"I thought that if I was open-minded enough, I could come close to understanding Eskimo mythology. The whole idea that animals and people share the same souls. Mind you, I didn't want to become an Inuit. I just wanted, for a small part of my life, to see the world the way they saw it and some of the elders still see it.
It's very rare for [Inuit] people to see a kayaker, particularly a lone kayaker. I would paddle into these hunting camps from the open seas, miles from land sometimes, onto an island and surprise these people. There was a real magic to it.
A kayak is a mythical Eskimo tool. They don't use these boats any more in most of the mainland Arctic, and I paddled a more traditional kayak than most—a wood and canvas boat. It really helped these people let me into their lives. I think they would've anyway.
If you show up at hunting camp alone, and you've been sleeping on the ground and meeting bears and going weeks without seeing other people, you have an immediate in. Most Inuit don't talk a lot, but they would open up to me immediately. I made sure to not betray that trust."
—Writer-photographer Jonathan Waterman
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