Iran

Holy cow! I was born in iran, left when I was 11, these photos are like a blast from the past, I m just floored, thanks so much for sharing, did you make to Shiraz, that is where I was born.
 
Thread back from the dead! Thanks so much for your kind words guys. I'm actually not personally very happy with the final set. Mostly due to the sheer amount of photos, lacks coherency I think. Will need to go through the toughest part of editing them down, so hopefully they'll make sense as a set.

In the meantime let me take this opportunity to post more :)

(Loneranger - I didn't make it to Shiraz. I tried to limit places I visited so I could stay in each a little longer to make better sense where I am. There'll be next time though).


























































 
hi again phantomas! very nice images of iran. very inspiring...
good thing a friend of mine sent me this link! haven't been here lately.

i'm living in iran now with my family.. i'm in ilam, iran (near iraq border). it's a good place (lots of photo op for landscape and streets) but
i find it uneasy to take pictures here.
because ilam is a small city, people seems to know each other. we are always centre of attraction everytime we walkaround. :bang: :D hopefully next time i could shoot outside without worrying. :eek: i will definately try your tips! :)

i've been in tehran for a few times but didn't able to check shops. can you share those places that sells old cams / leica stuff? i might visit there again soon. could you pm me shop name or address? :)

thank you very much! hope to see more beautiful images from your trip in iran.
 
These are simply wonderful photographs, both technically and aesthetically--thank you for sharing. Your portraits, in particular, are stunning, but the whole set is inspiring.
 
tenderobject said:
because ilam is a small city, people seems to know each other. we are always centre of attraction everytime we walkaround. :bang: :D hopefully next time i could shoot outside without worrying. :eek: i will definately try your tips! :)

i've been in tehran for a few times but didn't able to check shops. can you share those places that sells old cams / leica stuff? i might visit there again soon. could you pm me shop name or address? :)

thank you very much! hope to see more beautiful images from your trip in iran.
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It's interesting that people shy away from shooting when they are "center of attention", because that actually makes shooting easier from me. When people stare at me I find it easier to approach them make small talk and shoot. It's when I'm ignored when I don't know what their reaction might be. In such cases I actually try to catch people's attention. I'm not very good at candid.

About the shops, really don't remember their names and addresses, but when you're in the Bazar, exit from the main North entrance and head up north towards Khomeini sq. All shops are next to each other (in Tehran similar specialty stores stick together, so you will find a few of them when you find one). Ask outside Bazar where the photo stores are. Should be 5-10 mins walk. Once again - pries are higher than most of the rest of the world, but you will find a very broad selection of equipment we like here on RFF. Good luck.

PS: also remember that most Iranian's are well aware of their "bad reputation" abroad through media. Being foreigner there gives you sort of a credit of being open minded - you ignored those reports and went there to check it out yourself anyway. That makes you cool in their eyes, so use that for your benefit.
 
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Phantomas, I also wanted to say what a wonderful series of images these are. I have "lazily" favourited a couple over on Flickr, and will add a more meaningful response or two in the coming days, as they deserve more than a little pink star.
Iran looks like an amazingly rich place to shoot.
 
Phantomas said:
It's interesting that people shy away from shooting when they are "center of attention", because that actually makes shooting easier from me. When people stare at me I find it easier to approach them make small talk and shoot. It's when I'm ignored when I don't know what their reaction might be. In such cases I actually try to catch people's attention. I'm not very good at candid.

About the shops, really don't remember their names and addresses, but when you're in the Bazar, exit from the main North entrance and head up north towards Khomeini sq. All shops are next to each other (in Tehran similar specialty stores stick together, so you will find a few of them when you find one). Ask outside Bazar where the photo stores are. Should be 5-10 mins walk. Once again - pries are higher than most of the rest of the world, but you will find a very broad selection of equipment we like here on RFF. Good luck.

PS: also remember that most Iranian's are well aware of their "bad reputation" abroad through media. Being foreigner there gives you sort of a credit of being open minded - you ignored those reports and went there to check it out yourself anyway. That makes you cool in their eyes, so use that for your benefit.
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phantomas, thank you very much for all the tips! i guess you were right.. i can't wait to go out and shoot.

i will ask my wife about Khomenie sq in tehran if she is familiar. hope i could visit there asap. i need to get a hold of new stuff to keep me sane :D. oh did you manage to see some developing stuff in tehran also? i'm having problem here in our city for my films. since i didn't bring my dev kits here. i need someone to have my films esp. black and white developed.

thanks again man!
 
Since we already have a thread going, I thought I would just add to it. A friend and I recently crossed Iran from South to North, coming in by sea through Bander-Abbas and leaving from Tehran. The earthquake in Van forcing us to reconsider our exit strategy.

In any case, it was a really great trip, and I hope to be back sooner than later.

