My Big Break

1990 Northern Mongolia Nikon FM2

On expedition in Outer Mongolia

Within three months of completing his Documentary Photography course at the University of Wales, Newport, Paul Harris was standing in the Gobi Desert with the explorer Tim

Severin. He had photographed Severin as part of a final-year project comprising portraits of British explorers. “I sent the pictures to Tim and he sent a letter back, thanking me, but also talking about what he was planning in Mongolia.” In his letter the explorer asked Paul if he knew of any photographers for his journey. “I rang him up and said, ‘Tim, I’ve got just the man for you. Me!’ Which is what I think he had in mind.”

It was 1990 and Severin, who had already contributed to National Geographic, hoped to gain the magazine’s backing for this adventure. Paul recalls: “They didn’t go for it because the Berlin Wall came down, and all these big stories were coming out of Russia.”

An initial two-week trip to Mongolia revealed a country still influenced by the legend of Genghis Khan. So, despite

National Geographic’s cool response, the men returned to Mongolia to search for the tomb of Genghis Khan. “Tim had heard stories that he had been buried in a province north of Ulan Bator, so the plan was to mount this expedition that would climb this sacred mountain, Burkhan Kaldun, close to where they thought Genghis Khan was buried.” On the journey Paul encountered this man and his family erecting a yurt. “Neither of us had seen a yurt being erected, but it showed us the speed with which one of these houses could be put up. I think they did it in less than an hour.”

Two months and 375 rolls of Velvia film later, Paul left Mongolia with only the prospect of Severin’s book, In Search of Genghis Khan, providing a use for his pictures. Eventually, in 1996, the Swiss magazine Animan published 18 of his photos. But it was a chance encounter with a couple of telephone engineers in Ulan Bator that led to the most lucrative breakthrough: “I was contacted by a stock library at the start of the trip asking for pictures of technology being introduced in remote countries. In the hotel I was staying there were a couple of Cable & Wireless engineers installing a new telephone system.” Paul photographed them and sent the pictures to Cable & Wireless. “Someone called and said, would I like to shoot some pictures for them? So, I had my first corporate client!”