Quarantine in the middle of nowhere

While many people are currently dreaming of travelling to distant lands, the Berlin photographer Jo Fischer found himself in recent months thousands of kilometres away from home. The trip was not really voluntary, however, as he explained to us:

“The coronavirus pandemic was still some way away when I got into my car and headed off towards Finnish Lapland. It was supposed to be a short road trip of a couple of weeks at most, because my next jobs were already ready to go, and I wanted to use the short time to return once more to the ice and darkness of the north.

I had little time to prepare myself for the trip back into deep winter, and just grabbed whatever I could find. By the time I got up to the north of Finland, emails postponing all my jobs indefinitely were pouring in. It was as though the world stood still for a moment, and no one seemed to know how things would go on from there. Going back to Berlin and into quarantine was not an option, and then there was the lockdown, the feeling of being in prison and virtually unable to move. So I stayed in the north and set out to travel for various months with minimal equipment. I intended to sit out the lockdown in Lapland. I have no problem being alone, yet during the tough weeks in the expanses of Lapland, there were times when it was very difficult to deal with the loneliness. I tried to connect with people and take their portraits as often as possible. Suddenly, small talk with the cashier at a gas station became the highlight of my day.

Even though many more photos and stories came out of this trip, I want to focus here more on the loneliest part of my journey.”