What is it like to be a war photographer? War photographs that changed the world Right time, right place

Since the time of Robert Capa, the speed of information exchange has increased significantly, and military conflicts themselves have completely transformed. But the essence of war photography remains the same: you have to get as close as possible and still be alive, you have to make the tragedy speak, imbue it with emotion and artistic value, you have to empathize while remaining objective.

FURFUR profiles ten photographers covering modern military conflicts.

“The worst emotional situation for any photographer is when he makes eye contact with someone he's photographing and realizes that there really is absolutely nothing he can do to help him.”

Javier Manzano moved with his family from Mexico to the United States at age 18, so it is not surprising that drug wars and events near the Mexican-American border occupy a special place in his reporting. In 2011, he received his first World Press Photo prize for a photograph from the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez, one of the most crime-prone cities in the world, and a year later he went to photograph the war in Syria. The result of this trip is two major photographic stories, awarded the Pulitzer Prize.

“War is worse than drugs. At some point it turns into a terrible journey, into a nightmare, but then, as soon as the danger subsides, there is an irresistible desire to go back and get even more.

Since childhood, Remi Oschlik dreamed of becoming a war photographer, and at the age of 20 he managed to fulfill his dream. In 2004, he went to film the political crisis in Haiti, and when he returned, he received the François Chalet Prize for it. Oshlik continued to film in extreme conditions: demonstrations in his native France, Haiti, engulfed in a cholera epidemic, and Arab conflicts. He knew very well the great Robert Capa’s maxim that closeness to the subject lies a good shot. However, the habit of being at the center of events played a cruel joke on him, and on February 22, 2012, Oshlik died during the bombing of Homs.

James Nachtwey

“I'm half deaf. My nerves are damaged and my ears are constantly ringing, and sometimes I can’t hear anything at all. I probably became deaf because I didn't put earplugs in my ears. All because I wanted to hear.”

James Nachtwey is one of the most famous photographers of our time. He began his career back in 1976 and since then has visited hot spots around the world, received the Robert Capa Gold Medal five times, was recognized twice by World Press Photo, was a member of the famous Bang Bang Club, and also became the protagonist of a documentary film War Photographer. In 2003, the already middle-aged James Nachtwey was wounded during an attack on a military convoy in Baghdad, but managed to recover quite quickly. Nachtwey is generally an amazing example of a successful career as a war photographer: he is famous, his photographs are in demand, he is 65 years old, and he is still alive.

“The work of a photojournalist has changed a lot today. Now he increasingly films not on the front line, but somewhere in the depths.”

The example of photographer Denis Sinyakov is indicative: danger awaited him while filming military conflicts, but overtook him in the peaceful Pechora Sea. On September 19, 2013, he was detained along with the crew of the Arctic Sunrise vessel for an action near the Prirazlomnaya platform. And although Sinyakov performed only his duties as a photographer, he was charged with piracy (now classified as hooliganism) and two months in a pre-trial detention center.

On the photographer’s personal website you can find reports from the Georgian-Russian and Lebanese-Israeli conflicts, footage of the activities of the medical evacuation team (Medevac) in Afghanistan and much more.

In addition, Denis Sinyakov is known for filming the concert of the punk group Pussy Riot, the preparation and the “I’ll steal for Putin” campaign by the Femen group, as well as the trial of Mikhail Khodorkovsky. However, Sinyakov’s portfolio includes not only political topics: he photographed the life of the Nenets, forest fires, residents of the ghost village of Muslimovo and much more. Recently, the photographer has been paying much attention to his project Changing Face of Russia, in which he touched upon such a complex topic as the migration of citizens from the countries of the former USSR to Russia.

Zoria Miller

“To become a photojournalist, any equipment capable of taking a photograph is sufficient, including cell phones with cameras, disposable cameras, or simply low-budget cameras. I started my career with a regular 6 megapixel camera and you can still see those images in my portfolio.”

American photographer Zoria Miller has a special interest in photographs of military conflicts. At one time he worked for the Red Cross and participated in volunteer programs to assist third world countries. Today he tries to pay special attention to various foundations and humanitarian organizations. The specific beauty and expressiveness of some shots can compete even with the legendary landing in Normandy performed by Robert Capa.

“I went to Slovenia, the first republic to take the path of secession, after I read a short article in the newspaper about national movements and a possible war. I ended up spending about five years between 1991 and 2001 documenting how the country dissolved through various wars.”

A war correspondent originally from the United States began filming armed conflicts back in the late 1980s, and his finest hour came during the Yugoslav wars. His reports captured dramatic episodes of the Battle of Vukovar and the siege of Sarajevo, as well as the activities of the famous Serbian formation "Arkan Tigers". It was while photographing the “tigers” that Haviv took the famous photograph in the Bosnian city of Bijeljina. This photograph became one of the symbols of the Yugoslav War in general and war crimes in particular. It showed a soldier from the Arkan Tigers kicking the body of one of the civilians his comrades had just killed.

Haviv continued his photographic activity after Yugoslavia. He has photographed the drug wars in Mexico, the civil war in Sri Lanka, a photo report on the consequences of the Russian-Georgian conflict, as well as the war of criminal gangs in Los Angeles.

“Often we hide behind cameras so as not to feel anything. Then we think: this works, but this doesn’t, this touches, but this doesn’t, this may attract attention. It's like we turn to stone. And when you get home or get to the hotel and start editing the pictures, you start to feel everything that happened during the day.”

The Spaniard Manu Brabo successfully completed his studies in the art of photography in Oviedo and Madrid, after which he found himself in the glorious business of a war correspondent and became part of the Associated Press agency.

This year he won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph from besieged Aleppo, where he captured an incredibly powerful and tragic image of a father holding his dying son in his arms. Particular attention should be paid to his reports from Libya, which were given to Brabo with great difficulty, since in April 2011 the Libyan army took the photographer into custody, keeping him in custody for more than a month.

“Every conflict leaves indelible traces, scars that you carry within yourself. What remains is the grief and pain of mothers who lost their children during the bombings, the tears of happiness of the people who freed themselves from dictatorship, the thousands of civilians who leave their homes in search of safety, the people you meet along the way, with whom talking and sharing a piece of your life..."

Bucciarelli began his career as a photojournalist only four years ago, but today he has already been awarded two major photo competitions (second prize World Press Photo 2013, third place Sony World Photo Award 2013), as well as publications in world-famous publications (The Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and La Repubblica).

The Italian received an engineering degree from the Polytechnic University of Turin, worked in his specialty for about a year, and then radically changed his occupation. In 2009, he went to Turkey and Iran to film, but became famous only after returning home. On April 6, 2009, a powerful earthquake began, which practically wiped out the city of L'Aquila, the capital of the Abruzzo region. After taking pictures of the consequences of this terrible tragedy, Bucciarelli became known in the world of photography.

Later, with the beginning of the Jasmine Revolution and the war in Libya, he was able to express himself in war photography. Today Bucciarelli is a recognized master of his craft, the author of the book “The Smell of War” and a journalist whose articles are successfully published in major Italian publications. On his website you can find photographs from military Libya, modern Syria, reports on clashes in Mali and a series of photographs dedicated to the little-known conflict between the Karen national district and Burma.

“We arrived in Libya, in Tripoli, there was chaos and danger all around, we didn’t know anyone and we needed a translator. In the hotel lobby we met quite a few locals, one of them turned out to be an engineer. He was a pleasant man, calm, with kind eyes, he was about 60, he was not a young guy in search of profit. We finally asked him if he could help us and he agreed, but said that he could only work half a day since his son was killed yesterday.”

