The 111th Anniversary of the Armenian Genocide

April 24th is the remembrance day to the Armenian Genocide which took place back in 1915 at the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In recent years the date has also grown to become a day of grieving for those who had lost friends and relatives in the more recent conflicts that had taken place, which were also against Turkey and Azerbaijan. This is a pretty tense day for Armenians, and thousands upon thousands go to a specific place in Yerevan dedicated to those who suffered during the Armenian Genocide. A monument built in the Soviet era that sits above a large hill. Within is an eternal flame.

People come and place flowers around it. One after the other. Some groups perform various types of music to pay their respects. On a relatively warm and cloudy day, I went and observed. As people crammed into such a small space and the flowers piled up. To shoot anything here was a great challenge. Many film crews, a directional line for people to walk to try to handle the sheer number of people coming and going. I entered from the wrong side it appears, having walked up against the crowds of people to the monument and entering from the exit. Once inside, I stood for a while.

I could feel the emotion here. People still talked, laughed, and took photographs of their own. But the atmosphere was quite raw. You could see that this was a difficult subject for many. This wasn't just a ritual that took place every year. Many of those people attending would've directly lost people in those aforementioned recent conflicts and for them these two events were the same. That their struggles had never really ended a century later. That the pain remains more raw than ever.

I shot the images mostly with Soviet glass. I wasn't happy with the clinical sharpness of the 35mm or the 85mm despite trying to photograph with both of those lenses. I wanted more separation, I wanted to capture the depth and interactions of people as they placed flowers, but I also didn't want to get too close to them, I wanted to give them that space. I opted for the 37mm Mir and the 58mm Helios, both performing wonderfully in that bokeh, that vintage look in the colours, and the background separation that it did offer when I could get it. I did want to photograph the people more, but again, I wanted to keep some distance and be respectful. As to not get into their faces with a lens as they pay respects to family members, friends, or distant relatives.

I think that vintage look from the lenses also helped with the more emotional side of things. It's less about detail and sharpness and more about the emotion and colours present. I cropped these final images to give them a bit more of a tighter scene, focusing on specific people or objects to highlight some narrative.

And this last one was shot on the 85mm. I tried to use it and just didn't like the feeling it gave. It didn't capture enough. A bit too tight. After all, it is more of a portrait focal length and less something that really captures enough to show emotion within space.