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An international photo festival opened on Monday at Dvin Music Hall in capital Yerevan which is held for the first time in Armenia. Photographers from 20 countries participate in the festival, representing France, India, Iran, Italy, Russia, Poland, Hungary, Switzerland, Argentina, Belarus, Egypt, USA and other countries.

The Chairman of the organizing committee of the festival Tatev Mnatsakanyan delivered welcoming remarks and expressed gratitude to the President of Tovmasyan Charity Foundation Mr Artak Tovmasyan who was the first with whom the idea of organizing the festival was discussed a year ago and received a positive feedback for contribution. Tovmasyan Charity Foundation, all.me and Dvin Music Hall are among major supporting partners of the festival.

The Armenian International Photo Fest will have at least 39 exposition venues in downtown Yerevan. Thus, Armenia’s capital city will turn into an open-air photo exhibition where a number of masterclasses, artist encounters, and workshops will be conducted for 30 days. The venues include Yerevan Municipality building, National Assembly park, Northern Avenue, metro stations, museums, and other places.

At today’s official opening and awarding ceremony the winners in seven nominations got their prizes. The exhibition will continue  till September 28. The motto of the exhibition is “Be Unique”.

Among the participants of the festival were photographer, sculptor Davit Apikyan who represented France and is the author of “Gladiator” graphics. Davit Apikyan’s photos are exhibited at Albert & Tove Boyajian hall. Antonia Mora of Spain is another participant of the festival who submitted unique photos representing the magical reality.

“The idea of organizing a photo fest came to me and the inspiration I received from France where the photography and its roots originate from. I wished to hold a similar event in Armenia,” the head of the organizing committee Tatev Mnatsakanyan said.

As part of the photo fest an online competition was launched with 500 submissions received. The jury members representing different contries have already chosen the top three photos. The representative of Iran Mahbobe Farajolah took the third prize with a photo “Just a smile.”

The photo named “Sevan” by Yesai Durmuzyan of Armenia took the silver medal.

“The horse race” by Indian photographer Kaushik Majumder won the first prize.

A photo series by Randi Korneroop-Beng representing Denmark got a special prize by the UAE Embassy. The photos show the life and the daily routine of women suffering from cancer.

In his welcome speech, Artak Tovmasyan, the President of Tovmasyan Charity Foundation expressed delight in supporting such initiatives.
“Photography is an important profession. you can convey emotions, happiness and share it with the world through just one photo,” Tovmasyan said, expressing hope the photo fest will be annual with the potential to expand its scope and welcome  even more guests.

Business Development Specialist at all.me Markus Azaryan, in turn, emphasized the unique developments in Armenia, pointing to the rise of digital technologies and their usage by the artists. Azaryan presented the benefits of all.me application that the photographers can use as a digital platform to share their works, launch collaborations and ultimately develop their business.

To note, All.me as a digital partner will have all the posters and digital information about photographers and their works to be presented during the Photo Fest.

all.me is a digital network that consists of a social network (meNetwork), marketplace (meMarket), and payment service (mePay). The unique business model allows its users to communicate with each other, to surf interesting content and to get rewarded in meNetwork currency. The platform shares up to 50 percent of the advertising revenue with users.