I was in Mongolia again last month

This time I brought my participants to Western Mongolia for the Golden Eagle Festival

The Golden Eagle Festival is an annual traditional festival held in Bayan-Ölgii , Mongolia. In the festival, Kazakh eagle hunters celebrate their heritage and compete to catch small animals such as foxes and hares with specially trained golden eagles, showing off the skills both of the birds and their trainers. Prizes are awarded for speed, agility and accuracy, as well as for the best traditional Kazakh dress, and more.

The Eagle Festival is held during the first weekend in October. Dark, rocky mountainous terrain forms the backdrop to the festivities, which incorporate an opening ceremony, parade, cultural exhibitions, demonstrations and handcrafts in the centre of the town of Ölgii, followed by sporting activities and competitions 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) outside of town towards the mountain

I have been to this Festival several times in the last few years, and it brought much joy to me everytime.
So this year, armed with a new camera, the FUJIFILM GFX50R, I decided to take more pictures of the Market bazaar at the festival

The Festival is held about 30 – 45 minutes outside the town of Olgii.
With amazing backdrop of Western Mongolia

The bazaar is set up specially during the 2 days of the festival
It has Gers and stalls with the locals selling their local food, or local souvenirs.
The whole setting is amazing

I was using the GF63 mm lens with the GFX50r for the photos here

Being a rangefinder camera, I liked it that it forces the photographer to slow down when we shoot.
Its not meant to be a fast action camera like a DSLR..
As mentioned in an earlier post, this camera is not love at first sight..
But the more I used it, the more I love this camera
Although, the specs are very similar to the GFX50s, but somehow, the GFX50r gives out a very different mood and feel in the pictures
And its the perfect camera for street photography, or people photography.
I want the 50 mp medium format quality, but dun wan the bulkiness of the GFX50s
And I liked the fact that they included the flip screen for this camera ( unlike the XPro2, which does not have it)

AS I walked around the bazaar with the camera, its so easy to shoot with the camera
Focusing and the eye/face detection works great
I do not put the camera on burst mode
I paused, anticipate the scene, took my shot…and moved off
Its very addictive to shoot with this camera.

Of cos the camera would work great in other kind of photography as well,
studio, landcapes etc.. but I think it works best out in the streets, and for general travel photography
Probably not the best for fast action things though, I would use the GFX50s for more fast paced action, like wildlife etc.

Here are some photos taken at the Bazaar during the Festival