Since 2010, French photographer Clementine Schneidermann has been documenting her brother Nicolas as he lives a solitary life in the wilderness.
Similar to these individuals who reject society to live alone in the wild, Nicolas dropped out of school at the age of 17, leaving his family behind in Paris to become a shepherd in southeastern France.
For her on-going series ‘Le Grand Silence’, Schneidermann captures her brother’s journey from adolescence to adulthood, as he lives out of caravans and tends to his flock of sheep.
While he used to have a lot of pent-up anger towards society, he has mellowed over the years and gradually reconnected with his parents through phone calls.
The photographer visits her brother two or three times a year, and keeps in touch with him through email and text message.
Check out more images from her series below.
[via Feature Shoot and Photographic Museum of Humanity, images via Clementine Schneidermann and Photographic Museum of Humanity]