Photography Destination #1 - Mongolia

Over the past couple of months I have been sharing my favourite travel photography destinations with you as my Top 10, and we have reached my number one, the incredible Mongolia, but more on that shortly.

I thought long and hard about the places I have been to photograph before coming up with this list, so here is my Top 10 just to recap before I share a few thoughts on Mongolia and why it made number one in my list;

1. Mongolia

2. Jodhpur - India

3. Kerala - India

4. Iceland

5. Delhi - India

6. Rome - Italy

7. California - USA

8. Lofoten Islands - Norway

9. Prague - Czech Republic

10. Jamaica

I have been to many amazing countries not listed above, but these are my own personal favourites for capturing authentic images of people in the places they are from. If you want to read about any of the destinations above and see some of my images from each place, then click back on my blog posts, as there is an individual post on each place on my website. I've got a lot planned in the next 12 months with trips to Transylvania in Romania, Tibet and Ladakh in midwinter, the F Roads in Iceland when the snow melts and an expedition to the Syrian border in the far eastern part of Turkey. So a year from now there could be a couple of new entries in this top ten, you never know!

So why is Mongolia my number one? I was part of an expedition to one of the remotest parts of Mongolia (and on earth) with the crew and fixers that made the amazing BBC documentary Human Planet. With our own self sufficient crew of Russian military 4x4's, generators, chefs, guides, sat phones and endeavour we set off for weeks into the wildest parts of the Altai Mountains in the very far west of the country close to the Chinese and Kazakhstan borders where we lived alongside Eagle Hunters, Shamans and wild Cowboys for weeks on end. We ventured so far that our guides had never been so remote before and we photographed nomads who had never seen western people before. I didnt even think places like that existed anymore, but they certainly did. The trip was incredible and like being on another planet. At times you had to pinch yourself that you were not on a set for Game of Thrones or Lord of the Rings, but it was real, and absolutely stunning and a life changing experience. Here are a collection of my images from the expedition, and I hope you enjoy them as much as I did photographing them.......

"Shohan - Golden Eagle Hunter"

"Father & Son Eagle Hunters at the Glacier"

"Worlds only female Eagle Huner"

"Galba - the last Tuvan Shaman"

"Gers at sunset"

"Wild Horses Stampede"

"Child churning mare's milk"

"Indira inside her Ger"

"Herding Yaks before the Storm"

"Inside a nomads Ger"

"Breaking a wild Horse bareback"

"Contemplation" A nomad at the door of his Ger.

"Nubai - 81 year old nomad.

"Cowboy" a nomadic horseman.

"River Crossing" - our Russian purgon crossing a river

"The Road" - Leaving Ulgii and heading for the Altai Mountains.

This collection of images on a personal level received an amazing reception. They were purchased by Lonely Planet magazine for a trilogy over three consecutive months, and then my portfolio for the Altai Mountains was a finalist in the Oscars for travel photographers the TOPTY awards Travel Photographer of the Year which was an incredible honour. Subsequently I was invited on a lecture tour for the Royal Geographical Society to sold out auditoriums and full page features in national newspapers like The Herald. I was invited to lunch by Princess Anne in Edinburgh's Holyrood Palace, and interviewed by The Discovery Channel and even made it into Amnesty Internationals annual calendar. Needless to say, it's a body of images I am very proud of and one day I would love to return to this amazing remote corner of the world.