Drawn to Svalbard

Svalbard must be one of the most unique places in the world. You are not allowed to be born or die there; you can't leave the main town of Longyearbyen without an armed guide in case a polar bear takes an interest in you; it's home to an abandoned but completely intact Soviet town; and it has a surprisingly diverse population, thanks for its visa-free status. I went with photographer Jonathan Gregson (www.jonathangregson.co.uk) to research a story on the old fur-trappers, who would arrive from mainland Europe and spend years alone in remote, flimsy cabins, hoping to eventually return home with enough furs to make their fortune. (It's probably no surprise to learn that few did.) It's a place of the wildest weather and pretty much all our plans were turned on their head by endless snowstorms, which gave us a tiny inkling of what the fur-trappers went through. I loved that it's a place where human beings are very much not in charge. Layout by Hayley Ward.