Back in 2010, French photographer Antoine Bruy began hitchhiking around Europe without any fixed route. Along his travels, he met people who had entirely abandoned city life in favor of an isolated country existence they found more fulfilling.
Bruy began seeking out people who lived off-the-grid. After three years on the road, staying in makeshift houses and on community farms, he has released Scrublands, a documentation of the lifestyle. While each living situation is different, Bruy found that all the people he met shared a common desire to escape the rat race and achieve a quieter life in harmony with nature.
Bruy shared a number of photos from Scrublands here, but you can check out the rest on his website. Bruy is currently running a crowdfunding campaign to continue his project in the United States, which you can donate to here.
Over the last 30 years, numerous Europeans have begun to move out of the cities and head for sparsely populated areas like the Sierra de Cazorla mountains in Spain (shown here), the French Pyrenees mountains, and parts of Switzerland. Bruy began meeting such people after volunteering at farms through WWOOF, an organization that places traveling volunteers at organic farms throughout the world.
This property in the French Pyrenees is owned by a German man, who moved with his family here 25 years ago. He has since renovated the shack to be a completely self-sufficient house. There are no electrical appliances, but the solar panel powers small lights in the house.
Although his family has left, the German continues to live here with four other people and a revolving door of 20 or so travelers.
See the rest of the story at Business Insider