Mongolia is searching for its identity as it undergoes modernization. Here, models wait backstage after the Gobi cashmere fashion show in Ulaanbaatar on Oct. 16, 2009.
20 years after the fall of communism, Mongolia is at a crossroads to the future, despite vast resource riches and a historic mining deal passed by parliament. Above, miners return to the surface after a hard day's work in the gold and copper mine at Oyu Tolgoi, in the Gobi Desert, on June 25, 2010.
After twenty years of democracy, one-third of Mongolians live below the poverty line, unemployment is rising, and many residents in Ulan Bator, the gritty capital, live in yurt slums, many without basic services. Here, a woman walks through a park in Erdenet on July 14, 2010.
Young women ride the bus in Ulaanbaatar on Oct. 13, 2009.
Alcoholism, domestic abuse and homelessness are some of the many problems the country faces. Here, an inmate peers through his cell at the boy's prison in Ulaanbaatar on June 28, 2010.
Mongolian tourists pose for pictures at Zaisan monument, Ulaanbaatar, on June 20, 2010.
Independent miners, aka "ninjas," play pool on a worksite near Uyanga on June 17, 2010.
Teenagers swim in the Tuul River in Ulaanbaatar on June 27, 2010.
A child takes a spin on a ride at Ulaanbaatar's Buddhist monument park on June 27, 2010.
Three Mongolian men walk past an Armani store in Ulaanbaatar on June 29, 2010.
A Mongolian woman walks alone at night through the streets of Ulaanbaatar, on June 29, 2010.
A 13-year-old Buddhist monk has his head shaved by another monk at the Gandan Monastery in Ulaanbaatar on July 6, 2010.
Funeral musicians take a break at the Altan Ulgii cemetery in Ulaanbaatar on July 2, 2010.
A boy ties up a horse in Bugat on July 4, 2010.
Two women, wearing wings to promote a perfume, walk along Peace Avenue in Ulaanbaatar on July 1.
