Mongolia is a photographer's country. We asked our guides to name the 15 locations where light, landscape, and subject align, month by month, across all four seasons.
Tuvshinjargal Batbayar
The sky is bigger than you remember. The air is usually cloudless. The light travels at low angles for hours. Subjects are rare but when they appear they are unrepeatable. A horseman on a ridge, an eagle taking off, children on a camel. Mongolia photography is patience and reflex.
The Singing Dunes rise 300 metres from a golden floor. Go at dawn or dusk for shadow sculpture. Camel caravans pass at both hours if arranged.
Mongolia's Blue Pearl lake mirrors the Saridag peaks. Go in June before tourist season or October when the mountains are first-snowed.
A 20-metre cascade into a basalt gorge. In late July the surrounding steppe is green, which is rare for Mongolia.
The Potanin Glacier, seven kilometres long. Hike to base camp for alpine glow at dawn.
Three Games: wrestling, archery, horse racing. The countryside naadams (not Ulaanbaatar) give authentic faces and unblocked angles.
Bayan-Olgii, 130 hunters, 260 eagles, wind, dust, fur. Telephoto mandatory.
Mongolia's second-largest monastery, set between two mountains. Shoot the main temple at golden hour from the ridge.
A 60-metre striped cliff face in south Gobi. Pink, purple, white, cream layers glow at sunset.
East taiga near Lake Khuvsgul, spring. Fragile permit system, we handle arrangements.
Any eastern Mongolia horizon at sunset. Wait for your moment.
The ice survives into summer. Strong contrast shot from above.
Late January/early February. Inside the family ger, blue khadag, buuz dumplings, ritual greetings.
Runners across the steppe, empty sky, long horizon. We hold press access as the owning operator.
108 stupas on a perimeter wall, 16th century. Shoot from the corner for full symmetry.
Our audio-visual studio at Otugi in the Orkhon Valley. Behind-the-scenes with master Khoomei singers.