From Istanbul to Teheran through the mountains.

How would we do it? When we first set off, we weren’t too sure. What we had was an extremely rough itinerary of the countries and mountains we would cross, a vague idea of the regions and cultures ahead, and the unpredictability of our modes of transport, the visas, and linguistic barriers.

A constantly developing path to be walked with an open mind and a tent on our shoulders. Hiking and hitch-hiking whenever and wherever possible to get as close as possible to the lived experiences of the people we would come across.

We would make our way across the Anatolian, Armenian and Iranian plateaus, hiking our way over the mountain ranges, walking along the same transhumance trails used by shepherds for thousands of years, crossing our paths, literally, with an immense spectrum of cultures, languages and religions.

The purpose was to get us off the beaten track and see these countries from a new perspective.

We wanted to tell through photographs and words a different story. In a region too often associated with wars, horrific genocides, political oppression and widespread underdevelopment and poverty we decided to try and focus on and highlight the positives. Not by downplaying and closing our eyes to the harsh realities we would encounter; on the contrary, our mission was to bring out the incredible stories of resilience, the powerful hopes for brighter futures and the flashes of inspiring humanity to be found in the most unexpected places.

It would be hypocritical to say we always found all these at all times. Nevertheless, discouraging moments were few and far between and wholly eclipsed by the overwhelming positive experiences of hospitality, kindness, curiosity and beauty we encountered.