[ Images of Khomeini in Qom near his birthplace. 2017] In few places in the country I felt as intimidated as when I took this picture a few meters from the birthplace of the leader of the revolution. Unlike the rest of the portraits, cold, industrial, that can be seen in the rest of the country, in this facade there was something more, there was dedication, there was warmth, there was idolatry in its execution.

[ Mullahs in full religious ecstasy during a holiday. Chahar Bagh Medersa in Isfahan. 2017 ] It was the end of a liturgy that had been going on for about an hour and from the loudspeakers of the Chahar Bagh Madrasa in Isfahan one could hear with maximum intensity the exhortations of the "moins al-boka" - the helper of tears - that had brought everyone present to paroxysm. Among so much wailing and moaning, I noticed the attitude of the child in the background who, between frightened and abstracted, did not seem to understand what he was seeing around him.

[ Night prayer, male area . Complex of the Holy Mausoleum of Imam Reza. Holy City of Mashad 2017 ]

[ Women praying in the outdoor area reserved exclusively for them, within the complex of Chahar Bagh madrasa . Isfahan , Iran . 2017 ] The first time I entered the Chahar Bagh Madrasah was by chance and attracted by its magnificent architecture; I did not know that in a few hours a collective celebration would take place in honor of a Shiite martyr. The omnipresent black color, the collective chanting and individual wailing, of the men from the madrasah and of the women under awnings outside, soon hid the splendor of the building that was now just a mere decoration. There, at that moment, you could close your eyes and, surrounded by fervor and religious ecstasy, you could feel like one more among them all, you could understand how important is for the human being the feeling of belonging to a group and how that feeling can condition his whole life.

[ Night prayer, mixed zone . Young girls in their special chadors for prayer. Complex of the Holy Mausoleum of Imam Reza in the holy city of Mashad , 2017. ] Masshad is the main pilgrimage center of Iran. Literally rivers of black chadors move from their respective hotels to the Mausoleum of Imam Reza. Everything seems special at the Mausoleum, the thousands of pilgrims, the ostentatious lighting, the gold coatings on domes and minarets, the ungodly hours at which these gatherings take place. And permeating this magnificent setting is the religious fervor, the direct and silent communication with God, like that of these teenage girls dressed in the special chador for prayer.

[ Women and girls praying inside the Holy Mausoleum of Fatima complex in the holy city of Qom. Qom 2017. ]

[ Women pilgrims leaving the Khomeini Mausoleum . South Tehran. 2017. ]

[ Interior of the Mausoleum of Fatima in the holy city of Qom. 2017 ] Three women under the indispensable black chador asking advice from a mullah.

[ Young girl from Isfahan walking along the upper arcade of Khaju Brigde at sunset . Isfahan 2017. ] While I was enjoying the play of shadows that the sun draws at sunset, I wondered if that view would make today's Khaju Bridge recognizable. I thought that the same play of shadows would have been seen by thousands of people over the past 450 years. Suddenly she entered the scene through one of the side doors of the passageway. I couldn't see her face, but the image of the anonymous chador cutting the shadows of the arches unusually dated the image. It was The Khaju Bridge at the time of Khomeini's Islamic Republic.

[ Latest fashion . Isfahan Bazaar . 2017 ]

[ Family in black. Kashan Bazaar. 2018 ] Just moments before, I had seen this entire family strolling through the narrow streets of the bazaar. Their black silhouettes outlined against the lighted entrance to the bazaar would have gone unnoticed if it hadn't been for the small silhouettes of the two little girls dressed in chadors just like their mother. A little later I found them among the crowd again, surrounded on all four sides by black chadors.

[ A white dream. Wedding dresses in Kashan 2017 ] It was nighttime and the shop window illuminated the street by itself. It was a refreshing white image that stood out on its own in a world dressed in black. A badly parked car prevented me from getting in the right spot for the shot, so I decided to wait. During the wait this woman approached from the right and spent a few minutes looking intently at the wedding gown in the center of the window. She slowly turned and walked back meditatively to the right, the way she had come. I fired just then.

[ Private life, public life. The object of desire (I) . Bazaar of Isfahan 2017 ] It took me a while to get used to images like this one where the omnipresent chadors gave up their prominence. Forced by the sharia to wear chadors in public places, Iranian women show their double life by frequenting, almost convulsively, western clothes stores, clothes that they will never be able to wear outside their homes. They remained static as they looked up in a self-absorbed way. At the moment I took the shot I had the feeling that they were doing more than just looking at a pretty western dress.

[ Private life, public life. The object of desire (II) . Bazaar of Isfahan . 2017 ]

[ Private life , public life . The object of desire (III). Isfahan Bazaar 2017 ] The Isfahan bazaar was almost empty at that time, perhaps that is why I could stop to watch this girl. She was looking and touching with such delight those dresses that it seemed that she was not shopping. At the moment I took the shot I had the feeling that that girl was dreaming.

[ The elongated shadow of the chadors. Women "chadori" on the beaches of the Caspian Sea. Bandar Anzali. 2017 ] I was sitting with my back to the sea chatting over some teas offered to me by some lifeguards. We were joking about the difference between Iranian and Spanish beaches and they showed a special interest in the nudist beaches. As we continued the conversation, one of them, the most talkative, gestured, very excited, for me to look back. I had been in Iran for some time and had a good dose of chador on my retina... bur still I grabbed my camera and, with almost no time to frame, I shot.