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Dusty Doddridge

I’m Dusty Doddridge, a landscape photographer based in the beautiful rolling hills of Middle Tennessee in the vibrant city of Nashville.

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In the far north of Sweden, above the Arctic Circle, you encounter a beautiful mountain world of truly timeless landscapes. A world that was formed by the Ice Age, it’s a place filled with glacier-carved river valleys, jagged mountain peaks and pristine alpine lakes. Sarek National Park just might be the crown jewel among the national parks and nature reserves in arctic Sweden. Known as the last wilderness of western Europe, Sarek has no trails and only a few reindeer paths through the low birch in the river valleys. You move through the region by crossing glacial rivers and hiking up and over rugged mountain ridges. It is a place of intense weather and rapidly changing light. There’s a certain level of mystery and magic to Sarek that draws you in and keeps you coming back to explore those special experiences.

Magnus Lindbom is a Swedish photographer who has come to know Sarek quite well, making extended backpacking trips there and to the surrounding region over the course of many years. After all, this is what it takes to know a place more deeply. And only then will photographs emerge that begin to show the special qualities beyond what lies on the surface.

This, of course, takes a high level of commitment to explore a wilderness region while backpacking solo in challenging terrain and difficult weather. You need excellent navigation skills, the ability to manage glacial river crossings in summer, and a high level of fitness to pull a sled into the high mountains during winter trips on cross-country skis or snow shoes. Without those and many other skills, these experiences and images simply don’t happen. And not only that, but you need the energy and the patience to make photographs after physically challenging days and extended periods of harsh weather.