Few can remain indifferent to the photograph of Gaza Burial, depicting the grieving relatives and children killed during the bombing of the Gaza Strip. This photograph is so powerful and emotionally charged that after its victory in World Press Photo 2013, there was an expert who said that this was not just a photograph, but some kind of clever collage. However, the jury and experts of the world's largest photo competitions, after analyzing the photo, came to the conclusion that this is still not a collage or the notorious Photoshop.

Hansen is a photographer with quite a lot of experience, one of the few war correspondents who prefers working in the staff (Swedish publication Dagens Nyheter) rather than freelancing. At the same time, the photographer’s interests extend far beyond the borders of calm Sweden, thanks to which on his personal website you can see reports from modern Afghanistan, the problematic Congo, Kenya, occupied Iraq and protest Bahrain.

"Instead of thinking, 'He's showing us cruelty again,' I hope people will start thinking, 'What can I do to change this?'"

Walter Astrade was born in Buenos Aires and began his career in the local newspaper La Nacion, and was finally formed as a photographer after a long trip to South America. He now lives in Barcelona, working on a major photography project on the abuse of women, and teaching photography.

You should visit the site at least for two of his photo reports: Bloodbathon Madagascar and Kenya Post Election Violence. This is a terrible sight for an audience with strong nerves, the quintessence of war, a realistic picture of conflicts on the dark continent.

The essence of war photography remains the same: you have to get as close as possible and still be alive, you have to make the tragedy speak, imbue it with emotion and artistic value, you have to empathize while remaining objective.

Javier Manzano“The worst emotional situation for any photographer is when he makes eye contact with someone he's photographing and realizes that there really is absolutely nothing he can do to help him.”

Remy Oschlik
“War is worse than drugs. At some point it turns into a terrible journey, into a nightmare, but then, as soon as the danger subsides, there is an irresistible desire to go back and get even more.

James Nachtwey
“I'm half deaf. My nerves are damaged and my ears are constantly ringing, and sometimes I can’t hear anything at all. I probably became deaf because I didn't put earplugs in my ears. All because I wanted to hear.”

Denis Sinyakov
“The work of a photojournalist has changed a lot today. Now he increasingly films not on the front line, but somewhere in the depths.”

Zoria Miller
“To become a photojournalist, any equipment capable of taking a photograph is sufficient, including cell phones with cameras, disposable cameras, or simply low-budget cameras. I started my career with a regular 6 megapixel camera and you can still see those images in my portfolio.”

Ron Haviv
“I went to Slovenia, the first republic to take the path of secession, after I read a short article in the newspaper about national movements and a possible war. I ended up spending about five years between 1991 and 2001 documenting how the country dissolved through various wars.”

Manu Brado
“Often we hide behind cameras so as not to feel anything. Then we think: this works, but this doesn’t, this touches, but this doesn’t, this may attract attention. It's like we turn to stone. And when you get home or get to the hotel and start editing the pictures, you start to feel everything that happened during the day.”

The Spaniard Manu Brado successfully completed his studies in the art of photography in Oviedo and Madrid, after which he found himself in the glorious business of a war correspondent and became part of the Associated Press agency.

This year he won the Pulitzer Prize for his photograph from besieged Aleppo, where he captured an incredibly powerful and tragic image of a father holding his dying son in his arms. Particular attention should be paid to his reports from Libya, which were given to Brado with great difficulty, since in April 2011 the Libyan army took the photographer into custody, keeping him in custody for more than a month.

Fabio Buchiarelli
“Every conflict leaves indelible traces, scars that you carry within yourself. What remains is the grief and pain of mothers who lost their children during the bombings, the tears of happiness of the people who freed themselves from dictatorship, the thousands of civilians who leave their homes in search of safety, the people you meet along the way, with whom talking and sharing a piece of your life..."

Buchiarelli began his career as a photojournalist only four years ago, but today he has already been awarded two major photo competitions (second prize World Press Photo 2013, third place Sony World Photo Award 2013), as well as publications in world-famous publications (The Times, The Guardian, The Wall Street Journal and La Repubblica).

Later, with the beginning of the Jasmine Revolution and the war in Libya, he was able to express himself in war photography. Today Buchiarelli is a recognized master of his craft, the author of the book “The Smell of War” and a journalist whose articles are successfully published in major Italian publications. On his website you can find photographs from military Libya, modern Syria, reports on clashes in Mali and a series of photographs dedicated to the little-known conflict between the Karen national district and Burma.

Paul Hansen
“We arrived in Libya, in Tripoli, there was chaos and danger all around, we didn’t know anyone and we needed a translator. In the hotel lobby we met quite a few locals, one of them turned out to be an engineer. He was a pleasant man, calm, with kind eyes, he was about 60, he was not a young guy in search of profit. We finally asked him if he could help us and he agreed, but said that he could only work half a day since his son was killed yesterday.”

Walter Astrade
"Instead of thinking, 'He's showing us cruelty again,' I hope people will start thinking, 'What can I do to change this?'"

Walter Astrade was born in Buenos Aires and began his career at the local newspaper La Nacion, and finally developed as a photographer after a long trip to South America. He now lives in Barcelona, working on a major photography project on the abuse of women, and teaching photography.

War is a routine thing, and only its most resonant episodes make it onto newspaper covers today. The death of 280 passengers of a Boeing shot down in eastern Ukraine is one of these. Photos from the scene of this tragedy spread around the world, provoking another discussion among journalists about which photographs go beyond professional ethics, whether it is possible to convey the full horror of what is happening without corpses in the frame, and whether there is a place for aesthetics in a photograph that depicts death.

Bird In Flight spoke with photographers who often have to work in hot spots about what rules they adhere to when shooting and what audience reaction they want to achieve, and also asked photo editors what photos they do not print and what publications they consider a mistake.

If you are not horrified by this, you will continue to sit at home on the couch in the confidence that nothing terrible is happening.

Once near the plane, I fell into shock and at first did not know what to photograph. I understood that we are journalists, we are already there and must do our job. But I had doubts about what I could film and what I couldn’t. I tried to define my own moral boundaries and decided not to take close-ups.

I was worried that the photographs would not be offensive to the relatives of the victims. And this contrast - a beautiful field, flowers - evoked strong emotions in me. I took it off so that my face and lower parts of my body were not visible. If the corpse had been mutilated, of course, I would not have taken this photograph.

Is the shot too aesthetically pleasing? Yes, there is an opinion that it is necessary to show the full horror of what happened, and I had such photographs. But if it were my death, I would want it to be shown beautifully. I wouldn't want my severed arm photographed.

Our publication did not publish too heavy photos, but it seems to me that when this happens, people should see this nightmare. This is not just a plane crash - this is the consequences of a military conflict. If you are not horrified by this, you will continue to sit at home on the couch in the confidence that nothing terrible is happening.

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A photojournalist is not a criminologist, so some artistry should be present even in scary photographs.

News photography has one purpose - to inform about what is happening. Everything else is from the evil one. Some photographs continue to live for decades, becoming symbols, while others (these, of course, are the majority) will no longer be needed by anyone in a couple of days.

I don’t have any clear rules - I always decide on the spot what and how to shoot. And if in the case of man-made disasters photographing corpses seems unnecessary to me, then in the case of military operations it does not. Although, of course, there must be some limits. Much depends on the policy of the publication or agency for which you work - some will put bloody pictures, while others will limit themselves to a calmer card. Well, don’t forget that a photojournalist is still not a criminologist, so some artistry should be present even in scary photographs.

Every time while filming, I ask myself the question: “Would I, being in the place of the heroes of the story, want to be filmed?” When I understand that I don’t want to, I try not to press the button again. That is, I will film something important, of course, but I will try to do it in such a way as not to disturb anyone.

As for professional cynicism, this is an integral part of our work. You have to work with people who have become victims of certain circumstances, but you won’t be able to empathize with everyone. This is counterproductive in a professional sense, and it’s hard on the heart. Yes, over time you begin to relate to everything more simply, less emotionally. At the same time, the cynicism of photographers and journalists is still greatly exaggerated.

