Grandmother
Husband
We had the opportunity to spend an entire day with a semi-nomad family, by the Singing Dunes. They were not many in the family, just the grandmother, the daughter and her husband, and other relatives. They were camel herders. There wasn’t much to do rather than just taking photos of the most photogenic members of the family, play with dogs, rest, and enjoy the silence and quietness of the desert. With them we also learned some things such as how to put your hands – as a symbol of gratitud – when you’re given something, where do guest sit down when invited into the Ger, and how a typical Ger is arranged inside.
They’re very shy people, but when you’re humble, kind and with a smile in your face, they can be very open. For example, the man was very reluctant at first when I asked him for a portrait but then, as time went by, we went on a camel ride with him and he started to teach us words in Mongolian for desert, dunes, camel, sand, lake, and he would laugh so much due to our poor pronunciation. Then he would take photos of us, and us with him, until I asked him for a photo, he smiled and buttoned his deel (typical Mongolian male jacket) and posed for me.