The itinerant photographies of Sidi-Omar Alami
We met up with young photographer Sidi-Omar Alami at the terrace of a Pigalle café for a drink. At only just 22 years old, the artist is already famous for his innocent and spontaneous photos of his journeys around the world. In addition to a beautiful shot he framed for us, Sidi-Omar helped us escape for a few minutes with his souvenirs.
Hi Sidi-Omar, can you tell us about yourself in a few words?
I am Sidi-Omar Alami, I’m 22 years old, I was born in Senlis in the Oise region and I have been doing photography for two years now.
What brought you to this art?
I really wasn’t predestined to do photography. After my baccalaureate, I went to uni to study medicine where I didn’t finish the first year. Then, a mate who lives in Montpellier and studied film invited me round to his; he had a camera and I asked him if I could use it. I started to practice and I really enjoyed it. From then on, I began my adventure into photography.
Do you only do digital photography?
I started out with digital and I’m now trying to do both. I like learning new things so I’m discovering more and more about analog.
You take a lot of travel photos nowadays. Are these excursions important to you?
I’m of Moroccan origin so my parents and I used to go to Morocco every summer. What I used to love with my parents, my brothers and sisters, was we’d go to visit our family in Fès and then we’d go on small road trips around Morocco. We’d go camping in the mountains, around lakes… I think that’s where I got my love for travelling from. Today, photography helps me maintain that.
Any trip that particularly left its mark on you?
The first big trip I went on, yes. I left for New York on a whim. I met Thibault and Emmanuel over there, with whom I bought an old car: a 1993 Buick. We crossed the US from East to West via the Northern roads. We then returned to New York via the South. That trip took us more than two months to do and we covered 16 000 kilometers. One of the most incredible things that happened to us was when we were at Mount Rushmore in South Dakota, where the presidents’ heads in the mountains are. We had been driving for quite some time when we decided to go up a path to find somewhere to sleep before sunset. There, we found an old abandoned cabin and we decided to camp on its roof. After a while, my mate Thibault began to howl like a wolf and then, a pack of wolves a few kilometers away answered. For more than fifteen minutes we were talking with them under an incredible starry sky…
Is there a photo you took you could never part with?
Of course. One of the photos I’m most proud of I took in Chicago. We were at Lake Michigan, a lake so enormous you can’t see the end of it. It must have been 5 in the morning, my mates were just coming back from a bar and we decided to go near this lake. I took a beautiful shot of Thibault, naked and drunk, running around in the water with the light from the sun rising… It’s one of my craziest photos.
You took the photos for our 2016 Spring-Summer collection, “Roues Libres”. How was that road trip?
First and foremost, I have to thank Olow for getting me to travel around the Périgord region! I find us French photographers tend to neglect our country a bit, I know I do… The Périgord is truly a beautiful region and I really recommend everyone go there. The trip lasted a few days, I knew nobody on the team but we all got along really well and worked efficiently together. A great moment was when we discovered a lake by chance, we went swimming in it and went completely crazy. It was great.
What can we find in Sidi-Omar’s backpack?
Well, my camera of course as I can’t travel without it. Not many clothes, I don’t pack many because that’s kind of useless when you travel. A small logbook as well in which I like to jot down my memories, and my computer to be able to keep my social networks’ feeds up to date and keep my relatives informed. Not much, really.
What are your upcoming projects?
I’d like to make a documentary film on an adventure with friends that are at cinema school. It would be about a trip that lasts a few months, and the idea would be to make a book especially for it and also organize a big exhibition-showing once the project is finished.
A big thank to Sidi-Omar for his answers. You can find his works and news on his Facebook or Instagram profile.
Take a look at his photos for the lookbook 2016 Spring-Summer collection “Roues Libres”.
– Valentin Porcher –
