Nataly’s hand reaches back, a bright dress catches the light, and the Taj Mahal rises ahead. In 2015 the Russian photographer Murad Osmann took his famous FollowMeTo series to India, photographing his partner Nataly Osmann (born Natalia Zakharova) as she led him through Agra and Jaipur. The pictures that follow show how one simple pose can carry a viewer across a whole country.

Nataly Osmann reaching back towards Murad’s camera on the approach to the Taj Mahal
Nataly Osmann leads the way towards the Taj Mahal. Photo: Murad Osmann / FollowMeTo.

How the FollowMeTo series began

Murad Osmann was born in 1985 in Dagestan and grew up there before his family moved to Moscow. The series started in Barcelona in 2011: Nataly, impatient with his constant stops to take pictures, grabbed his hand to pull him along, and he photographed the moment. That frame, the outstretched arm with her face turned towards the scene, became a signature that he repeated in city after city on Murad Osmann’s Instagram.

The couple married on 6 June 2015, with one wedding in Moscow and another in Dagestan, and the same year Skyhorse Publishing released their book Follow Me To: A Journey Around the World Through the Eyes of Two Ordinary Travelers. The India photographs appeared in May 2015, a few weeks before the wedding.

The Taj Mahal, Agra

The Taj Mahal stands on the right bank of the Yamuna River in Agra, Uttar Pradesh. The Mughal emperor Shah Jahan commissioned it in 1631 as a tomb for his wife Mumtaz Mahal, who died that year giving birth to their fourteenth child; Shah Jahan himself is also buried there. Work began in 1632, the mausoleum was finished in 1648 and the whole complex around 1653, under a board of architects led by Ustad Ahmad Lahori.

The white marble came from Makrana in Rajasthan, inlaid with semi-precious stones, while the surrounding buildings use red sandstone from Fatehpur Sikri. A UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1983, it draws around five million visitors a year. Plan around one rule: the Taj Mahal is closed on Fridays.

A FollowMeTo portrait against the patterned facade of Hawa Mahal in Jaipur
Nataly Osmann in front of the honeycomb facade of Hawa Mahal, Jaipur. Photo: Murad Osmann / FollowMeTo.

Hawa Mahal, the Palace of Winds in Jaipur

Jaipur’s most photographed facade belongs to the Hawa Mahal, built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, grandson of the city’s founder Jai Singh II. The architect Lal Chand Ustad gave it five storeys of red and pink sandstone and 953 small latticed windows, the jharokhas, arranged like a honeycomb about 15 m high.

The design had a purpose. Royal women could watch processions and street festivals without being seen, and the many openings let breezes cool the rooms in the summer heat. The palace sits on the edge of the City Palace complex, so the two are easy to combine in one morning. In Osmann’s frame, the repeating windows fill the background and turn the facade into a pattern behind Nataly’s raised hand.

A FollowMeTo composition in a mosque courtyard with a figure in bright yellow clothing
A FollowMeTo composition in a mosque courtyard, with Nataly in bright yellow. Photo: Murad Osmann / FollowMeTo.

Colour, courtyards and composition

In the mosque courtyard scene, wide paving and plain walls give Nataly’s yellow clothing room to glow. The same idea runs through the whole set: the pose stays constant, and the place changes around it. The outstretched arm draws a line from the camera to Nataly and on to the landmark, so the eye travels into the picture.

Respect the setting when you copy the idea. At mosques and temples, dress modestly, remove shoes where asked and keep paths clear while you compose. Early morning brings softer light and far fewer people at both the Taj Mahal and the Hawa Mahal.

FollowMeTo in India – photograph by Murad Osmann
FollowMeTo in India – photograph by Murad Osmann (2)

Make your own travel photo series

Osmann’s real lesson is consistency. Pick one recurring element, such as a doorway, a reflection, a colour or the same companion looking into a scene, and photograph it every day of a trip. Vary distance and angle so each place still reads clearly, and add one wider shot that shows where you stood. A line of notes beside each picture keeps names and moments that the photograph alone will lose.

For a project built on repetition across generations, compare Christian Carollo’s Past Present Project. For the start of the series, read the FollowMeTo project story.

FollowMeTo in India – photograph by Murad Osmann (3)
Photo: Murad Osmann

Sources