Life in Longyearbyen is a little different. A family of arctic foxes nest under my balcony. Reindeer graze between houses. Polar bears sometimes stroll through the center of town. It’s also a town in change. Neighborhoods are being destroyed because of avalanche danger. The coal-fueled power plant is old and needs replacing. Raw sewage is dumped in the fjord. Beneath a veneer of eco-tourism lies the foundations of Longyearbyen’s, and Svalbard’s, industrial past. Cable ways, containers, the smell of diesel. Longyearbyen is a study in contrasts as it struggles to find its way from being the company town it was to the family town Norway envisions.
From the Coal Harbor
Huset
Bicycle on Snow
Gruvedalen
Abandoned Apartments
Crane and Mountain
Sarkofagan
Nybyen
Construction
Winter Walk
Lucky Longyearbyen
Burmavein Bridge
Green and Red Buouys
Summer Snow Storm
Collection
Two Brothers
Nemo Returns
Tourist
Coal Harbor during Dark Season
The Mushroom Hunter
Waterfall
Two Reindeer
Lights On
Seven Sisters of the Arctic
Satelliite Searcher
Isfjord with Snow
Haugan