A meeting with National Geographic photoreporter, World Press Photo and Robert Capa Golden Medal winner John Stanmeyer took place on March 19 at AGBU Yerevan office.

The photographer presented the history of creation and process of his photo projects. Tanzania, Kenya, Zambia, Indonesia, Malaysia, Ethiopia, India, Turkey – this is an incomplete list of the countries where Stanmeyer managed to sculpt photostories comprised of “speaking” photos. The photographer used them to present diverse issues of the world, from terminal illness to global warming.

Stanmeyer showed the photos on a big screen and told the story of each person captured on the portraits.

“I am a humanitarian, these people aren’t heroes or victims to me; they are just human beings. We can all become heroes or victims in certain circumstances. I didn’t take prevention drugs and didn’t wear protective mosquito net when I was taking pictures of patients with malaria, because I had to be in the same conditions with them to be able to show what they felt,” said John Stanmeyer.

A new issue of National Geographic Magazine will come out in a few days, which will include Stanmeyer’s photos made in historical Armenian lands that are now a part of Turkey.

Stanmeyer met people who barely survived Armenian Genocide in Ani, Van, Sasun and other villages and cities, presenting a hundred-year-old pain by the survivors. Paul Salopek’s article that Stanmeyer made photos for is already available online.

“I recalled my mother’s stories when I was making photos, she’s Austrian and a Holocaust survivor; her father was buried alive, and memories are so many. I went to your ancestors, entered houses that might have belonged to your forefathers, and they showed me your culture. I haven’t been greeted and shown culture in that manner anywhere else. I put questions for myself while making this photostory: who am I and where am I going? I want the photos published in the magazine to become a possibility of a dialogue between two states, because dialogue is a corner stone of life,” said the photographer.

John Stanmeyer remembered that during making of the photo story, people from different towns kept asking him whether he was Armenian and came to find treasures hidden in the ruins of Armenian churches.

At the end of the meeting, Stanmeyer answered the questions of those present, and encouraged present journalists to widely use cellphones as a tool too: “You’re holding a great power to communicate and create in your hands.” Furthermore, Stanmeyer used a photo made by iPhone in Israel as a cover for National Geographic Magazine.

The photographer expressed a hope to return to Yerevan soon, as he already misses the apartment he rented during his visit, which became a home for him.

Lena Gevorgyan

Photos by Mariam Loretsyan