Omer Khan is a photojournalist who left Afghanistan when the Taliban resumed power in 2021. Khan, his wife, and son initially settled in San Diego, where some of his photography is on display at the El Cajon Library through Aug. 30.
There are familiar images: a man selling balloons, kids flying a kite, the passion captured in the throes of playing the national pastime, people walking past a religious place of worship, or a group of children excitedly scrambling to look at the digital images a photographer just took of them. The difference is that they were all taken in Afghanistan.
Omer Khan is a photojournalist who was born and raised in Kabul, earning a journalism degree there and selling some of his photography out of a space at the U.S. Embassy since 2015. In 2021, he and his wife, son, and brother evacuated on a military flight after U.S. troops withdrew and the Taliban resumed power.
Initially here on humanitarian parole, which provides two years of benefits to Afghan nationals set to expire Sept. 30, Khan says that he, his wife and their 3-year-old son were granted permanent resident status this past June. Although the couple was working at a local Subway, they moved to Dallas in April for a job he found as a sound technician with an event production company; their plan is to return to San Diego in October.
For myself, usually, I like street photography, a sunset, landscape photography, the beach, landscape photography of the city. These kinds of photos. When I take my camera, I feel comfortable with my passion. Whenever I take pictures, I feel very comfortable. I love to take pictures. I search a lot to work in my own field, but it’s still a little hard to work in the U.S. in the same field and find a job, but I don’t want to lose, to forget my passion.
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