Inside the Chaos of Yerevan's Beer Days Festival

I had known of Yerevan's Beer Days festival for a while, though I wasn't here for last year's event and ended up missing it giving I was in Georgia at the time. This year I knew I wanted to attend it in some manner, and while I'm not all that keen on beer these days, I attended purely for the capturing of its atmosphere. Attending for two of the three days it ran for. From 6PM to 10PM, and on the second night all the way until midnight! This was an incredibly exhausting experience, but one that really showcases the vibrant summer life of Yerevan, which is at a glance quite a small and unlikely city to see such huge events take place. Beer Days is basically just a beer festival. One where small and big companies of food and drink come together and block off an entire street for three days. You buy tickets which you can use to get drinks from the stands, get yourself some food with cash, or enjoy the live music and little games throughout.

There were three areas of the street which held live music, one is at the very end of the festival and has a massive stage where the 'main' event is. And then in the middle and towards the entrance are two smaller tents which had DJs performing. These DJs were probably a bit better, the live music sometimes was a bit weird: live attempts in broken English at Eminem, followed by Rage against the Machine, followed by some early 2000s pop music. A bit all over the place. The main stage was already insanely loud, and not an area you'd want to spend a lot of time in unless you want to walk around crowds with a strong migraine. From the earlier hours of the festival the street was still a bit empty, you could walk to and from stall with ease, though as sunset began the street would fill up and the festival really began. Crowds forming at the DJs, dancing around, people drinking and eating, walking around. 

While I wasn't drinking anything at the festival, I had the intentions of finding unique scenes at it, engaging with some people, and capturing it all with the camera. The event as it continued to grow started to see different types of people attending, and that was really interesting to see: incredibly old people. People with dogs which felt like a bad idea. Some dressed up in unique ways: medieval attire or dressed as knights. For the most part, most people attending would dress however. Likely just coming from work. And to no surprise: any of the city's foreigners like myself were around. The amount of different accents heard was interesting. Two Iranian men also stopped me to ask for me to take their photograph, having seen me roaming around with the camera. It was interesting talking to them for a few minutes, where the difficulties of our nations meant nothing in that moment, and we were just ordinary people sharing the same environment.

As the night progressed, the liveliness only got more chaotic. Everyone was dancing around, the crowds were next to impossible to navigate through. Though in terms of the drinking, I didn't see anyone actually drunk. Everyone still seemed to maintain decent composure, rather just ensuring the atmosphere. For a while I stood around watching people playing a large game of Jenga. The sound of the blocks falling still managed to grab the attention of those around despite the music nearby and all the talking. Strangers would compete against each other in these games. Of course, I stood around waiting to capture the best shot of the game there is! At the same time a nearby stall making some barbecue would spill smoke into the surrounding area, creating a strong smokey environment that the light from the stalls would barely punch through.

I was mostly shooting on my Helios 44-2 for this, trying to get that fun bokeh that appears and creates more character, though as the night progressed I had to switch to the 35mm lens. Primarily due to the 58mm focal length of the Helios getting a bit too tight in this environment. I had a lot of fun with the 35mm, though it made me realise I wanted a wider focal length, or at least one with a bit more character to it. Photography lenses of today don't interest me much with their near perfect sharpness and lack of character in the bokeh. But here the 35mm did well. Still being a bit tight but capturing little details of the surroundings still to tell the story. It felt like there was always something to photograph, no matter which direction I would turn in.

I have a stupid amount of photographs from this event to share, but probably not nearly enough to say about it all. I will say that I love going to these events. They're always so fun. Especially given I get to interact with strangers a bit, meeting new people and hearing a few stories from them. Brief moments in time in which we connect before going about the rest of our lives. Everyone in this area sharing a moment. Taking in the little joys in life. And for me capturing that with the camera is one of the most peaceful things I can do, even if I do get home at midnight and barely eat anything throughout the day. For me it's an addiction, and being in a unique place like Armenia only makes it more fun. Far from what I would call home, surrounded by such different people from around the world.