If I Were a REAL Photographer...

I recently bought photo books of Mongolia for our parents and siblings for Christmas.  I think it's a very true-to-life book for the countryside. We see people in traditional dress here in town, and we have friends who live in gers right here in town; but I wish the book had some pictures of some city life. I haven't seen a photo book of city life yet.

It would show a man in a deel (the traditional "dress" type coat that men and women wear, getting out of a car....that would be a good shot! Also, Mongolian girls & guys all dressed up after graduation, getting their picture taken at about three main spots in the city: Suhkbattar Square in front of the Genggis Khaan monument; Zaison (which is a Russian monument); and in front of a Buddha which is very huge, over by the Zaison monument. I can think of other scenes for a city book....maybe I should take up photography!

A beggar with no arms and legs, a drunk sleeping on the edge of the sidewalk, a man peeing beside a building (oh, now wouldn't that be nice for a coffee table book), a fruit stand filled w/colorful fruit, an old lady cleaning the street with a bedraggled whisk broom, someone buying a single cigarette from a vendor on the street (the vendor having set up a large box covered with a piece of fabric as his selling table), the meat market with 2-4 kilogram-sized hunks of fatty meat, goat heads for sale. Oooooh! I can think of so many interesting photos. Many are photos I don't feel comfortable taking for my blog. For instance, how can I dare take a photo of an old woman sweeping the street. It seems like an intrusion into her life. I don't think this culture would apreciate it, and it would feel very "touristy". This past summer, I did take a photo of my fruit stand lady, but that was because I was taking a picture of a friend and I asked her. She was proud to have me do so. We had a relationship. So, for me, if I were to take photos of those situations I mentioned, I'd have to know the person.

Sarentuul, my fruit stand lady (A possible photo for a "City Nomads" photo book!)