Freedom
A Photographic Diary From the Yerevan Apt. During Our First COVID Lockdown
20 min read by sanyokot.0n9g.Published on . Updated on .
February 15, 2020. Before the lockdown.
✪ Note: This is a digital reprint of an essay originally published in Monochrome 1.20 — a community photography magazine by Analog.Cafe. You can read it along with 13 more authors’ works on paper, the way they were intended to be. Get your copy of Monochrome here and support our charitable cause.
March 18, 2020. The first day of the lockdown. Norayr is cold.
March 19, 2020. We read about the “Monochrome at Home” competition. The first image I made deliberately for it is my rack of clean dishes and my favourite mug with cats.
☝︎Further reading: “Monochrome at Home” is a call for submissions whose participants were to be printed in Monochrome magazine’s first issue: 1.20. The topic: black-and-white film photographs, taken at home during the first weeks of the lockdowns when COVID-19 was pronounced as the pandemic.
March 19, 2020. Love this t-shirt with the “electric sheep.”
March 19, 2020. Self.
March 19, 2020. We don’t use this corner much.
March 19, 2020. Mould.
March 19, 2020. Norayr is doing “Aeroflex.”
March 20, 2020. Buckwheat + eggs — a late breakfast.
March 20, 2020. Norayr.
March 20, 2020. Norayr. (:
March 20, 2020. Norayr, shooting mushrooms.
March 21, 2020. Norayr and our ficus “Benjamina.”
March 21, 2020. Looking at newly framed medium format slides.
March 22, 2020. Eggs — a late breakfast.
March 22, 2020. Developing film (cat-towel is cute).
March 22, 2020. Developing film.
March 22, 2020. Developing film.
March 23, 2020. Us.
March 24, 2020. Random (mouse cable?)
March 24, 2020. Norayr is working after late breakfast.
March 25, 2020. Norayr is working before late breakfast.
March 25, 2020. Me working after late breakfast.
March 30, 2020. Developing more film.
March 31, 2020. Norayr + sheep. <3
March 31, 2020. Norayr.
March 31, 2020. Norayr podcasting.
March 31, 2020. Galápagos.
April 2, 2020. Watching the Rogan show on COVID-19.
April 2, 2020. Norayr.
April 2, 2020. Norayr is shooting me with Nikon L35 AD.
April 2, 2020. Norayr after shooting me with Nikon L35 AD.
April 3, 2020. “Srtik” (late breakfast).
April 3, 2020. Norayr.
April 3, 2020. Norayr.
April 4, 2020. Our first darkroom print.
April 4, 2020. Lucky to be locked down with a good model.
April 4, 2020. Working before late breakfast.
April 4, 2020. Kitchen before late breakfast.
April 4, 2020. late breakfast + coffeecofffeeeee!
April 9, 2020. ¿Norayr?
April 9, 2020. Fingers.
April 9, 2020. Old and new apartment blocks on Vagharshyan street.
April 9, 2020. Love new year’s garlands. Why not have them all year long?
April 9, 2020. Norayr.
April 9, 2020. Norayr with blurred leaves of our tree.
April 11, 2020. The living room where we rarely watch movies.
April 11, 2020. The living room.
April 11, 2020. I asked Norayr to cut some of my hair.
April 12, 2020. A good “morning” Norayr.
April 12, 2020. oh, uh, me flakes, then uh, scrambled eggs…
April 12, 2020. ...scrambled eggs, bacon, sausages, tomatoes… toast, coffee… Marchmalade, i like Marchmalade. Yes, porridge is nice. (sic)
April 12, 2020. About to venture out to do grocery shopping. Lab goggles on.
April 12, 2020. Me on Polaroid and Instax Wide, both photos taken on the same day.
April 13, 2020. Norayr with his morning tea.
April 13, 2020. The tea. It reminds me of something, but I can’t remember what.
April 13, 2020. Scanned film.
April 13, 2020. լավ իզ
April 14, 2020. Hey.
April 14, 2020. The view of the mountain Ararat from our balcony.
April 15, 2020. Eggs, cheddar, pepper.
April 15, 2020. Scrambled eggs + coffee — a very late breakfast.
April 16, 2020. New glasses, just delivered.
April 16, 2020. New glasses, about to exit.
April 16, 2020. Stainless steel mirror just got delivered.
April 17, 2020. An Instax Wide selfie.
April 17, 2020. Good night.
April 18, 2020. Watching the live set of WhoMadeWho.
April 18, 2020. Watching the live set of WhoMadeWho.
April 19, 2020. Photos we took after a storm.
April 20, 2020. The sun at 7am.
April 20, 2020. The sun at 7am.
April 24, 2020. Norayr “inky” plays a live set on Bohemnots radio dedicated to the Armenian Velvet Revolution‘s anniversary at 1:40 am.
April 24, 2020. Norayr “inky” plays the live set on Bohemnots radio dedicated to the Armenian Velvet Revolution’s anniversary at 2:30 am.
April 24, 2020. Norayr “inky” finishes the live set at 6:16 am with the “Here Comes the Sun” remix.
I’m happy I took these photos. I tried my best to shoot every day. Doing something consistently feels like a meditative process. All the photos are taken during the first COVID-19 lockdown.