Earlier this year, Getty Images asked the photographer John Moore if he wanted to see how open Iran’s new president was to Western news media. Mr. Moore, a senior staff photographer for Getty, was game. He had been there once — 10 years ago — to cover parliamentary elections. This time, Getty encouraged him to follow his own interests and itinerary. He decided on a road trip.

Mr. Moore, who is based in New York, has won numerous awards, including the Robert Capa award from the Overseas Press Club in 2007. Now on the road in Iran, here’s his report.

I couldn’t imagine a better place for a road trip than through central Iran. I had been to this country only once before, and then just to Tehran to cover a parliamentary election. I had wanted to return, but was kept busy the last decade with Iraq, Afghanistan and elsewhere before journalist visas to Americans were suspended for four years by then-President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

With the new Iranian president Hassan Rouhani’s pro-Western attitude, a window opened. In fact, the Iranian Mission to the United Nations said my visa would take only two weeks. I thought that sounded too good to be true.

It was.

Three months later, I had given up waiting. Of course, that’s right when I got an email saying that my visa had been approved, but just for one week. I finished up an assignment in eastern Ukraine, went back to New York City to drop off my body armor and withdraw a large wad of cash (American credit cards don’t work in Iran) and flew over.

For this trip, I wanted to examine daily life outside of Tehran, where I had concentrated only on politics a decade before. Through an agency that facilitates press trips, I scheduled a weeklong road trip passing through some of the most incredible and historic scenery anywhere. I met up in Shiraz with Amir, a translator with a penchant for American idioms, and Mahmoud, a driver who has worked with the international media for 25 years — and who bears a remarkable resemblance to Robert De Niro.

We started in Shiraz, famous for its Persian culture, poetry and progressive attitudes. Straight off, I was reminded just how nice people here are to visitors. It seems nonintuitive, but, after getting past the initial shock, people on the street are generally delighted to meet Americans. And more important, they enjoy being photographed — which is not the case in most of the Middle East.

After a day, we hit the road through the arid mountains toward the northeast and the ancient desert town of Yazd, famous for massive rooftop wind towers, which catch the slightest breeze and funnel it down into homes as a natural air-conditioning system. I realized, sadly, that most attempts at outdoor photography during the hot season are basically fruitless between the hours of 9 a.m. and almost 6 p.m. People simply stay indoors to escape the heat, and the light is brutal. Instead, I concentrated on indoor scenes and then manically worked outside in the evening.

Photo

Next, we made the long drive northwest to Iran’s historic former capital of Isfahan, where the incredible central square is the largest in the world after Tiananmen in Beijing. Its reflective pools, mosques and families enjoying the sunset were a pleasure to photograph. Here, more than anywhere on the trip, I tried to show the joy of life many maintain, despite the tough economic conditions because of international sanctions. Inflation remains sky-high, and the sanctions have only been partly and temporarily eased during nuclear enrichment negotiations between Iran and the West.

Still, there is a massive new shopping mall partly under construction on the town’s outskirts. From a distance, I photographed a couple having a discussion that turned into an argument. When Amir whispered to me the translation that the man had yelled at her, “Why didn’t you call the police,” we decided to quietly take our leave.

We then drove to Qom, the bastion of conservative Islam in Iran and the former home of Ayatollah Khomeini. Although I wasn’t permitted to enter the holy shrine, I was able to visit Khomeini’s house, which was spartan. Pilgrims to the home prayed in the living room. The cleric in charge offered us each a coconut cookie.

Photo

I’m now headed to Tehran to cover a big public event commemorating the 25th anniversary of Khomeini’s death. Today on the highway I saw buses bringing in people from all over the country for the event, so it should be quite a spectacle at the Khomeini shrine. Tens of thousands of people are expected to cram around the site in remembrance and mourning of the architect of Iran’s Islamic Revolution and whose portraits are ever-present in every village, town and city.

Despite the problems of this place and its government’s troubled relationship with the West, interacting with the people here is a singular pleasure, leaving me wanting more than just a week of scenic road. I hope the window doesn’t close.

Follow Lens on Facebook and Twitter.