After a few weeks of talking via email in the middle of the night (Mongolia is 12 hours ahead of our time), I was officially asked to be a volunteer photographer with Stepperiders during my stay in Mongolia! Naturally, I accepted right away but even now the reality is still sinking in.
It started after discovering the company and volunteer experience - Mongolia goes hand in hand with horses, and what better way to truly learn about the country and culture than to live and work with them! They offer two volunteer positions. One is a basic volunteer who's duties including coordinating with the guests on the treks, help with the horses, help out around the camp, etc. The other is actually an assistant manager/volunteer who actually helps in additional elements to run the camp and treks, organizing equipment, and more. Because they are essentially working for the family, they do not have to pay the volunteer fee (though aren't paid anything either.) Being I haven't been around horses since younger and even then it was the occasional ride or two, I wasn't sure how helpful I could be around the camp. Nor did I know which position to try and vie for.
The first thing they resolved was that the lack of horse and horse riding experience would not be a problem - I'd quickly learn and they'll guide me as needed. The longer I can stay and help, the better I will be with the horses. The next item we tackled was which position was best suited for me, after noting some of my strengths and ways I thought I could help out. The extra advantage I had was that due to the mid-Sept start date of the Tibetan trip, I am able to commit to volunteering for at least 6 weeks, if not a full 7. With this in mind, they noted they prefer their assistant/volunteers to stay longer and thus be more useful than those who stay for 1-3 weeks.
The final tipping point came when Nathalie asked me, almost out of the blue, if I can take photographs. I explained that I would consider myself an amateur but have a relatively nice camera and would be willing to undertake such a task. Naturally, I offered to submit some of my best photos for review before they decided. Of course, they asked - yet I hadn't actually gone through and established what my best photographs were!
After spending some time sorting through the photos I have access to digitally, I pulled a little over a hundred into an album to pare down drastically further. With this, I enlisted the help of a good friend, Bekah, who helped pull out 8-10 of the better shots. After some basic editing, with the addition of a couple more photos, I had a nice digital portfolio album to submit. The thing I found interesting was that about half of the photos were taken with either my old Nikon or my iPhone cameras, rather than my Sony a6000!
Here's the link to the Photography Portfolio album:
Photography Portfolio
Unfortunately it took a few days to get the album lined up, and then I didn't hear anything for a few more days - so I started to wonder. Saturday evening, and due to the added of possible plot twist, I emailed Nathalie again to ensure that she was able to access the photos (and make note of the plot twist). Shortly afterwards, I received the email back that yes, she received the link and could view the photos. She was simply waiting for the owners to get back to her on how to proceed. Well, at least I knew that she got the email but back to waiting - attempting to do so patiently.
Then, late Sunday evening I got another email from Nathalie officially asking me to be a volunteer photographer! They actually are going to start me off running, so to speak, as I told them I will be in Ulaanbaatar by July 8, and their Naadam Festival trek starts on the 9th! As this is Mongolia's largest national festival, they want me to go along to take photographs. After that, they are hoping to send me on as many treks as they're able to various locations around Mongolia.
Logistically, she noted they will try to get me into their Ulaanbaator office once a week to do the sorting and editing as there is no power in the actual camp (or on the treks). Which means I definitely need a solar-panel charger good enough to recharge my camera batteries (along with a few extra batteries and memory cards!) I need to make the initial deposit and will be starting off as a regular volunteer, but they will reassess and determine to continue with the plan of using me as an assistant volunteer.
I'm glad that this extended portion of my trek is now confirmed, and am sending the deposit out asap. I now need to brush up and learn some better photo editing skills, along with some extra equipment, but I am already thinking that this has now turned into one of the major highlights of the entire trip!
Lastly, here's a link to their website: Stepperiders
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