Iran is a dream land for photographers. Landscapes, monuments, scenes of life, Iran is vast, and the restrictions mentioned below should in no way slow down your enthusiasm. You can easily bring your cameras (compact, bridge or SLR with several lenses), but drones are subject to authorization.
- It is prohibited to photograph military sites, official buildings (Ministries, etc.), embassies, strategic or sensitive sites (nuclear sites, banks, train stations).
- Permission is required for certain locations, for example shopping malls, some museums (note that it is not possible to obtain permission to photograph in the Jewel Museum in Tehran) and the interior of some pilgrimage mausoleums.
- There are specific cases: you cannot bring a camera into the pilgrimage shrines of Mashhad and Qom, but you can take photos there with a mobile phone.
- Iranians love selfies and taking pictures of each other, but it is best to ask a person’s permission to photograph them, especially women.
- You can photograph freely in the streets, but in certain cases with caution, especially in Tehran, the capital, and therefore a strategic and sensitive city: it is best to be accompanied by an Iranian.
- If you want to take photographs in the wilderness, it is recommended (and in fact almost necessary) to have a guide, as a seemingly desert location may turn out to be a military site.
You will bring back a harvest of images from any trip to Iran, but we also organize tailor-made photographic trips with Iranian photographers.
