“Found her in the form of Ashol Pan, the daughter of an experienced eagle hunter around Han Gohadok, which is south of Ulgii. She was perfect. I was amazed by her comfort and ease as she began handling the grand eagle for the first time in her life. She was fearlessly carrying it on her hand and caressing it somewhat joyfully.”

1. The Future Eagle
Hunters of Mongolia

3. “Tradition-wise, when a boy turns 13, and he’s strong enough to
carry the weight of a grown eagle, his father starts training him
in the ancient hunting technique. They say, that in the Kazakh
tradition, there’s over a thousand ways of training and hunting
using the eagle, and each family masters their own special
technique. Irka Bolen was the perfect beginning to my project,
since I wasn’t dealing with an eagle hunter – but rather with a
small boy embarking on the quest of learning the ways of his
tradition. In my work with Irka Bolen I found it to be important
that I show his training alongside his father on the mountain
tops.”

14. “Found her in the form of Ashol Pan, the daughter of an
experienced eagle hunter around Han Gohadok, which is
south of Ulgii. She was perfect. I was amazed by her
comfort and ease as she began handling the grand eagle
for the first time in her life. She was fearlessly carrying it
on her hand and caressing it somewhat joyfully.”