I did not photograph the bodies of the dead passengers of MH17, although I knew that there would be a demand for such photographs.

When events of historical importance occur, we sometimes have to show the world terrifying pictures. But it is important to remember that victims of disasters and military conflicts have relatives and friends. In the Internet era, they risk seeing their loved ones in ways they would not like to remember. Therefore, photographers must ask themselves if they are ready to see their loved ones like this.

A photographer needs a certain degree of freedom. On July 17, I did not photograph the bodies of the dead passengers of MH17, although I knew that there would be a demand for such photographs. There was other material for history. The editors asked me to photograph not bloody bodies, but things that belonged to the dead.

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The photographer must find an image and through it convey the horror of what is happening.

One day, my colleagues and I conducted an experiment: our boss found a photograph that showed the head of a terrorist in a pool of blood, and invited global publications to publish it. No one agreed - a rare reader wants to see pictures intended for pathologists. If the task is to convey the full horror of what is happening, a good photojournalist should do this through an image, and not just photograph dismemberment.

There are different ways to show tragedy. At one time I worked with Magnolia TV, and we had to film a story about a dead baby who was found in a trash can. Arriving at the place, we saw children examining the tank with interest - this could be the image that would convey the essence of what happened. Finding it means being a professional.

I don't believe that photographers working in hot spots become cynical over time - this cannot happen to a person with a strong psyche. There was one case in my practice: in January 1995, during the first Chechen war, the most venerable photojournalists gathered in Grozny. We stood along the fence on one of the streets, and an old woman with a bucket walked along the road. The sniper shot her right in the head and she fell. What do you think the photographers did? They stopped filming and ran under fire to help the dying woman. One, however, remained in place and filmed how they carried her. His boss later refused to publish this photo.

The main task of war photography is to do everything to ensure that what happens never happens again. It is important to capture the history of the country, humanity, people - everyone should know it, this helps to avoid many mistakes.

War photography must tell an honest story. People who are lucky enough not to see war with their own eyes need to understand what is happening.

War is ugly. Really terrible things are happening. How to remove them depends on the situation. On the one hand, it is useless to publish pictures that will force the reader to quickly turn the page. But at the same time, events need to be shown as they are. Without sugarcoating it. To feel this balance, you need to be able to sympathize.

War photographers must remain calm in stressful situations and be able to empathize. If you can't pull yourself together while on the battlefield, this job is not for you. But you can’t completely turn off all feelings, not let everything that happens through yourself - no matter how professional you are, you still remain human.

War photography must tell an honest story. People who are lucky enough not to see war with their own eyes need to understand what is happening. Sometimes showing dead bodies is part of this task, but we need to look for other ways to convey the tragedy of events.

While working in Syria, I didn’t film everything I saw. I have photographs of bodies covered with linen. They lay open a few moments before I pulled the trigger. I felt that I should wait a little - the story would not lose anything.

But I showed the corpses when I considered it necessary. One day I witnessed the burial of six brothers and sisters who died in a bombing. This was one of the most difficult days of my work. It was then that I decided to take a photo of the uncovered bodies - the family of the victims wanted to show the whole world the real picture of what happened. I tried to control myself, but after editing and sending the pictures, I started crying.

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"alt": "Cover of Life, USA, November 26, 1965. The realities of the Vietnam War.",
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There is a difference: it is one thing to take a photo, another thing to make it public.

I believe that photography is always a document, proof. Therefore, the photographer must shoot everything. When preparing a publication, photographs necessary to confirm the idea of the material are selected (this is, after all, a collective effort). And here a lot depends on the position of the editor, the taste of the editor-in-chief and, undoubtedly, the talent of the photographer.

I press the trigger in any situation. But there is a difference: it is one thing to take a photo, another thing to make it public. I had a case. In October 1992, I photographed the scene of the An-124 crash near Kiev. Among the published photographs was a photograph of the dead pilot’s face, which was literally melted into the helmet in the fire. The photo was creepy and powerful. After some time, they told me that the pilot’s family was horrified by what they saw. Since then, I always remember that each of my characters has loved ones.

The images must communicate something other than the fact that a tragedy has occurred.

When it comes to ethics, it's important to stick to the middle ground. There must be good reason for photographers and editors to take and publish overly explicit images of a tragic death. Especially if they can be used to identify the victims.

On the one hand, I believe that such photos cannot be published - some of the passengers of MH17 probably had relatives and acquaintances who did not even know that they were on the crashed plane. On the other hand, it is necessary to convey that people are dying - because this is really happening. In this sense, it is easiest to photograph dead bodies, but such frames have no value from a photographic point of view. The images must communicate something other than that a tragedy has occurred.

With the development of social media, photographers and journalists themselves decide what to publish on the Internet. Therefore, they also need to be trained in editorial skills. Almost always people gather around the scene of an incident and take pictures of everything they see - nothing can be done about it. Both twenty years ago and now people take such pictures - it’s just that now they can be posted on social networks.

The dulling of the senses with a constant stream of naturalistic images reminds me of the situation with video games - we worry that people stop seeing violence as something abnormal. Much of the perception depends on when people see the photo - immediately after the disaster or several years later. How this affects society as a whole is a complex issue.

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Have I ever regretted publishing a photo?
Yes, alas.

There is a reportage photo, and there is a ruthless photo hunt for fried food - these are two different things. A reportage photograph can also be frank, frightening, causing disgust or indignation in the viewer, but it does not have the purpose of humiliating. That is why at one time all the “grandees” of the information space refused to buy and publish photographs of Princess Diana in a broken car after an accident in a Paris tunnel.

Have I ever regretted publishing a photo? Yes, alas. I went to the funeral of the poet Dmitry Prigov, whose death was very painful for me, and made a photo report about it - as it seemed to me then, quite respectful and dispassionate. Its publication on the blog caused a sharply negative reaction from some of my friends who knew Prigov, and I had to delete the material. I no longer go to funerals with a camera.

The photograph must be anti-war,
but everyone sees the shortest path to peace in their own way.

A photograph, first of all, should tell the story of what is happening, convey a news message. I would add that it should be anti-war, but everyone sees the shortest path to peace in their own way. The same photo can be perceived differently: it will motivate one person to organize humanitarian aid, another - to raise funds for volunteers.

I never refused a shot because of its cruelty, but there were times when I didn’t take a shot out of respect for the feelings of the person in front of me. The horror of war can be conveyed more subtly than through excessive naturalism. But this is not a general rule; each photographer and each publication decides for themselves.

In wars, and in any extreme situations, perception is dulled. This is neither good nor bad, it is a natural defense mechanism of the psyche. I myself first felt this in the summer of 2012, when there was a flood in Krymsk. I arrived there late at night, and emotions began to overcome me. But the very next morning, after spending the night in the emcheesniks’ tent, the feelings subsided. In this state, I could not understand which frames would have the greatest impact on the viewer, and this made it very difficult to select photographs to send to the editor.

What is war photography? Is it art or a way to capture the truth, a form of propaganda or a weapon against war? If there is a clear answer to this question, then it lies in the fate of war photographers, in their willingness to neglect any danger for the sake of one single photograph.

