She documents seals, reindeer, and a population of polar bears that outnumber human inhabitants on Svalbard.Д«lomdahl expected that most viewers would crave this adventurous content butВ was initially surprised at the number of followers asking about her everyday life. Since then, Blomdahl has captured viewersвЂ™ attention with tours of the tundra, where we marvel at sights like the aurora borealis and the Global Seed Vault set deep within the permafrost, preserving over a million seed samples for future generations. вЂњShe took it to the next level with the drones.вЂќ вЂњShe realized that when she was on Svalbard, she had a kind of niche,вЂќ says her younger sister, Camille. One of herВ first posts, about what she sees on a 3 P.M.В walk during the polar night, went viral. Her workВ slowly gained traction, but it didnвЂ™t really take off until she started a TikTok accountВ last fall. She bought a camera and taught herself photography, posting her initial attempts at capturing the northern lights on Instagram. вЂњItвЂ™s like a live-versionВ video game,вЂќ she says.

AВ self-proclaimed techie, Blomdahl became interested in photography when she picked up a drone in 2017 and was instantly mesmerized by the aerial view of the island. Though sheвЂ™s had an Instagram profileВ for years, she began focusing on building her social media presence after moving to Svalbard. Because housing is hard to find, they bought a cabin without running water just outside Longyearbyen, the worldвЂ™s northernmost settlement, with a population of 2,368. NowВ Blomdahl works part-time at a clothing store and lives with her current partner, whom she met at her first job on Svalbard. When Blomdahl and her partner broke up and he moved away, she stayed for the work-life balance, community, and sense of adventure that the island afforded. TheyвЂ™re a group of folks who are perhaps more daring, self-reliant, and up for a good challenge than most. With its lack of visa requirements, Svalbard-long a hub for Arctic exploration, coal mining, and research-has drawn an international population of residents who stay anywhere between several months and several decades. She moved to Svalbard in 2015 with her thenВ partner, intendingВ to head theВ reservations department at a restaurant for just a few months, but she soon fell in love with the island. from Sweden, Blomdahl spent part of her youth in Ireland, and has since lived all over the world whileВ going to schoolВ and working at luxury hotels. They also offer a surprising sense of familiarity, allowing us to virtually slip into the lifestyle of someone who has made the most of her time in an isolated environment, one thatвЂ™s not altogether different from the social isolation we were allВ plunged into during the pandemic.

Since her first post,В inВ October, sheвЂ™s gained a million followers and 15 million likes on the app, reeling in viewers with everything from drone footage of the tundraвЂ™s expanse to explanatory videos about life in the Arctic.ДЇor viewers whoвЂ™ve spent a year in quarantine, BlomdahlвЂ™s TikToks donвЂ™t just offer an escape to a world unaffected by COVID-19 (Svalbard is one of the few places thatвЂ™s never had a reported case) or a soothing antidote to doomscrolling. She sprinkles in bits of trivia about theВ ArcticвЂ™s long daysВ as an electronic track by Kina Beats plays in the background.Д«lomdahl, a self-taught photographer and videographer, has lived on the Norwegian archipelago of Svalbard for the past five years. In typical fashion, Blomdahl begins the TikTok with a friendly introduction: вЂњMy name is Cecilia, and I live on Svalbard, an island close to the North Pole,вЂќ she says with the practiced air of someone who spent years working in the hospitality industry. In the distance, you can just make out the seven glaciers she can see from her living room. Host family horror stories.Cecilia Blomdahl stands in the entryway of her cabin, panning the camera to reveal a body of water glittering with light from the midnight sun.

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