New Zealand photographer Amos Chapple has made three reporting trips to Iran since 2011. He visited areas that he described as "stupendously photogenic" but was more interested in uncovering unfamiliar facets of Iranian society. He said that every foreigner he met was taken aback to find that the real Iran differs greatly from the way it is depicted in the Western media. One of the greatest surprises for Chapple was that although the government continues to incite anti-Western sentiment, he felt nothing but goodwill from ordinary Iranians. (21 PHOTOS)
'Stupendously Photogenic' Iran
- By Amos Chapple
1
Clouds over a village in the mountainous borderlands with Iraq, near the site where three American hikers were arrested in 2009
2
A shepherd leads his flock out to pasture in the mountains on the Iran-Iraq border.
3
The Vakil Mosque in Shiraz attracts a slow trickle of visitors. Although tourism is on the increase, Western tourists make up only 10 percent of the total. One tour guide told Chapple that Westerners are scared away by the Iranian government's fierce rhetoric.
4
A slogan on the wall of the former U.S. Embassy in Tehran. Murals like this one are at odds with statistics showing that despite ongoing U.S. sanctions, more Iranians feel positively about America than do Turks or Indians.
