interview
interview advent
Interview Advent Day 17 : Murad and Nataly - #FollowMeTo
12/17/2017Jake Ryan
I'm pretty sure everyone who has spent some time on Instagram has seen a photo at some point by Murad and Nataly, the creators behind the hugely successful #FollowMeTo series.
The #FollowMeTo series has inspired millions. And people all around the world have tried to recreate their own version of a #FollowMeTo photo.
I recently asked Murad and Nataly a few questions, see what they had to say below.
Hey, Can you tell us a little about yourself?
Murad: I graduated Imperial College in London, then founded a production company named Hype Pro. Photography has always been my passion, so I took photos just for fun. In Hype Pro, we produce advertisment, films and music videos. One of the films we produced – “The Student” by Kirill Serebrennikov – won the Francois Chalais prize at the Cannes film festival.
Nataly: I work as a columnist in different international magazines, create content for my blog in Instagram and YouTube channel Nataly Osmann. It has been a dream to become a journalist since I was a child.
Can you tell us how you first came up with the idea for FollowMeTo?
Murad: It was never an idea, since the first #FollowMeTo photo was taken accidentally. Nataly and I were in Barcelona, it was our first trip together…
Nataly: It was the beginning of our relationship. Murad kept taking photos, I took his hand and pulled him forward. He captured that moment. We liked how it looked, so we continued taking photos in that style.
Did you expect FollowMeTo to be as a huge hit as it is?
Nataly: Of course we didn't expect that, because we took photos just for fun and posted them for friends.
Murad: We just did what we enjoyed most – travelled and took pictures. Between trips we worked hard to be able to travel.
Do you have a favourite photo you’ve created so far?
Nataly: There are so many favourite locations and photos, so it's difficult to pick one. Photos from India and Lake Baikal are some of the most memorable ones. In Lake Baikal, we were shooting with huskies and malamutes – the funniest shooting so far! You can see the backstage on our YouTube channel FollowMeTo.
Just how much time and effort goes into getting the perfect shot?
Murad: That's a good question. Many people think our job is easy, but it's not like that. It takes a lot of effort, time and energy to make the #FollowMeTo photo.
Nataly: We prepare a lot, before every trip we plan the route, choose locations, costumes. During shooting we work from the dawn, and if we don't get the perfect shot, we come again and again until we get what we came for. Murad is a perfectionist!
Your work has seen you travel the world and visit some incredible destinations, what’s been the most surreal moment you’ve had?
Nataly: We love futuristic cities like Hong Kong, Dubai, Tokyo, Singapore. In places like these, it feels like you’re in the future, and everything looks uncommon, but still interesting.
You’ve inspired millions of people around the world, but where do you find your inspiration?
Murad: It's all about the people. We create photos for our followers, their opinion and attention make us work harder and open more hidden places for them. The idea of #FollowMeTo is to show people the beauty of the world and motivate them. While travelling we meet a lot of new people who also do a lot for us.
Nataly: These people inspire us with their wisdom and kindness. Some of them help us with good advise. We are lucky to meet so many friendly faces all around the globe.
Just how often are you travelling?
Nataly: Minimum twice a month. We never sit in one place, we always work hard and travel to create new content for all our accounts - @followmeto, @muradosmann and @natalyosmann and both our YouTube channels – FollowMeTo and Nataly Osmann.
The list of places you have visited seems almost endless, do you have anywhere you haven’t been yet that you’d love to visit in the next year?
Murad: Of course there are a lot of places we haven't been yet. The more we travel the more places we want to visit. We would like to visit Australia one day!
And finally, what are your dreams and plans for the next year?
Nataly: As I already said, we have Youtube channel FollowMeTo where we post series about our trips. In these series, people can see how exactly we create our content, how we take #FollowMeTo photos, how we work and communicate with each other. We will develop it and create more for the series. Besides, we are launching an online shop soon, so stay tuned!
Thanks so much to Murad and Nataly for
taking the time to speak to TravelFoodFilm
Make sure you follow Murad and Nataly across all channels -
All photos in this post belong to Murad and Nataly.
Did you miss day 16? Catch up now - Fun Life Crisis
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