Women behind the lens: ‘I didn’t realise she felt the same way about our friendship’

When I was 16, my parents decided to move back to Baku in Azerbaijan, where they are from. We were living in Bryansk in Russia at the time. In the summer of 2021, six years after we relocated, I returned to Russia to sort out some paperwork and decided to reach out to my childhood friend, Karina.

I met Karina at school when I was eight years old, but it wasn’t until we were 13 that we became close. We rarely spoke after I left Russia but sometimes exchanged messages on Instagram.

In Bryansk, we met up and talked, and I remembered why we were such good friends. Karina told me she was to move to Kaliningrad, a city in a Russian province sandwiched between Poland and Lithuania along the Baltic coast.

Related: Women behind the lens: ‘She was about to make an arduous journey, with a child, in a pandemic’

I offered to take some pictures of her. She was happy, but then she started crying. I was surprised and asked why she was upset. She replied: “I’m scared. I don’t know if we’ll meet again. I’m leaving and you’re going back to Baku.”

I hugged her and told her everything would be OK, before continuing to photograph her. We said our goodbyes and haven’t seen each other since. We keep in touch through Instagram. Karina has moved to St Petersburg and I’m still in Baku.

This picture is very special – it is about love and separation. I didn’t realise Karina felt the same way about our friendship as I did. When I saw the tears in her eyes, I knew she was glad that I was in her life and that we were still close to each other.

I’m hopeful we’ll meet each other again. Karina’s father is from Azerbaijan, and I dream that she’ll come to visit Baku one day.

• Lali Binyatova is a photographer who was born in Russia but now lives in Azerbaijan. Her work focuses on people and their personal stories, as well as her everyday observations