One of the first shots in Iran. A quick prayer break in the middle of the desert on the night bus to Shiraz. Lots of security checkpoints looking for smugglers. We probably got stopped a dozen time in almost as many hours of travel.

20111018_00_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

A back street encounter in Shiraz, this guy and his co-workers friends from a furniture shop would not let us go until they had exchanged the adequate amount of nonsensical words with us. In general people where very exited to see foreigners (not much blending in on my part, being blond and blue-eyed), especially in the south. A little show and tell. Him and his friend showed me their tattoos (his friend had a dragon on his back, him showing the Zoroastrian god), and we showed him ours. Our first encounter with the original Persian faith.

20111019A_04_REX by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

They were not many car brands around. I only spotted 3 foreign ones: Renault, for personal cars, Scania/Volvo for fancy bus traveling, and old Mercedes, for all things truck and some inland buses.

20111022_25_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr
 
morback said:
They were not many car brands around. I only spotted 3 foreign ones: Renault, for personal cars, Scania/Volvo for fancy bus traveling, and old Mercedes, for all things truck and some inland buses.
20111022_25_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr
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The "old Mercedes" are actually often new and built under license, especially the Iran Khodro buses - if you look at the plaque next to the exit, you can see when the bus was actually built.
 
Wonderful, courageous and beautiful work. I hope other people beyond camera geeks (and I say that in the nicest way) get to see these photos of Iran's ordinary flesh-and-blood people, before some other people decide to bomb them. This is where photojournalism is so critical. I hope you are finding other outlets for this excellent and important work.
 
Well, I'm working on outlets. But it's kinda hard if you refuse to label yourself a photojournalist or don't have an artist statement that is about social causes and such. Ideally I'd like my work to be demagoguery free, at least from me. Others can see what they like. I'm not much for pointing fingers and throwing stones. I just like people(s).

...and things...

20111023B_01_REX by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

...and people looking at things...

20111018_21_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

...and things looking at people...

20111017_15_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

Happy New Year!

m.
 
I would love to visit Iran. I have friends there who are students or teachers, and they are among the best people I know. Communication is sometimes difficult due to restrictions on the Internet, but I have learned alot about Iran from them. Unfortunately, Iran and the US have long been at odds with each other, so visiting Iran is out of the question for me.
 
Frontman said:
I would love to visit Iran. I have friends there who are students or teachers, and they are among the best people I know. Communication is sometimes difficult due to restrictions on the Internet, but I have learned alot about Iran from them. Unfortunately, Iran and the US have long been at odds with each other, so visiting Iran is out of the question for me.
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Unless you're a nuclear physicist or are in homeland security I don't see what's should hold you back? As a sidenote, that's the exact reason why I did not send a postcard to my Brother and his wife. That and the fact that there were barely any postcards to be bought.

I personally believe that politics is best left to politicians; ideally in a self contained environment where they can fight their own feuds with their own hands.

I cannot deny I had doubts when I was sitting in that cardboard container in Dubai/Sharjah, waiting for passport control ect... But having a total stranger just give me the missing 35 dirhams to have my luggage put on the boat and then the friendly excitement you're met with once in Bandar-Abbas was enough to make me forget about the world outside and their woes.

In Esfahan/Isfahan I met a gentleman that paints camel bones, tiles, boxes and fingernails (still attached to a living person). In the off-season of Christmas, he rents a booth in the Kapalı Çarşı/Grand Bazaar of Istanbul. There's a lot of trade for tourist wares between Turkey and Iran. Especially carpets: they are bought much cheaper in Iran and sold more expensive in Turkey. Or so they say...

20111025_06_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

In Persepolis I had the honor to be the main attraction for a busload of girls from a science university. Still waiting for the email with the pictures...

20111019B_27_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr

These gentlemen where busy selling dyes in the Esfahan bazaar. I took a couple of pictures from outside and then noticed their hands which were covered in many different pigments. They declined my request to photograph their colorful phalanges. That was the first rejection, halfway through the trip.

20111023B_09_ZI+SC by Martin N. Hinze, on Flickr
 
morback said:
Unless you're a nuclear physicist or are in homeland security I don't see what's should hold you back?
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Nice photos Morback!

Don't mean to discourage anyone, but last time I was there I believe US citizens needed to hire an official guide to acompany them throughout their trip. This applied to Americans and (in my memory) to Canadians and possibly other country nationals. Not sure how strict this requirement is though. I haven't met any Americans during my travels there.
 
Phantomas said:
Nice photos Morback!

Don't mean to discourage anyone, but last time I was there I believe US citizens needed to hire an official guide to acompany them throughout their trip. This applied to Americans and (in my memory) to Canadians and possibly other country nationals. Not sure how strict this requirement is though. I haven't met any Americans during my travels there.
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I think you're right. I remember something about US citizens & Canadians, or British.

Marry a foreign national, get a backup passport!
:D
 
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