Культурное наследие Севера в цифре.

the stereotype postcard-representation of midnight sun, silhouettes of reindeer and herders in the landscape taken on a pretty day. He manifests the modern life, with cars, petrol station, the local bus, the local grill and telephone lines cutting into the nature, showing that also this is also part of Sami lifestyle. His motivation for the expeditions was a wish to understand more and pass on knowledge about the people he met and the places he saw. He loved experienc­ ing people living a different lifestyle and maybe living a more interesting life than most people and he wanted to portray real life. His pictures of the Sami people and Post-Mathis portrays the contrast of old and new life, warmth and freezing cold, distance and intimacy. The pictures portray survival in a harsh landscape and accentuates the rational in the though surroundings; drying clothes in the frosty nature or using the snow as a fridge, or simply cutting dried meat to serve with coffee when Post-Mathis stops to visit the reindeer herders. Post-Mathis was a very important, often life-saving, contact for the Sami people living so far out in the wild nature. He was not only a mail carrier slipping mail in into a box. He was their most important source of information to what was going on in their society. Post-Mathis brought them help, information, groceries and mail, he brought them their income and pensions, he knew where all the dif­ ferent flocks of animals where moving so they could keep them separate, and he brought news between the different reindeer siidas. He passed on wedding invita­ tions or a message from a boyfriend or girlfriend. Photographer Henrik 0rsted had a unique opportunity when he followed Post-Mathis on his route. It gave him an opening to a community most people had no access to. He could play the fly on the wall, avoiding disturbing the photo­ graphic situation, an ideal position for a photographer with documentary ambi­ tions. «People got used to see me with a camera», he said. He was also dressed in Sami clothing for practical reasons, being so cold outside, and had to carry all his equipment inside the clothes, to keep them ready and not to freeze over in the winter conditions. You can see him portraying families gathered around the kitch- 24