Thelife
- New York-based photographer Frédéric Lagrange has visited Mongolia 13 times over the last 17 years, traversing the country in every season to capture stunning photographs of the people and the landscape.
- In Mongolia, Lagrange has experienced extreme weather, had his life saved thanks to the Mongolian army, and seen the country evolve and develop tremendously.
- Lagrange has collected his nearly two decades worth of work into a limited-edition book to be published in November. He launched a Kickstarter this week as a pre-sale of the book.
New York-based photographer Frédéric Lagrange first heard about Mongolia as a child.
His grandfather would tell him stories about World War II, when served in the French army and was a prisoner of war in Germany. In 1944, a detachment of Mongolian soldiers under Soviet command freed Lagrange's grandfather, who described the terror the German soldiers showed when they saw the soldiers. Ever since, Lagrange has been fascinated with the country and was resolved to visit it.
He got his first chance in August 2001, taking an entire month off his job as a photographer's assistant to visit the remote country. He was immediately taken with the landscape and the people, but, most of all, he told Business Insider, he was taken with "the incredible, overwhelming stillness of the place."
In the 17 years since, he has visited Mongolia 13 times, traversing the entirety of the country in winter, summer, fall, and spring.
"There is a stillness and a quietness that I found quite captivating at the time," Lagrange said. "It's a very meditative state. You feel the presence and the moments way stronger than back in the US or anywhere else."
A limited-edition book of Lagrange's 17-year exploration of Mongolia will be published by Italian publisher Damiani in November. Lagrange launched a Kickstarter this week as a pre-sale of the book, which you can check out here »