A stunning photo essay by an award-winning young photographer, Newsha Tavakolian's lens shows the Islamic pilgrimage from a fresh perspective.

Newsha Tavakolian is a self-taught photographer who started her professional life at 16 years old. She went on to have her material published internationally and win awards with such prestigious journals as the National Geographic Magazine. She is the founder of the women's magazine, Zan, and later worked for nine other reformist dailies, all since banned in her native Iran.