What does winter look like in the far north? According to the cliches: as dark and cold as a refrigerator. And yet it is precisely in these wintertime months that photographer Michael Koenigshofer picks up his camera and heads to the Arctic Circle!

In this rich and original photo book, the Scandinavia-savvy Austrian captures much more than the cliched images of the Northern Lights. With an eye on the coexistence of nature and culture, Koenigshofer explores how lives are lived in this intense and extreme environment, from the traditional ivory carver in Greenland to the ice surfer in the North Cape. The result is an authentic portrait of Scandinavian life, showing a whole new side to life up north.