When you're traveling down the back roads of Russia, you can make a visit to another country - the past. No visa required, and you might decide to stay.

As I was heading in the direction of the small town of Pudozh on the border of the Arkhangelsk Region and Karelia, I saw a sign that read "Ust-Reka." Well, curiosity killed the cat, as they say, but I turned anyway and left the main road behind me. Soon enough, I crossed a bridge and could see a wooden church on the shore of a pristine lake.

I had found my way to the village of Kolodozero, the center of a cluster of villages where life, in some ways, goes on as it might have centuries ago. The wooden church by the lake is under the care of one Father Arkady, who describes the enchantment of this place with a charismatic smile: "It's a trap." Once Father Arkady saw Kolodozero, he fell in love with it forever.

It was Christmas Eve in 2011, and winter reigned, silent and holy, when I first made that turn off the highway and fell into the beautiful trap of Kolodozero. My gut told me that I had driven right into a storybook village from Russia's legendary past. Its call was irresistible, and I knew I would be back.

So as spring came, and summer followed after, and then autumn brought us back to that fairytale winter once again, I captured on film everything I could of Kolodozero's magic. The people, the natural beauty of the villages, and especially Father Arkady, whose fireside tales helped me to know Kolodozero almost as well as I could feel it.

At first glance, Kolodozero isn't much different from most Russian villages. The people here are windblown and a little stern, but honest. Everyone works as hard as possible to get by. Most of the villagers log, some farm to feed themselves, and some collect scrap metal.

There are fewer children every year to fill the school and the daycare center. After all, living in a Russian country village is no bed of roses. Yet there are a few newcomers who have given up the bustle of the big city and moved to Kolodozero for good. Father Arkady himself is one of them. He has been here at the Church of the Nativity of the Blessed Virgin for seven years now, and although this parish is quite small, he also holds services at several other nearby churches in Krivtsy, Shali, and Kubovo. He considers that he has more than enough souls in his care.

Baba Shura ("Grandma Shura") lives near Pogost, which means "graveyard." She's one of the few old women now living who still remember the old ways. In the summer, she gets up early and catches some fish or cuts the high grass back with a scythe. Shura's always busy with her country chores and errands. Ded Valka ("Grandpa Valka") died recently, and now Shura is in charge of their farm.

When I walked by one day and saw her chopping firewood in the yard, I asked: "Baba Shura, do you feel all right chopping that wood?" She said: "I like it. Grandpa would get to drinking sometimes, and I had to learn to rely on myself."

If you go to the nearby village of Zaozerye, which means "the other side of the lake," take note of the yard overflowing with scrap metal. Vadim lives here. He picks up metal from all over the neighborhood and delivers it to the nearest scrapyard in the town of Pudozh. That's how Vadim makes his living. If a man can find work and doesn't drink, he's doing pretty well. And recently, Vadim became the father of a little girl.

Not too long ago, a new cattle farm was established in Kolodozero, bringing work to some of the locals and breathing new life into the village. And although there are few students at the Zaozerye school, its doors are still open.

Kolodozero and its sister villages are nothing out of the ordinary, not really. So I'm not sure why breathing comes so easy here or just what it is that draws me back again and again. A wooden boat glides across the lake through the thick evening fog. A church appears out of the past and floats quietly along through its own secret story. The murmuring water and the rustling grass speak to something so deep inside me that I want to cry for joy. And finally, I understand. There's something here that reminds us all of where we came from. This is my home.

If you're ever on your way to Pudozh, you should stop off at Kolodozero along the way. Its ancient magic may pull you into the same trap.