For a variety reasons — from witnessing the devastating effects of modern society on the nature, to the way people are pathologically attached to electronic devices, or the way the rat race of consumerism envelops the fabric of our communities — many people have chosen to pursue a more ‘down to earth’ existence, getting them in touch with nature in archaic, almost forgotten ways.

French photographer Eric Valli spent a few years with 4 different groups of these intriguing people, taking intimate images of their everyday lives in the American wilderness that they now call home. The images we have here are from 3 of those groups, each with a varying level of societal connection.

The first, a lone huntsman living in the southern bayou, looks to be somewhat connected to modern technology. He has small battery-powered lighting, a modern canoe and has a bottle of ketchup on his table. The second, a family who dresses in almost Amish fashion, steps further from modernity, living by lamplight, using horses and growing their food themselves. The third group however, takes living in the wilds to a whole different level. These young wilderness seekers have donned leather clothes of their own making, bows and arrows, and look like they could have walked off the set of Dances With Wolves. While the picture of this less than cleanly crew inside a modern grocery store certainly raises some questions about how much they actually live in the wilds, it could be simply to emphasize the contrasts of their life against the modern world.

Interested to find out more about these highly unique individuals? If you read french you’re in luck, as Eric Valli recently published a book about his experience, titled Rencontres hors du temps. You can also find a sneak-peek of Valli’s upcoming film, Lynx, which follows one of these individuals as she trains others about living outside of modern civilization. For more of his thought provoking photography, see Valli’s website ericvalli.com.

Via Eric Valli.