The very first

Roger Fenton became the first official war photographer, and the Crimean War became the first war, the truth about which reached the general public. However, Fenton rather sided with those who tried to embellish this truth. He was sent to Crimea at the insistence of Prince Consort Albert in order to calm English public opinion and show the British army and the war itself in a favorable light. The photographer avoided photographing dead and wounded soldiers and the destruction left behind during the fighting, and did this not only because of his own loyalty, but also because of the imperfection of photographic equipment. Bulky and heavy equipment limited the choice of subjects; the low sensitivity of the materials made it possible to photograph only stationary objects. Fenton could not have captured one of the battles even if he wanted to. Instead, he photographed military men and officials posing for him, camp sites, a railway yard, trenches and batteries, various landscapes, panoramas of the outskirts of Sevastopol, Balaklava, and ships in the roadstead. And yet, despite the primitiveness of the technology of that time, the restrictions imposed by the political situation, the desire of the publisher to commercially use the resulting photographic material, and the ordinary disorder of everyday life (Fenton traveled in a wine van converted into a darkroom, in which “by noon it was so hot , that you could burn your hand if touched"), the photographs taken by the photographer - the first evidence of the war - convey its horror and at the same time are filled with sincere human warmth. From the Crimean War, Fenton brought three hundred and fifty large format negatives. One of these works is included in the collection “100 Photographs That Changed the World.”

Death Valley (No Man's Land, between the positions of the British and Russian armies, covered with unexploded cannonballs). Crimean War. 1855

Robert Capa Gold Medal

During World War II, Robert Capa carried out assignments for Life magazine, photographing on all fronts. In 1944, he was the only photographer to photograph the Allied landings on Omaha Beach in Normandy. True to his credo, he walked in the front ranks of the infantry, and then, under fire, filmed in the water until the film ran out. Due to an oversight by a laboratory technician, almost all the images were exposed, and only eleven frames were saved. But these 11 pictures went down in history.

Omaha Beach, Normandy, France. 1944

When Egypt, Syria, Lebanon, Jordan, Iraq, Saudi Arabia and Yemen declared war on Israel, which declared its independence, Capa went there. His destiny was to film military actions. He didn't know how to work where it was too calm. Robert Capa died on May 25, 1954 in Vietnam at the very end of the Indochina War, when he was blown up by a mine. A year later, the US Press Club introduced a new award - the Robert Capa Gold Medal. This medal is awarded for the most impressive photo reports. One of the mandatory criteria by which photographic works are evaluated is the risk to the life of the photographer during shooting.

At the right time in the right place

Margaret Bourke-White- the first female photographer in the famous Life magazine, the first female war correspondent, the first female photographer to take part in a combat operation. In 1941, during the German attack, she found herself in Moscow, being the first Western photographer to receive permission to photograph in the USSR. She had an incredible ability to be where history is being made. She accompanied American troops in northern Africa, Italy and Germany. And in the spring of 1945, at the end of the war, Bourke-White created a stunning series dedicated to the Buchenwald concentration camp. “Using the camera provided some relief. She created a small barrier between me and the horror surrounding me,” the photographer would say later.

Buchenwald. 1945

But Margaret Bourke-White was not only in the right place at the right time, she knew how to see and highlight the main thing, turn photographs into dynamic journalistic photo essays, complete stories in which she laid deep meaning. And for the sake of the effect she needed, which would allow her to fully convey the meaning of the message, she was literally not afraid to get her hands dirty. During the Korean War, where Bourke-White was sent to photograph the atrocities of the northern communists, she took a very controversial photograph. After the execution of a North Korean prisoner, she picked up the severed head and, holding it in one hand and the camera in the other, took a photo: a hand holding the severed head with a smiling executioner with an ax in the background.

Classics of world war photography

Dmitry Baltermants said that his generation of photographers did not know how to photograph war, and he himself would prefer not to learn this. But the Great Patriotic War was the beginning of his career. Baltermantz's first professional reportage - the entry of Soviet troops into Western Ukraine in 1939 - was so impressive that he was immediately offered a position as a staff photographer at the Izvestia newspaper. He could have made a name for himself in science, but chose to become a war photographer. And he became one of the best. He knew how to capture everyday heroism without pathos. Soldiers running with rifles at the ready, cropped figures, greased overcoats. It seems that just a little more, and you will hear screams and cannonade. This is “Attack” - one of the photographer’s most famous photographs, which has become a classic of world war photography.

Attack. November 1941

However, the fate of Baltermants' photographs was sometimes quite strange. Ordinary shots immediately went to print, but true masterpieces, which museums and private collections are proud of today, were evaluated and published decades later. Perhaps the reason is also that the photographer was demoted from a correspondent for Izvestia to an employee of a front-line newspaper. In 1943, Baltermantz came to the editorial office to develop and print photographs and left them unattended. By mistake, his photograph, taken in Moscow, was sent to the printing house with the caption “German prisoners from Stalingrad.” They blamed the photographer for this and immediately fired him from the newspaper.

A striking example of Baltermantz’s unappreciated photograph in its time is “Tchaikovsky,” a photograph taken in a German town at the end of the war. The soldiers asked to take them off so they could send the card to their relatives. This almost “random” photograph is also one of the most famous war photographs.

Tchaikovsky (Breslau). 1945

His name is known to few, his photographs to everyone.

Evgeny Khaldey captured the Second World War from the first to the last day, and it is the photographs of these two days that are some of his most famous works: the photograph “The First Day of the War”, the only one taken in Moscow on June 22, 1941; and the photograph “Banner over the Reichstag” taken in May 1945, which became a real symbol of Victory.

Between these frames are hundreds and hundreds of others, covering the entire war, from the announcement of Germany's attack on the USSR to the Nuremberg trials. Photographs that have traveled the world and found their place as illustrations in textbooks, documentary books, and encyclopedias. Chaldea's camera, with equal impartiality and skill, photographed the Paris Conference of Foreign Ministers, the defeat of the Japanese in the Far East, the conference of the heads of the Allied powers in Potsdam, and the signing of the act of surrender of Germany. The photographer himself participated in the liberation of Sevastopol, the storming of Novorossiysk, Kerch, the liberation of Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Hungary. At the Nuremberg trials, photographs of Khaldei were presented as evidence. These are photographs that have become history.

But the famous photograph “The Banner over the Reichstag” is already a story created by the hands of the photographer himself. Khaldei, who was in Moscow at that time, was given the task of urgently flying to Berlin and filming the soldiers hoisting the red flag over the Reichstag. The photographer took care of the flag in advance: he borrowed a red cloth from the TASS Photo Chronicle caretaker and gave it to a tailor, who sewed a flag with a star, hammer and sickle. “And so, with a flag in my bosom, I stealthily walked around the Reichstag and made my way into it from the main entrance,” Khaldei later recalled. The pole for the banner was found in the attic of the already captured Reichstag. Two machine gunners, at the request of the photographer, climbed onto the roof, and the historical moment was captured. This photo is one of the rare cases when a staged photograph looks like a reportage one.

Banner over the Reichstag. Berlin. May 1945

The photograph that “killed” the general

Photo taken Eddie Adams in 1968, in which an officer shoots a handcuffed prisoner in the head, won its author a Pulitzer Prize and caused a huge resonance in US society. “Moments captured in photographs are perhaps the most powerful weapons in the world,” Eddie Adams himself once wrote. And this photograph became just such a weapon, ricocheting at the officer depicted in it. Seeing such “atrocities of war,” American citizens were imbued with sympathy for the prisoner, although the photograph was not at all as clear as it seems at first glance. The prisoner was the captain of a squad of "revenge warriors", and that day they killed several dozen civilians. The fate of the officer who fired - General Nguyen Ngoc Loan - was ruined. The Australian military hospital refused to treat him, and after moving to the United States, Loan faced a massive campaign calling for his immediate deportation. Even after the war he continued to be insulted. When he settled in Virginia and opened a restaurant, vandals wrote on his walls: “We know who you are!” The restaurant soon had to close.

Eddie Adams felt guilty towards Loan and apologized for taking this photo in the first place. “The general killed a Vietnamese, and I killed the general with my camera,” the photographer said.

