I woke up before the alarm finished ringing, layered up, and stepped outside into the cold dawn. The whole sky had opened up, a welcome contrast to the cold and damp evening the day before. The peaks nearby, with a fresh dusting of snow from the prior night's downpour, started to glow in the early morning light. And while it may sound like perfect condition for sunrise photography, freezing winds swept across the vast alpine pasture, and until the sun came through, it was a miserable experience.

Nevertheless, it was special, for what lay in front of me were the vast summer pastures (jailoos) at 3000m (10000ft) around the high alpine lake called the Songkol in Kyrgyzstan. And ringing this 270 sq-km (100 sq-mi) lake were mountains rising another 1500ft, making for an landscape like no other. This is terrain where the horses run free and cattle have a field day. And the only way to get here is on a beat-up dirt road, and the only place to stay is in the traditional yurts set up by the nomadic herders.

I had a field day photographing the awe-inspiring location, and this is one of the morning scenes where the cattle lazily graze in the backdrop of snow-capped peaks.

Songkol
Kyrgyzstan