The photographer’s biographical details are unknown. At the start of his career in the mid 1890s, B. M. Boyadjian opened his studio in partnership with another Armenian photographer by the name of S. Vartanian. Some years later, the Shumen-based studio carried only Boyadjian’s name and Vartanian seems to have left the photography business. Boyadjian’s portraits are distinguished by their ascetic and plain compositions and are often free from decorative props and painted backgrounds. His studio served customers from all social and ethnic casts of the city. The studio ‘Boyadjian Brothers’, which operated in Shumen between 1910s and 1930s was most probably ran by Boyadjian’s sons, who continued the business under a new name.

Vigen Galstyan, 2016