Living off the grid: Photographer captures the ramshackle homes of families who have escaped the rat race


There's no running water, no central heating - and certainly no supermarket for as far as the eye can see.

These are the families who have chosen to turn their backs on the breakneck speed of modern life to become at one with nature, free from the rat race.



Leaving city life for mountain ranges including the Carpathians and The Pyrenees, they pride themselves on living 'off the grid' without access to any of the mod-cons that the 21st Century may have to offer.

French photographer Antoine Bruy has spent years travelling across Europe capturing men, women and children who have joined the so-called 'back-to-land' movement on their very own organic farms.

Scroll down for video



At one with nature: French photographer Antoine Bruy travelled around Europe living with families who have turned their backs on modern civilization for a humble existence deep in the wilderness. This ramshackle house in Ramounat in The Pyrenees belongs to a German man called Peter who has lived there for the last 30 years. He moved to the area with his wife and children, but they left decades ago, it was reported by Feature Shoot

Shunned academia: Among the people Mr Bruy met was this former mathematics student called Vincent who has been living in the Pyrenees for the last seven years

He said: 'I give them a hand for different kind of tasks, like growing vegetables, fixing a roof, building a straw bale house or taking care of animals if they have some.

'This time allows me, somehow, to connect to the land, understand the way it works, and know the people I’m living with.

'This documentary project is an attempt to make a kind of contemporary tale and to give back a little bit of magic to our modern civilization.'

Steam cleaning: Julian works on his bathtub in Sierra del Hacho in Spain. Mr Bruy has posted a collection of his images entitled Scrublands to the FotoFund website where he has launched a crowdfunding campaign to raise money to continue his project in America Among the people he met was a German called Peter who has been living in Ramounat in The Pyrenees for the last 30 years.

He moved there with his wife and children, but they left decades ago, it was reported by Feature Shoot.

Others included Sabine, a teacher in philosophy and literature who now raises cows with her husband Christian. He has posted a collection of his images entitled Scrublands to the FotoFund website where he has launched a crowd-funding campaign to raise money to continue his project in America. 'I plan to come in the USA to make photographs of people who retreat in remote places in the Appalachian mountains,' Mr Bruy said. 'America can indeed be considered as the birthplace of these "back-to-the-land" movements.'

Life out of the fast lane: A boy who has grown up in the so-called 'back-to-land' movement poses with his dog in Urs in The Pyrenees