assembling a dog sled team involves picking leader dogs which are crucial, so mushers take particular care of them. Another important detail is to have powerful wheel dogs to pull the sled out from the snow. © Brice Portolano
Tinja coming out of a paddock in which several huskies are living when they're not training. It takes Tinja several hours to clean up the cages and feed the dogs and although she receives some help from her boyfriend Alex and some workers who visit them, she gives a great value to the relationship that ties her to the dogs and value the time spent with them. © Brice Portolano
Tinja reaching the top of the hill, the expedition goal of the day. © Brice Portolano
Tinja and her boyfriend Alex walk through the deep snow with a pack of young alaskan huskies. Talking them out is part of their training and helps Tinja & Alex to determine what roles in the pack and the sled races the dogs will occupy when they become adults. © Brice Portolano
Tinja splits a reindeer skull in half to feed her huskies. She also makes deal with local businesses, reindeer herders and dogfood sellers to get good prices, but it's not enough to feed her 85 sled dogs and it requires receiving groups of tourists who come for a few hours once a week and go out on sled-dog tours. In the future, this is an activity Tinja would like to stop as she prefers the quietness of the wild and a slow-paced lifestyle. © Brice Portolano
A self-portrait on a frozen river while the northern lights illuminate the sky, I'm standing next to a whole in the ice which allows Tinja and myself to take some freshwater from the frozen river as there is no current water reaching her home. © Brice Portolano
Tinja and one of her closest huskies. Licking a human's mouth appears as a sign of submission more than a sign of affection for the dogs, especially when they're so closely linked to wolves. This husky is a half wolf and maintaining a close relationship with him is Tinja's priority as they can quickly go back to a wild behavior if they don't receive a regular amount of attention from their owner. © Brice Portolano
Tinja and her boyfriend Alex in the back reaching the top of the hill, their expedition goal of the day. © Brice Portolano
Tinja puts a harnesse around one of her sled-dogs before taking them out for training. © Brice Portolano
Tinja and one of her favorite sled dogs inside her home which is off the grid, leading her to heat up, cook and light up her home with candles and firewood. © Brice Portolano
Northern lights illuminating the dark arctic sky, also called foxfires. © Brice Portolano
A friend of Tinja walks in front of the dog sledding team and reachers the top of the hill, the expedition's goal. © Brice Portolano