John Moore, Special News Correspondent, Getty Images: By the time I arrived in Ukraine in April, the conflict had entered its second month. Even by that time, many Ukrainians began to worry that the world would forget about them and their suffering. In general, Ukrainians are extremely hospitable to international photojournalists, especially American ones like me, who tell their story. They want us to document these terrible atrocities so that the world and history will never forget.
Another unique aspect of working in Ukraine is the dangers. In this conflict, the greatest danger is shrapnel from shelling, especially for photographers working on the front lines. Afghanistan and Iraq had the highest risk of kidnapping, which is not so much the case in Ukraine, which has more demarcated front lines.
Chris McGrath, Chief News Photographer, Getty Images: I think the biggest difference with this war is that it’s a modern high-tech war. The use of technology such as drones and precision weapons makes it difficult to shoot as these don’t actually take a picture so anything we shoot is mainly aftermath rather than the actual event taking place.
However, every war is the same in that the result is the same: senseless, needless death. This is what strikes me emotionally. Repeatedly I have photographed scenes of civilian deaths, where people were just doing very normal everyday things, like going to the supermarket, and then being hit by random fire and killed for no reason at all. These images are very hard to take, and they are hard to accept afterwards, when you start putting your own family, your own friends, in that situation. So for me that was a big deal to deal with.
Please one more PV Before Get Code