"Humans of New York" Photographer Travels to Iran

Recently I have been following a photographer who keeps a blog/organization called "Humans of New York." Brandon, the photographer, walks the streets of the city, taking portraits of people he finds interesting. Recently, Brandon visited Iran for the first time. Following his work on Facebook, I saw that after returning to the US, he made a post starting "ON TRAVEL TO IRAN:"
This post mentioned that "The US government advises against all travel to Iran." I found this interestimg because in America, there tends to be a negative connotation with Middle Eastern countries because of the War on Terror. Many people are probably afraid to travel to Iran and the government just reinforces this fear with the travel warnings.

On the other hand, Brandon from Humans of New York tells his audience to take the government's advice with a grain of salt. He said, "You can greatly enjoy a country, while at the same time disagreeing with it’s government." Brandon's work reflects his ideas. All of the pictures on his blog are of people in Iran. Based on his posts, he learned a lot about Iranian culture while experiencing it firsthand on his trip. I like that he is encouraging Americans to keep an open mind.  If some Americans faced fears and traveled to countries they are more hesitant about,  they too would experience more culture and traditions of people all over the globe. Knowledge is the first step to understanding. This leads to respecting different cultures, and would elminate much of  the animosity towards them.

Here are the links to the Humans of New York website and Facebook Page.
http://www.humansofnewyork.com/tagged/iran
http://www.facebook.com/humansofnewyork?fref=ts

Here are some of Brandon's photos from his trip: