Christian Nilson

The urge to escape is in all of us to a certain extent. The will to just get away from the daily routine. Some people act upon this will and they get in to their campers and drive off into the unknown. I have always been fascinated by campers and camping, especially winter campers. Not so much in a positive way, more like; how can any sane person want to do that. It must be cold, confined and wet from all the snow you must drag in. So to figure it out, I set out to photograph them to try to understand what winter camping was all about. I spent a winter season visiting as many camping grounds as I could and talked to the campers and portrait them. My conclusion is that winter campers are probably some of the most hospitable and friendly people I have met. They enjoy the freedom camping offers. If they don't like the place then they can move to the next tomorrow. It's a flexible home away from home and more economical than staying in a hotel or renting a house. I'm not sure the project has turned me into a camper, but I can definitely relate to the positive aspects of camping. The spacial confinement would be hard to get used to but I would appreciate the closeness to nature and the geographic freedom that camping brings with it.