Eaglehunter

I took this photo in the ambient midday light that seeped through the canvas fabric ger’s roof on my 35mm Leica 6.2 with Kodak 160 asa film.   We had been living with the eagle hunter and his family in their ger for ten days. We were fascinated by the relationship between man and eagle- one of love, respect but also of control, protection and strangely shared freedoms. Together we flew the great eagle each day, and watched this magnificent Raptor soar free on the mountain thermals of the high Altai only to return to the hunters leather glove. To live in the ger, to feed as one with the family. Theirs therefore was a complex, ancient relationship…not of black and white but of colour and subtle tones… hard for us, from our different world to fully understand but travelling with these nomadic people we gained a sense of their hunting ways, the challenges they faced, the simplicity of the priorities of wilderness living and their need to work man and beast together in the hunt.

Eaglehunter

Eaglehunter

Western Mongolia. £850

Size: 20x24 inches

Silver gelatin print

Edition of 25 signed

Leica R6.2 50mm f1.4