Murder of a Vietnamese by the Saigon police chief. 1968

Bombshell effect

Nick Yut Already at the age of 18, being a professional photographer, he passionately wanted to photograph in a war zone, he wanted to witness important events. On the morning of June 8, 1972, his wish came true; he became not only a witness, but to a much greater extent a “provocateur” of even larger events, taking one of the most famous shots in the history of photojournalism. That day, the photographer was driving towards the village of Trang Bang when South Vietnamese Air Force planes dropped four napalm bombs on the town. Among the victims of the explosion was a nine-year-old girl, Kim Phuc, who suffered severe burns, tore off her clothes and ran naked. The photograph of a little Vietnamese girl running away from exploding napalm had the effect of a bomb exploding. The photo made the whole world think about the war in Vietnam and raised a new wave of anti-war protests in the United States, which were joined by international human rights organizations. President Nixon declared the photo a fake, to which the photographer replied: “This photo is as real as the Vietnam War itself.”

The photo of 9-year-old Kim Phuc on June 8, 1972 went down in history forever, and Nick Yut received the Pulitzer Prize and overnight gained worldwide fame.

National Geographic Icon

He began his career as a photojournalist during the war in Afghanistan. In 1979, as a private citizen, dressed in local clothes, he crossed the Afghan-Pakistani border to report on a clash between rebel forces and government troops. To take away the photographs he had taken, he had to sew the film into a turban, socks and even underwear. Several photographs were published by The New York Times, but at that moment few people were interested in the events in Afghanistan. However, the situation changed radically when the Soviet-Afghan war began just a few months later. None of the Western agencies had actual photographs, and McCurry’s photographs immediately appeared on the pages of the world’s leading magazines: Paris Match, Stern, Times, Newsweek, Life. Subsequently, McCurry filmed the Iran-Iraq War, civil wars in Lebanon, Cambodia, the Philippines, and the Gulf War. He received the highest award for a war photographer, the Robert Capa Gold Medal for "the best photographic report from abroad requiring exceptional courage and initiative."

But it was the photograph of an Afghan refugee that truly brought him world fame. In late 1984, McCurry found himself in the Nazir Bagh Pashtun refugee camp near Peshawar, where he was allowed to take photographs in a girls' classroom. “I didn’t think that this photograph would be any different from many other photographs that I took that day,” McCurry would later say, but it was this photograph of a 12-year-old green-eyed Afghan girl that was destined to fly around the world, becoming one of the most circulated photographs in the world. In the 20 years since its first publication in June 1985 on the cover of National Geographic magazine, the “Afghan Girl” has become one of the most recognizable photographic images of the era; the photograph has appeared on the pages of other magazines, postcards, posters, and has become a tattoo on the backs of peace fighters. The National Geographic Society of the United States included her in the top 100 photographs, and in 2005 her cover was included in the top ten “Best Magazine Covers of the Last 40 Years.” Despite such popularity, the “Afghan girl” remained anonymous for 17 years, only in 2002 McCurry and the National Geographic team found a woman named Sharbat Gula.

Afghan girl. 1984

Peace Prize for War Photographer

“The truth does not need to be embellished. You just have to say it, and often it’s enough to do it once,” that’s the credo James Nachtwey, a war photographer who received the Peace Prize for his photographs.

He filmed in Afghanistan, Rwanda, Chechnya, Darfur and Iraq, the Balkans and near the World Trade Center in New York after the terrorist attack. Swiss director and producer Christian Frei followed the photographer for two years during the wars in Indonesia, Kosovo and Palestine, filming The War Photographer. Special micro-cameras were attached to Nachtwey's camera, allowing him to track his every move, every stage of the shooting, giving a unique insight into the work of a passionate photojournalist. “I became a photographer to be a war photographer,” admits James Nachtwey. “And everything I did before was just preparation. I was inspired by photographs from the Vietnam War and photographs of the civil rights movement in the United States. They had an incredible impact on the consciousness of the nation. The photographs that came to us from Vietnam were brutal documentary images, but that is precisely why they became an indictment of the war. They proved to be fuel for protest. They illustrated how crazy the war was, how cruel and unnecessary it was... Those photographs created the pressure that was needed for change, and as a result, America came out of the war earlier than it otherwise would have. Those photographs didn't just document history, they helped change the course of history."

Nachtwey's own photographs also change history. If he is a witness, then his photographs are evidence. Testimony against events that “must not be forgotten and must not be repeated.”

Photos to die for

There are still wars going on in the world, and hundreds of photographers go to hot spots to capture history, or to make history, or simply because, like the modern photographer David Leeson, who was awarded the highest award in journalism for his photographs - the Pulitzer Prize, they believe that there are photographs that are worth dying for, and that there are photographs that can stop bloodshed.

Their names are firmly entrenched in the history not only of Russian photography, but also in the history of Soviet journalism. Courage, unshakable faith in victory and dedication - that’s what distinguished each of them when they volunteered to go to the front and, under bullets, created a photographic chronicle of the country. We present an overview of the most famous Soviet photojournalists of the Great Patriotic War.

Max Alpert (1899-1980)

Max Vladimirovich Alpert was born in Simferopol. Together with his brother, Mikhail Alperin, he studied photography in Odessa. After the Civil War, he worked as a photojournalist for Rabochaya Gazeta in Moscow. In the 1920s, he was a member of the association of photo reporters at the Moscow Press House.

In the 1930s, he worked for the illustrated magazine “USSR on Construction,” where he prepared about 50 photo essays. The most important work of this period was done on the construction of a plant in Magnitogorsk (Magnitka), on the laying of Turksib, on the construction of the Great Fergana Canal.

During the Great Patriotic War, as a correspondent for TASS Photo Chronicle and the Sovinformburo, Alpert worked both in the rear and at the front, in combat situations. Alpert is the author of the world-famous work “Combat”, which has become one of the symbols of the war. At the end of the war he visited Prague and Berlin and filmed the Victory Parade on June 24, 1945 in Moscow. In the post-war years he collaborated in various publications. He was a leading photojournalist for the Novosti press agency.

Many of his works are kept in the collection of negatives of the State Central Museum of Contemporary History of Russia. Considered one of the founders of Soviet serial reportage photography. Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR (1966).

Anatoly Arkhipov (1913-1950)

Anatoly Arkhipovich Arkhipov, originally from Kharkov, worked as a photojournalist for the editorial office of Soviet Ukraine since 1939, then was transferred to Moscow to work for the Illustrated Newspaper. Anatoly Arkhipov took the first photographs of the Great Patriotic War in May 1942 on the Southwestern Front. His photographs were first published in 1942 in the propaganda magazine “Front Illustration”.

Then there was Stalingrad, in the battles for which Arkhipov was wounded in November 1942, the Leningrad Front, the liberation of Eastern Ukraine, the Battle of Kursk, the liberation of Kyiv, Belarus, Poland, and the offensive in Germany. He photographed both ordinary soldiers and military leaders.

Dmitry Baltermants (1912-1990)

After graduating from the Faculty of Mechanics and Mathematics of Moscow State University in 1939, Dmitry Baltermants was accepted as a mathematics teacher at the Higher Military Academy with the rank of captain. In the same year he completed his first professional photo report. On instructions from the newspaper Izvestia, he captured the entry of Red Army units into the territory of Western Ukraine. As a result, he was enrolled in the staff of Izvestia and became a professional photojournalist. According to the memoirs of the photographer’s daughter Tatyana Baltermants, before making the fateful decision, Dmitry Baltermants almost did not hesitate and easily abandoned the prospects of a scientific academic career: “It took a little time to think - the soul was already poisoned by photography, all that was left was to pick up a camera.”

