A joyful window into rural Mongolian nomadic life

Photographer Taemin Ha reflects on a close bond formed over many months of capturing nomadic families.

On the final day of Taemin Ha’s visit to Central Mongolia at the tail end of last summer, he was hauling giant wooden poles and shepherding livestock around the edges of the Terkh White Lake. The South Korean photographer had been staying with and making pictures of a large nomadic family who were distantly related to a friend of Taemin’s from Seoul. With autumn approaching they were moving their temporary homes – called gers – to a new location.

After finding their new spot for the upcoming season and erected the large yurts that they called home, Taemin was sitting on the lush, untouched grass with two of the family’s young boys, when they suddenly got up and ran down to the stream. Playing with the water, one of the boys, named Amarbayar, lay down on the bank and started splashing and washing his face. As he did so, Taemin crouched down and flicked the shutter on his camera.

“That was a really memorable moment for me,” Taemin recalls. Unable to speak Mongolian, and likewise with the family unable to speak Korean, it was a moment of connection that transcended language barriers. “And then after that photo they wanted me to take more photos of them, so they tried different things without telling me like posing or doing crazy things in the water. Since it was the last day of my summer trip, I felt like our intimacy and bond had been made.”

That picture is now part of his new photographic series The White Lake of Terkh River. Created over a series of three trips in the past 18 months, Taemin spent months living with Amarbayar’s extended family – which was separated into four smaller families – helping them farm the land and look after the livestock, while documenting his time with them. Every three months, as a new season came in, they would move their gers to a different patch of land, all centred around the Terkh White Lake in search of fresh grazing patches for the sheep and cows, while staying within easy-to-reach distance of the nearest village, where their children would attend school and they would sell their produce.

From photographing the nearest village blanketed in snow to capturing the joyful lives of the children, the pictures are an intimate glimpse into the daily lives of the pastoral, semi-nomadic family, as well as life in the depths of rural Mongolia, with the nearest city – Mongolia’s capital Ulaanbaatar – roughly 14 hours away by car. In the process, he captured how they were navigating and blending old ways of life with 21st century modernity.

“When my friend told me about them, I imagined a traditional nomadic life,” Taemin explains. “But when I lived with them, it was interesting because I felt like it was in between super old, traditional cultures and modern-day life – for instance they still work in those nomadic ways, but in education their children would stay in the village on weekdays and visit the family on weekends.”

While with the family, Taemin would split his time with the adults working the land and staying with the children in the village. With no one to cook or do basic chores for them, the children were forced to adapt quickly and learn how to look after one another. “I was really surprised,” he says. “They were really independent, not because they wanted to but because they [had] to be. Four or five children lived there on weekdays and when I expressed that I was hungry, they just started cooking for me – they already knew how to do the parenting and they really took care of me.”

The dynamic would lead to Taemin forming a close bond with them, which shines through in the photographs. In the end, spotlighting their intimacy and humanity of the children and extended family turned into the focus of the project. “There are so many documentary photo series about Mongolia – landscapes, huge nature, traditional clothing, animals etc.,” he continues. “When I looked back at the photos I realised I focused more on the family themselves. The traditions and Mongolia were not the first priority – I wanted to focus on the relationship between me and the family themselves.”

Photographs from The White Lake of Terkh River can be seen on Taemin Ha’s Instagram.

Follow Isaac on Twitter.

Enjoyed this article? Like Huck on Facebook or follow us on Twitter.

Latest on Huck

Sport

Is the UK ready for a Kabaddi boom?

Kabaddi, Kabaddi, Kabaddi — Watched by over 280 million in India, the breathless contact sport has repeatedly tried to grip British viewers. Ahead of the Kabaddi World Cup being held in Wolverhampton this month, Kyle MacNeill speaks to the gamechangers laying the groundwork for a grassroots scene.

Written by: Kyle MacNeill

Culture

One photographer’s search for her long lost father

Decades apart — Moving to Southern California as a young child, Diana Markosian’s family was torn apart. Finding him years later, her new photobook explores grief, loss and connection.

Written by: Miss Rosen

Culture

As DOGE stutters, all that remains is cringe

Department of Gargantuan Egos — With tensions splintering the American right and contemporary rap’s biggest feud continuing to make headlines, newsletter columnist Emma Garland explains how fragile male egos stand at the core of it all.

Written by: Emma Garland

Culture

Photo essay special: Despite pre-Carnival anxiety, Mardi Gras 2025 was a joyous release for New Orleans

A city celebrates — Following a horrific New Year’s Day terror attack and forecasts for extreme weather, the Louisiana city’s marquee celebration was pre-marked with doubt. But the festival found a city in a jubilant mood, with TBow Bowden there to capture it.

Written by: Isaac Muk

Sport

From his skating past to sculpting present, Arran Gregory revels in the organic

Sensing Earth Space — Having risen to prominence as an affiliate of Wayward Gallery and Slam City Skates, the shredder turned artist creates unique, temporal pieces out of earthly materials. Dorrell Merritt caught up with him to find out more about his creative process.

Written by: Dorrell Merritt

Music

In Bristol, pub singers are keeping an age-old tradition alive

Ballads, backing tracks, beers — Bar closures, karaoke and jukeboxes have eroded a form of live music that was once an evening staple, but on the fringes of the southwest’s biggest city, a committed circuit remains.

Written by: Fred Dodgson

Signup to our newsletter

Sign up to stay informed from the cutting edge of sport, music and counterculture, with personal takes on the state of media and pop culture in your inbox every month from Emma Garland, former Digital Editor of Huck, exclusive interviews, recommendations and more.

Please wait...