Mirroring the sky, Kokshaal-Too mountains, Kyrgyzstan, 2021. Fujifilm GFX100S, FUJINON GF45-100mmF4 R LM OIS WR, Singh-Ray LB circular polarizer, Really Right Stuff TVC-24L tripod, Arca-Swiss D4 geared head. Exposure: 2.5 secs., ƒ/11, ISO 100. In a far-off corner of Central Asia, as far from an ocean as one can get, lies the Kyrgyz Republic, a little-known Silk Road nation about the size of Nebraska. My wife, Lena, was born and raised in this former Soviet republic, also known as Kyrgizia or Kyrgyzstan, and the childhood stories she shared with me conjured visions of a post-communist Shangri-La, surely too good to be true. In summer of 2015, we set aside a few weeks to explore her homeland together so I could see...