FOLLOW THE LOVE

AS TRAVELLERS, MOST OF US HAVE SEEN THE INCREDIBLE COUPLE IMAGES WHERE ONE PARTNER LEADS THE OTHER TO AN INCREDIBLE DESTINATION. RUSSIA-BASED PHOTOGRAPHER MURAD OSMANN AND HIS WIFE NATALY OSMANN PIONEERED THIS INSTAGRAM TREND IN 2011. TEN YEARS, THREE INSTAGRAM ACCOUNTS, AND OVER THREE MILLION FOLLOWERS LATER, THE MAN BEHIND THE CAMERA GETS CANDID ABOUT THE INCEPTION OF #FOLLOWMETO, THE LIFE OF AN INFLUENCER COUPLE, TRAVELLING WITH A BABY, AND THEIR NEW PROJECTS.

- ADILA MATRA

How and when did you get into photography and Instagram?

Both Nataly and I registered on Instagram at the end of 2010. I was into social media and photography websites that would act like galleries for a photographer. After failing my first year in Civil Engineering at Imperial College London, I moved back to Moscow for a year to study so that I could reattempt my exam. And I did. But in that year, I had taught myself photography, and when I finally graduated, I decided not to pursue engineering.

Tell us about the inception of the #followmeto series and how you choose your destinations.

We often say that we are pensioners of Instagram (laughs). Our series started from a spontaneous photo we took in Barcelona 10 years ago. And now we are here—a huge audience on social media (across three Instagram accounts @muradosmann, @natalyosmann, and @followmeto), several books, our own TV show, and a lot of different businesses around this project. At the core of it lies our passion for each other and travelling. This is what the #followmeto project is all about—love, travel, passion, culture, exploration, and adventure. Nataly stands with her back towards the viewer, kind of blocking the central composition. But this composition invites the viewer to be more adventurous and imagine that he/she is travelling with us.

We both have items in our bucket lists that we try to check off. It seems like we have been everywhere, but since we both work in Moscow, we cannot travel 365 days a year. We still haven’t been to places like Australia, Argentina, Peru, Iceland, New Zealand, South Africa, and many more. You also have to explore countries and research their cultures. You cannot say that you’ve been to France if you have been to Paris only.