Dmitry Nikolaevich Baltermants was a photojournalist for the Izvestia newspaper, filming reports for it about the construction of anti-tank fortifications near Moscow, the defense of Crimea, and the Battle of Stalingrad. In 1942, due to an editor’s mistake (they published a photograph of destroyed not German, but British tanks that were in service with the Red Army), the responsibility for which was assigned to the author of the photo, Baltermants was demoted to the ranks and sent to a penal battalion. As a result of the injury, his leg was amputated. After lying in hospitals until 1944, Dmitry returned to the front as a photojournalist for the army newspaper “To Defeat the Enemy.” For the battles in the city of Breslau on May 16, 1945, Lieutenant Colonel I. Volkov again nominated Senior Lieutenant Baltermants for the award - the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree.

Returning from the front, Dmitry Baltermants did not immediately find work. Only the poet Alexey Surkov, editor-in-chief of the Ogonyok magazine, was not afraid to hire Baltermants. In this magazine, having headed its photo department in 1965, Dmitry Baltermants worked until his death.

During the years of Khrushchev's "thaw" Dmitry Baltermants experienced the peak of his popularity. At this time, Soviet amateur photographers were able to see many “archival”, unpublished front-line works of the master, which captured not only the feat, but death, grief and the hardships of war. The photographer became famous abroad - Dmitry Baltermants' personal exhibitions in London (1964) and New York (1965) made him a world celebrity.

Natalia Bode (1914-1996)

She was born on December 17 (December 30), 1914 in Kyiv in the family of a technical school teacher. In 1934, she worked as a photojournalist for the ShchKPU newspaper “Kommunist”. In 1938, she moved to TASS Photo Chronicle in Ukraine. In 1941, she volunteered to work for the front-line newspaper of the Southwestern Front, “Red Army,” and worked with it until the end of the war. Filmed on the Southwestern, Central, and 1st Belorussian fronts. She was constantly published in the central newspapers “Pravda”, “Krasnaya Zvezda”, the magazine “Ogonyok” and the foreign press (through the Sovinformburo). She finished the war with the rank of senior lieutenant.

After the war, in 1945, Detizdat published a book of photographs, “On the Roads of War,” which received an award. Participated in many all-Union and international photo exhibitions. Since 1945 she lived in Moscow. She worked as a Moscow correspondent for the Ukrainian newspaper Radyanska Kultura.

Robert Diament (1907-1987)

Robert (Iosif-Raphael) Lvovich Diament served in the Northern Fleet during the Great Patriotic War as a photojournalist and head of the photo bureau of the Fleet Political Directorate. After demobilization, he worked under contracts at the All-Russian Agricultural Exhibition, carried out tasks for the Anti-Fascist Committee of Soviet Women, the editorial office of the magazine “Club and Amateur Arts”, the magazines “Vocational Education” and “Industrial Training”, his photographs were published in the magazines: “Ogonyok”, “Soviet Union”, “ Soviet photo”, “Health”, “Working woman”, “Behind the wheel”, etc., on the pages of photo albums, were exhibited in military museums in Moscow, Kyiv, Leningrad, Murmansk, Polyarny, Severomorsk, etc.

For the sake of doing the work of a photojournalist, he sacrificed his health - when filming a salvo of the main caliber of the cruiser on which he was, Diament did not cover his ear, since his finger was on the camera trigger. As a result, he was shell-shocked and almost deaf in his left ear.

His photographs are the most detailed chronicle of the life of North Sea warriors: sailors, marines, pilots. He went out with submariners to torpedo enemy ships, ensured the safety of allied convoys on destroyers, took part in the landing and in the battles of the Petsamo-Kirkenes operation, and flew out with torpedo bomber pilots. Member of the Union of Journalists of the USSR since 1967.

(1911–1984)

The world's most famous classic of Soviet photography.

Born in 1911 in Rostov-on-Don. In the late 30s he worked as a freelance correspondent for TASS Press Cliché. Since 1933 he has been working at TASS Photo Chronicle. In 1934 he moved to Moscow, where he got the opportunity to film the main events of the era: the Congress of the Comintern and the Congress of Soviets, at which the Constitution was adopted; construction, Arctic expeditions and sports parades. He photographed Maxim Gorky, Mikhail Ivanovich Kalinin; famous pilots - V. Chkalov, M. Gromov, outstanding cultural and artistic figures.

During the war he filmed on many fronts. The most famous photographs were taken in Stalingrad. He took part in the liberation of the cities of Minsk, Warsaw, Koenigsberg, ended the war in Prague, and was awarded two Orders of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War, II degree, and USSR medals. Filmed the liberation of Donbass, Minsk, Warsaw, Konigsberg, Prague. The Stalingrad series of his photographs became especially famous.

After the war, while working at TASS, E. Evzerikhin taught the basics of photography at the Correspondence People's University of Arts and gave lectures around the country.

Emmanuel Evzerikhin died in 1984.

Georgy Zelma (1906-1984)

Georgy Anatolyevich Zelma (real name Zelmanovich) was born in 1906 in Tashkent. In 1921 he moved to Moscow, where he began taking photographs with an old Kodak 9x12 camera. He gained his first photography experience in the Proletkino studio and during theater rehearsals for the Theater magazine. He continued to work at the Russfoto agency, where he came as an apprentice photographer and soon began working independently.

Photojournalist for Izvestia, Ogonyok, Krasnaya Zvezda and other publications in the 1920s and 30s, military photojournalist for the Izvestia newspaper. He worked on the front lines in Moldova, Odessa and Ukraine.

His most famous photographs were taken during the Battle of Stalingrad, where the photographer chronicled the battle for the city. After the war, Georgy Zelma worked at the Ogonyok magazine, and since 1962 at the Novosti agency.

Boris Ignatovich (1899-1979)

Boris Vsevolodovich Ignatovich was born in Lutsk. Journalist since 1918. In 1921 he moved to Moscow, where he headed the Gornyak newspaper. In 1922–1925 in Petrograd he became interested in photography. After returning to Moscow, he became one of the leaders of the Association of Photo Reporters at the House of Press, from 1927 he was a bill editor and photojournalist for the newspaper “Bednota”, and collaborated in the magazines “Narpit”, “Prozhektor”, “Ogonyok”, “Soviet Photo” and “USSR at Construction”.

Together with Alexander Rodchenko, he is one of the organizers and head of the Oktyabr Group.

In the 1930s. became interested in film reporting, made several documentaries (the film essay “Today” and a film about the Kukryniksy, etc.). At the same time, he headed the illustration department of the newspaper “Evening Moscow”.

During the Great Patriotic War, he worked as a photojournalist in the newspaper of the 30th Army “Battle Banner”. He worked behind enemy lines, filming the partisan movement.

After the war, he worked in many magazines and publishing houses, and headed the Novator club. He created portraits of cultural and artistic figures (Korney Chukovsky, Mikhail Zoshchenko, Boris Pasternak, etc.). Awarded USSR medals. Author of the famous photo of Stalin and Nakhangova.

Boris Kudoyarov (1898-1973)

Boris Pavlovich Kudoyarov was born in 1898 in Tashkent. He graduated from the pre-revolutionary gymnasium. In 1917-1920 he served in the Red Army. Being an amateur photographer, he began to actively photograph sporting events. In 1925, he began working as a photo reporter for the magazine “Physical Culture and Sports”, from 1926 he worked for the Russfoto agency, later - Unionfoto, and from 1931 - a photo correspondent for the Soyuzfoto agency. He specialized in sports subjects, and also created a “photo chronicle of the industrialization and collectivization of the country.” In 1932, during the celebration of the First of May, from a P-5 plane he photographed Red Square with columns of demonstrators, the design of Metrostroy, the Palace of Labor, Sverdlovsk Square with giant portraits in the middle. In the same year, on a business trip to enterprises in the Nizhny Novgorod region, I took photographs of the Nizhny Novgorod Automobile Plant, Sormovo, Vyksinsky Plant, port and other objects.

