The search for new streets and old lenses

Yerevan is a small city. It's not one that would take you many years to explore if you have the time. I often feel like I have explored the vast majority of its streets, and that there is little to discover at this point. I'd spend entire days walking previously, searching through new districts and finding myself in new courtyards. This was how the previous day ended up being. I was in the very centre of Yerevan, yet somehow I found myself walking through courtyards I had never seen before. As if a new area of the city had just opened up out of nowhere, full of those old Soviet buildings and little gardens. Quiet little areas that popped up surrounded by the chaos and noise of the central city.

Some of these areas would lead to streets I did know already. And that made it a bit more fun, to step out and realise where I was, surprised at how a new area had been sitting there all this time. I didn't even fully explore them. I was surprised to see how much some areas had changed that I had previously seen. One of which is an art space in which artists are supported financially and by doing so, they have the ability to produce art and sell it with some of that profit going to the cost of supporting them in this space. An old building riddled with old balconies and courtyards made of wood. Though this had recently suffered greatly from a fire, it seems. Much of that old wood left black and charred. Some of those little shops now closed.

A few hours before I had handed off a roll of black and white film to a developer on the other side of the city. Near a street market that opens up on the weekends. I spoke to a few camera people I had been trying to catch for a while. Asking them if they had a specific Soviet piece of glass I've been hunting for: Mir. I'm searching for a vintage lens that has a wider focal length but still has the character of the Helios 44-2 I've mostly been shooting on. None of them had the wider focal lengths, just one Mir lens of around 45mm. This sent me on another adventure into the streets, with little else to do at this point. I wanted to capture things a bit more. I wanted to push myself with the gear I did have. I walked down one small courtyard that was riddled with little cats. Some of which roamed the space in search of food, others would laze around on the top of cars.

I am always surprised at how quiet these spaces can be. How peaceful Yerevan is once you step away from the main roads. Just a few metres away and suddenly you're in the beauty of autumn, leaves and little gardens everywhere. Little aspects of life with small birds chirping around and either dogs or cats occupying the remaining space. Sometimes locals sitting in the gardens playing Nardi together, or just talking. I've told myself I will join some of them one day, to challenge them and see what happens. Though the courage hasn't yet arrived for me to do so just yet.

Given the small size of Yerevan, it still took me back to the main areas. I found myself walking around Yerevan's Cascade towards the later part of the day. With that thought of how fun it was to be somewhere new, and how much I wanted to continue it.