RESONANS
Silhouetted night courier exits an arched residential doorway in Aarhus.

          In the dead of night

A photo documentary of a night shift postal courier

Rihard leaves a residential building in Aarhus. As a night courier, he holds keys that allow him to enter various locked apartment blocks throughout his shift.
Nico Rummens Photojournalism student
Published

10 p.m.


Rihards alarm goes off. The indication that his night shift is starting soon




He wakes up on the outskirts of Aarhus in a shared house. Some residents here are friendly. While others are not. He indicates this by tapping the side of his neck.
It is a Russian way of saying "alcoholics".


Nonetheless, he dresses for his job as a postal night courier.  It is a company with a certain reputation in Denmark. They hired him with a minimal screening process, he received two uniform items from them and experienced an error on his first payday. But when he moved from Latvia to Denmark in July, he needed a job and a place to sleep, which they could offer both.

 

Blurred view of a postal worker approaching behind patterned glass in an entryway.
Framed through the patterned glass of an entryway door, Rihard walks toward the exit just after completing his delivery

11 p.m.

 Most of the city is silent. The walk to the postal depot takes him through deserted neighbourhoods. He has already learned this route by heart and even walks one unlit stretch without a flashlight. It is hard to keep up the pace with someone as dedicated as him.

 

"Each day feels the same," he says. The days blur into one endless loop. There is no Monday, Wednesday, or Saturday. Time becomes an illusion. It's just the same routine until he finally gets one day off.


Then suddenly, he stops for a second in the total darkness and looks up.

It is something he does this every night when he walks to work.

Even though his life isn't where he wants it to be right now, he still tries to stay hopeful with these small moments of happiness. Admiring the stars for only thirty seconds
is a small but intentional way of staying sane for him.

A courier walks past a stationary pedestrian beside a building in a black-and-white street scene.
A woman on a night out stands stationary against a building as Rihard walks past her. The constant pace of the delivery route keeps him in motion, while people out enjoying the nightlife have the time to remain still and relax.

 


2 a.m.

 

After, the night shift starts. He has sorted out his deliveries, and he dives into another world. During the week, he trudges trough an eerie, quiet city. On the weekend, the nightlife is more active, but the partying people barely notice him.

A silhouetted mail carrier stands behind the glass of an arched door marked 13.
Silhouetted against the glass of a door, Rihard pauses in a residential district after dropping off mail.





5 a.m.


Using his keys and passcodes, he slips unseen into locked office buildings and sleeping apartments to drop off the mail.





8 a.m. It is finally over







But this has to change someday. It simply has to. There is only one place he truly wants to be. It is the main goal in his mind and the reason why he keeps getting up
each day and biking through the dead of night.

 

Hokkaido, Japan. The only and final place he wants to call home.






A man walks alone along a dimly lit, nearly empty street at night. He approaches a part of the street that is lit by a street lamp above him
Walking along a deserted street on the outskirts, Rihard heads toward the postal depot to start his night shift.
english foto photojournalism photo1

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