During the Great Patriotic War, he was a photojournalist for Komsomolskaya Pravda in besieged Leningrad, during which time he took about 3,000 photographs, many of which were included in the golden fund of Soviet journalism and photography. The Leningrad cycle of B. Kudoyarov became a classic of military photo reporting. In the post-war years he worked as a photojournalist for Komsomolskaya Pravda. He died on a creative trip to Central Asia in 1973 in a car accident.

Mark Markov-Grinberg (1907-2006)

Mark Borisovich Markov-Grinberg in 1925 became a photojournalist for the Rostov newspaper “Soviet South” and a freelance correspondent for the magazine “Ogonyok”. And in 1926 he moved to Moscow. Worked for the magazine "Smena". From 1930 he worked at TASS, and in September 1941 he was sent to the front as a simple private. Only in July 1943 was he sent by the army’s political department as a correspondent for the army newspaper “The Word of a Fighter.”

After the war, he served with the rank of captain as a photojournalist for the Krasnoarmeyskaya Illustrated Newspaper. After the war, he served with the rank of captain as a photojournalist at the Krasnoarmeyskaya Illustrated Newspaper.

Honorary member of the Union of Photographers of Russia. M. Markov-Grinberg did not live just a year before his centenary.

Mark Redkin (1908-1987)

Mark Stepanovich Redkin was born in the city of Astrakhan in 1908 in the family of a sailor. In his youth he worked at a ship repair plant as a welder. In 1932 he graduated from the Leningrad Film and Photo Technical College. In 1933 he was called up for military service. In 1934 he began taking photographs for newspapers. From 1934 to 1941 he worked for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. During the war, he was a photojournalist for TASS, as well as for the newspaper Front Illustration. Was acquainted with A. S. Shaikhet and Y. N. Khalip.

In 1934–1941 he was a photojournalist for the newspaper of the Leningrad Military District and the Baltic Fleet "Red Star", TASS photo chronicle. Filmed on many fronts. After the victory over Germany, he filmed the war with Japan. In the post-war period, he was a correspondent for TASS photo chronicles, the Soviet Union magazine, and the Planeta publishing house.

(1913-1986)

Born in 1913 in Kharkov. Graduated from the working faculty of Kharkov University; collaborated with the Kharkov newspaper “Evening Radio”. Since 1936 - photojournalist for the republican newspaper "Communist", the organ of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Ukraine.

Since the beginning of the Great Patriotic War, he was a photojournalist for the Pravda newspaper on the Southwestern Front. Later he photographed on different fronts, the most famous are his photographs taken in the battle for Stalingrad. Participated as a photo reporter in the liberation of Ukraine, Moldova, Romania, and Hungary. Filmed the fighting in Berlin.

In the post-war years he worked for the newspapers Pravda, Soviet Russia, the magazine Ogonyok, and the publishing house Kolos. He has published several author's photo albums. Awarded orders and medals.

Died in Moscow in 1986.

Mikhail Savin (1915-2006)

Mikhail Ivanovich Savin was born in 1915. Since 1939 he worked at TASS Photo Chronicle. In the active army since June 1941. Military photojournalist, senior lieutenant. As a front-line photojournalist, he went through the entire war from the first to the last day. During the war he was awarded medals “For Courage” and “For Victory over Germany.” From 1946 to 1992, one of the leading photojournalists for Ogonyok magazine.

Author of photo albums, participant in many photography exhibitions, especially those dedicated to the Great Patriotic War. He was interested in painting. Lives in Moscow. from March 1941 he worked for the newspaper of the Western Military District “Krasnoarmeyskaya Pravda”.

Filmed the retreat in Belarus, the battles near Smolensk, the battle for Moscow, on the Kursk Bulge, the liberation of Lithuania, the offensive in East Prussia. Filmed the surrender of German troops in East Prussia and the Baltic. Since 1945, Mikhail Savin worked as a photojournalist for the Ogonyok magazine.

Sergei Strunnikov (1907-1944)

Sergei Nikolaevich Strunnikov was born in 1907 in Moscow into the family of an artist. In 1926 he graduated from high school and began working as a poster putter in a Moscow cinema. A year later he entered the State Film College (later - the All-Union State Institute of Cinematography). As a student, in 1929 he independently made a documentary film about the work of the geological exploration party “Fuel Exploration”. In the spring of 1930, he completed a technical school course and began working at the Mezhrabpomfilm studio in the group of the famous director V. Pudovkin. At the same time he began publishing photographs in the central press.

He voluntarily joined the Red Army and worked for a year in the army newspaper. Since 1932 - photojournalist for the newspaper Pravda.

In 1933, he participated in a polar expedition on the icebreaker Krasin as a photojournalist for the Glavsevmorput. He reported from the Five-Year Plan construction sites in Central Asia and Transcaucasia.

In 1940, the 10th anniversary of his photojournalism was celebrated with a personal exhibition at the Central House of Journalists. Since 1941 - military photojournalist for Pravda. His photograph “Zoya,” taken near Moscow in January 1942, gained worldwide fame. Filmed near Odessa, Tula, in besieged Leningrad, in the Kharkov direction, in Stalingrad. He died in June 1944 during an enemy air raid on an airfield near Poltava.

(1919-1998)

Vsevolod Sergeevich Tarasevich began publishing photographs in the newspapers Smena and Leningradskaya Pravda while still studying at the Leningrad Electrotechnical Institute. Since 1940, he has been a photojournalist for LenTASS photo chronicles. Since the beginning of the war, he has been a photojournalist for the political department of the North-Western and then Leningrad fronts.

The most significant work of the war period is a series of photographs “Leningrad in the Siege” (1941–1943).

After the end of the war, he collaborated with the newspaper “Evening Leningrad” for three years. After moving to Moscow, he worked as a photojournalist for VDNKh, for the magazines “Soviet Union”, “Soviet Woman”, “Ogonyok”. Since 1961 - photojournalist for the Novosti press agency. One of the first Soviet photographers to start shooting in color (1954–1955), works from this period were included in the exhibition “Primrose” (Photobiennale 2008).

In the 70s, he was the dean of the photojournalism department of the Institute of Journalistic Excellence at the Moscow organization of the Union of Journalists.

Victor Temin (1908-1987)

Viktor Antonovich Temin was born on October 21 (November 3), 1903 in Tsarevokokshaisk (now Yoshkar-Ola, Mari-El Republic) in the family of a clergyman. I took my first photograph in Menzelinsk when I was still a schoolboy.

In 1922, he began working as a correspondent for the newspaper Izvestia TatTSIK. In 1929, on the instructions of the editors of “Red Tataria”, Viktor Antonovich photographed Maxim Gorky who arrived in Kazan. At the meeting, the writer gave the correspondent a portable Leica camera.

In the 1930s, V. A. Temin filmed a number of significant events: the first expedition to the North Pole, the epic rescue of the Chelyuskinites, the flights of V. P. Chkalov, A. V. Belyakov and G. F. Baidukov, the first flight of female pilots to aircraft "Rodina", expeditions to the Arctic on the icebreakers "Taimyr", "Murmansk", "Ermak", "Sadko". He took part in the battles on Lake Khasan, Khalkhin Gol, and in the Soviet-Finnish War (1939–1940).

During the Great Patriotic War, V. A. Temin, as a front-line correspondent, visited different fronts. At noon on May 1, 1945, I photographed the Victory Banner from the Po-2 plane. This photograph was promptly delivered to the editorial office of Pravda. The photo “Victory Banner over the Reichstag” was published by newspapers and magazines in dozens of countries around the world.

Awarded three Orders of the Red Star, Orders of the Patriotic War I and II degrees, and medals. Honored Worker of Culture of the RSFSR.

