Bored Panda reached out to Omar Aljiwari, a photographer whose photo caught our attention the most. To learn more about it, we asked the photographer to tell us about the context behind the featured photo.
“I was in Senegal, wandering around. I spotted a hole in a wall and noticed there was a basketball game on the other side of this wall. So, I decided to wait for the right moment to capture a good shot on the basketball court. I waited about three minutes, my eye on the viewfinder of my camera. I felt a presence; it was a child to my left. He was wondering what I was doing, so he also put his head through. I clicked the shutter just as he lifted his head, and then he ran off,” wrote Omar.
Street photography comes with its challenges, and Omar shared what difficulties he faces on a day-to-day basis.
“The main challenge in street photography is the people’s wariness of being photographed, especially in Western countries in Europe, notably in France, my country. It’s very complicated to take photos of people, knowing that at any moment, someone might confront us, asking why we’re taking the photo, saying we don’t have the right, etc. For me, that’s the main difficulty of street photography. Everything else is not specific to street photography but to photography in general. Knowing how to compose, waiting for the right moment, understanding how to play with light, working with contrasts, all these general rules of photography also apply to street photography, but they are not the main challenge for me.”
We were also curious to know who had the biggest influence on Omar’s photography and why. The photographer answered: “In reality, I have several influences; it’s difficult to choose just one, so I will mention a few. First of all, Steve McCurry for his humanistic approach, his use of color, and his portraits, because I love taking portraits too. Then, of course, for me, the absolute master of street photography is Alex Webb because his art of composition is extraordinary, and it fascinates me every time I look at one of his photos. Finally, my idol, I would say, is Christopher Anderson. He’s not really a street photographer, not really a portraitist, he’s a photographer who does a bit of everything and excels in everything he does. He’s really my absolute idol at the moment.”
It's probably sort of obvious that the street photographer is not expected to alter too much in their photos as they are basically a documentary of street life. Therefore, we wanted to know where Omar draws the line regarding editing.
Omar shared: “So for me, editing consists of two parts. The first part, which is pure editing, is choosing the right photos. And this is particularly difficult work because sometimes we are attached to photos that are not necessarily extraordinary because we experienced the moment when we took them. This is not the case for our viewers. It’s very hard to eliminate photos we like in order to keep only the best ones. This part is important in the process. Then, there’s the post-production part. I dedicate a little bit of time to this, but not much. I make sure to correctly adjust the colors and the contrasts so that everything is in harmony for the photo. These are quite basic things, but I try to do them as best as I can. However, I forbid myself from modifying anything in the photo. Because in street photography, we must not digitally alter the scene we captured.”
Omar also responded to what he would like people to take away from his work: “I am quite reserved about my work, which is why it’s difficult for me to answer this question. I think it’s more for others to respond to this question. What inspires them when they look at my photos? Are they inspired at all? Does it make them want to go out and take photos? If that’s the case, it’s already a victory. Besides, I find it hard to be objective about my own work, that’s why it’s hard to answer this question.”
And lastly, Omar shared a bit of advice for aspiring photographers: “Go out and shoot, that’s all. I’m joking, I would tell them that street photography is a 99% failure. So, I would say not to get discouraged if, after a day of shooting, there are few or no good photos; it’s part of the process. Failure is part of the process, and especially in street photography. Because we are often in a situation we don’t control. We don’t know what will happen. All we know is that we are there, at that moment, ready to shoot if something happens, but we are not in control of whether something happens or not. So sometimes, we come back with little of interest. It’s not a big deal. The important thing is to keep that in mind and not to get discouraged.”