Mikhail Trakhman (1918 - 1976)

Mikhail Anatolyevich Trakhman was born in Moscow and became interested in photography during his school years. The first photographs were published in Moscow newspapers in the late 30s.

In 1938, he became a photojournalist for the Teacher's Newspaper. In 1939 he was drafted into the Red Army and took part in the Soviet-Finnish War.

During the Great Patriotic War, Mikhail Anatolyevich was a photojournalist for the Sovinformburo and worked for the Krasnaya Zvezda newspaper. His most famous war photographs are from the partisan series. After the war, he worked for the magazine Ogonyok and as a photojournalist at VDNKh. Awarded the Order of the Red Star.

David Trachtenberg (1906–1980)

David Mikhailovich Trakhtenberg began working in Leningrad; He was an artist by training and often used photography in his work, then he began to take pictures himself. In the late 1930s, he became a photojournalist for Leningradskaya Pravda. During the war, he kept a detailed photo chronicle of the siege of his native city. He is the author of the unique photo series “Breakthrough of the Leningrad Siege.”

After the war, books by David Trachtenberg were published about that great tragedy, of which he was an eyewitness, witness and participant, becoming its chronicler. In the post-war period, he continued to work for the Leningradskaya Pravda newspaper and, on instructions from a number of publishing houses in Moscow and Leningrad, photographed books and albums.

Georgy Ugrinovich (1910-1989)

Georgy Ivanovich Ugrinovich was born in 1910 in Dnepropetrovsk. Worked in the magazine "Ukraine" in Kyiv.

During the Great Patriotic War, he served as a TASS war correspondent for Ukraine and took a large number of photographs dedicated to the liberation of Ukraine from the German invaders.

After the end of the war, he worked as a freelance correspondent for the Mystetstvo publishing house.


Partisan reconnaissance officer of the Chernigov formation “For the Motherland” Vasily Borovik against a background of trees. Photo: Georgy Ugrinovich

Alexander Ustinov (1909-1995)

Born in 1909 in Moscow. A graduate of the cinematography department of the Institute of Cinematography, he collaborated with the newspapers Gudok, Mechanical Engineering, Krasnaya Zvezda, Illustrated Newspaper, and Ogonyok magazine. In 1938, on the instructions of Ogonyok, he filmed his famous photo report about the preparation of the flight of the crew of the Rodina aircraft, which made a non-stop flight from Moscow to the Far East.

Since the mid-thirties, Alexander Vasilyevich worked as a photojournalist for the newspapers “Red Warrior” and “Red Star”. During the war he was a front-line photojournalist for the newspaper Pravda. He photographed the famous parade on November 7, 1941 in Moscow, the battles on the Volkhov, Western, Southwestern, Leningrad, Stalingrad, Bryansk, 1st, 2nd, 4th Ukrainian fronts.

Filmed the actions of partisan formations behind enemy lines, the meeting of Soviet and American troops on the Elbe on April 25, 1945. After the war he continued to work as a correspondent for the newspaper Pravda.

Vasily Fedoseev (1913-1973)

Vasily Gavrilovich Fedoseev - photojournalist for LenTASS since 1939. He took part in the war with Finland.

During the Great Patriotic War, he filmed the besieged Leningrad; the author of a large number of photographs capturing the everyday life of besieged Leningrad, the heroism of its citizens, their work and life.

After the war, he worked at the Sovinformburo and at the LenTASS photo chronicle; participant and laureate of all-Union photo exhibitions.

(1917-1997)

Evgeniy Ananyevich Khaldei was born in Yuzovka (now Donetsk). During the Jewish pogrom on March 13, 1918, his mother and grandfather were killed, and the one-year-old child himself received a bullet wound in the chest.

At the age of 13 he began working at a factory. I took my first photo at the age of 13 with a homemade camera. At the age of 16 he began working as a photojournalist. Since 1939 he has been a correspondent for TASS Photo Chronicle. Filmed Dneprostroy, reports about Alexei Stakhanov. Represented the TASS editorial office on the naval front during the Great Patriotic War. He spent all 1418 days of the war with a Leica camera from Murmansk to Berlin.

He filmed the Paris meeting of foreign ministers, the defeat of the Japanese in the Far East, the conference of the heads of the Allied powers in Potsdam, the hoisting of the flag over the Reichstag, the signing of the act of surrender of Germany. At the age of 18 he began working as a photojournalist, and from 1939 he represented TASS Photo Chronicle. Filmed Dneprostroy, reports about Alexei Stakhanov. He went through the Great Patriotic War from the first to the last day, taking a huge number of photographs, many of which became famous (including one of the symbols of Victory - the photo “Victory Banner over the Reichstag”).

Participated in the liberation of Sevastopol, the assault on Novorossiysk, Kerch, the liberation of Romania, Bulgaria, Yugoslavia, Austria, and Hungary. He took series of photographs about the life of North Sea residents and sailors of the Black Sea Fleet, the Paris Conference of Foreign Ministers, the defeat of the Japanese in the Far East, the conference of the heads of the Allied powers in Potsdam, the hoisting of the flag over Reistag, the signing of the act of surrender of Germany, the Nuremberg trials.

In 2014, his Leica was sold at Bonhams auction for $200,000.

Nikolay Khandogin (1909-1989)

Since 1935, Nikolai Ivanovich Khandogin worked in the editorial office of the Leningrad front-line newspaper “On Guard of the Motherland.”

Filmed the Soviet-Finnish war of 1939-1940. After the German attack on the Soviet Union, he was appointed war photographer of the Leningrad Front.

He photographed events in the Leningrad region, Estonia and Karelia, the siege of Leningrad.

After the war, Khandogin continued to work in the editorial office of the newspaper “On Guard of the Motherland”, as well as in the popular magazines “Soviet Union” and “Ogonyok”.

Ivan Shagin (1904-1982)

Ivan Shagin was born in the Yaroslavl region in 1904. When the future photographer was 12 years old, his father died, and a large peasant family was left with very meager means of subsistence. The mother got her son a job as a “boy” in the shop of a Moscow merchant. Here, while running errands, Ivan Shagin learned to read and write and gained worldly experience. He returned to the village again only in 1919, when after the revolution the shop, like many others, closed.

The 17-year-old boy was forced to go to work and got a job as a sailor at the Volga river shipping company. After a short time, the future photographer changed jobs again. This time he was accepted as an auxiliary worker in a “Nepman” store - that is, practically in his specialty. Here the young man stayed and in two years “grew up” to become an assistant store director, and then an instructor at a government demonstration store-school.

In the 1920s, he joined a circle at the newspaper “Our Life”, where he learned the basics of photo reporting. Soon his first photographs were already published in publications published under the auspices of the Selkhozgiz concern, and Shagin left his job as a salesman for a career as a photographer. In 1930, Ivan Shagin began collaborating with the newspapers “Our Life” and “Cooperative Life” of the Selkhozgiz publishing house.

A photojournalist for the Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper, during the Great Patriotic War Shagin worked as a military photojournalist, filming from the first to the last day - from the announcement of the German attack on the Soviet Union and work in the rear to the signing of the surrender in Berlin in May 1945.

(1898-1959)

Arkady Samoilovich Shaikhet was born on August 28 (September 9), 1898 in Nikolaev (now Ukraine) into a Jewish family. In 1922–1924 he worked as a retoucher in private photography in Moscow. Since 1924, he collaborated in magazines (“Ogonyok”, “USSR in Construction”, “Our Achievements”), creating in his reports a photo chronicle of the first five-year plans.

During the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945, he photographed a lot at the front as a correspondent for the newspaper “Front Illustration”. He photographed military actions on various fronts, including near Moscow, near Stalingrad, on the Kursk Bulge, and during the capture of Berlin.

In the post-war years he again worked for the magazine Ogonyok.

Materials used in preparing the review