Viacheslav Ratynskyi has been photographing the Russian-Ukrainian war since the first hours. He works as a freelance photographer for REUTERS and other media. We talked to Viacheslav about the changes in his attitude towards military events, what he has to share with the world through his pictures, and reflective photography for a foreign audience.
In 2013, I filmed the events of the Revolution of Dignity. I spent a lot of time there, days and nights. It was an incredible sight. I've never seen anything like it, so many people, so much unity, thirst for freedom and change. Of course, there was a lot of pain, tears, suffering, and cruelty. Years later, these photographs became an independent project. After the Maidan events, I felt burnt out for a while. Later, I tried to get involved in the filming of the events in the Donbas, but for some reason, I didn't manage it. I went there a couple of times and filmed a little bit, but I missed that important time. In 2015, attention to these events has almost completely disappeared. Long story short, all these years I have felt the regret that I was never able to film anything about the brutal war in Donbas. But I have some beautiful, reflective photographs that relate to those times, and here is one of them:
Back then, at least once a week, the Azov Movement used to send buses filled with volunteers to fight in Donbas. They would gather in St Sophia's Square, dressed in military uniforms, wearing balaclavas, recite the Ukrainian nationalist prayer, and then say a long and emotional goodbye to their loved ones; girls and women would cry and embrace these young men. In my photograph, the boys in balaclavas are sitting on the steps near the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky, their girlfriends standing next to them, the wind playfully ruffling their skirts.
Why I love this photo: it's not about the pain and suffering that the war and Russia inevitably bring, but about the youth and the love of life.
Or a photo taken with the military, who were exercising in one of the gyms in the Ministry of Defence.
Everything interests me, I don't have the most preferred thing. Everything that has to do with Ukraine in wartime, how we are going through this incredibly difficult journey. Of course, the main focus is on the military, on the front line. But there are a lot of things happening around us, incredibly interesting stories, and events of historic importance that are the result of the war, but not directly related to the military.
I like to say that you never know where you are going to get your best shot. I've seen it many times. It's waiting for you in the most unexpected places. That's why you have to be curious about everything. It's better to look for it, find it, and shoot than not to have the guts and then regret it for a decade or more.
Of course, most of the photos I take now tend to be more reportorial, for news. But that doesn't mean that I'm not shooting something bigger at the same time. Or that certain photos won't be included in separate projects in the future. I would like to focus more on documentary projects. But events are still very dynamic, there is not always enough time for reflection, and documentary stories are more reflective.
It is very difficult to come up with ideas for these stories at this pace of work, and it is even more difficult to organise the shooting.
News is always fast, here's the facts, here's the incident, here's the picture, here's the release.
Documentary stories are long and complex.
I recently shot the aftermath of the shelling in Zaporizhzhya. Three civilians were killed. I arrived at the scene, and as usual, it was very difficult to get to the epicenter, there were a lot of services, which usually do not ease the work of journalists. I had a hard time getting to the epicentre of the strike: a church was in flames, a market nearby had been destroyed, the sound of glass being cleaned in a high-rise building opposite, a bunch of medics, a bunch of police and military. There was darkness and smoke all around the place. I saw a group of people in military uniforms with torches standing around something, studying something, lighting it up with torches. Not knowing what was happening, I started taking pictures. So, I took these photos and sent them quickly. Those are the rules of a news agency. The first few photos must be sent immediately.
I would like to add that filming a corpse is disrespectful to the deceased, to the audience. But there are different circumstances, sometimes it's necessary to shock the viewer, to show the maximum horror of what's happening in the first person. But I try to avoid very violent scenes. It is only in exceptional cases that I take such photographs. Or rather, I always photograph. To record, to document. But I rarely publish them.
So, let's move on. I sent off the photos in a hurry and it was only then that I noticed that people in uniform were examining the body of the deceased. The unfortunate man was lying in the rubble. His body had no head. It was a horrible scene. I noticed this later when I selected all the photos and sent them to the editor. I had a phone call from the editor: “I understand everything, but we are not pathologists. We are not going to publish these photos.”
That's why you must always be careful. Respectful of the feelings of others. You can't allow yourself to become callous and indifferent.
As for Western publications, it depends on the media itself. Some yellow press publications are just waiting for this kind of photo, they're usually tabloids, but that doesn't make them any less read. It's usually a low-quality product.
But there are other publishers, for example, I work with the German magazine Süddeutsche Zeitung. It's a magazine that comes out every Friday as a supplement to the biggest German newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung. It's read by millions of Germans. The magazine is very well done, even though it is only a supplement to the newspaper at the weekend. They have excellent photo editors. The visuals are always top-notch.
In the spring of 2022, this magazine introduced the column "Photos from the War" and in each number, it publishes a photo from Ukraine. So in this column, you will never see shocking photos or photos with a "wow" effect. There are no explosions, very rarely photos directly from the front. Usually, it is a very thoughtful photo with a deep story behind it.
I have to admit that these are the most difficult and probably the most interesting photographs to take.
It's a kind of journalism in photography, where a single image is supposed to tell a long, deep story. It is extremely difficult to take these kinds of photos. But some of my photos have been published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and next week the magazine will publish another one.
This photograph shows employees of one of Kiev`s shopping malls. On the lawn next to the Retroville shopping center in Kyiv's Vynohradar district, they are waiting for an air raid alert to end in August 2022. The authorities asked people to leave shopping centers during the alert after last year's Russian missile attack on a shopping center in Kremenets. Moreover, this is the same Retroville that the Russian Dagger hit in March 2022. We see smashed and boarded-up windows behind people's backs.
But there are no taboos, everything has to be documented. We'll figure it out later. The main thing is not to cause any harm.
You cannot film anything that is forbidden, anything that could harm the military or endanger civilians, etc. For example, is it possible to shoot air defense systems? Of course, you can! Is it possible to publish the work of the air defense? I think it is possible. The only question is when to publish it. I would not publish it in the news. Not to harm is the main policy. We should do our work for the common good.
Viacheslav Ratynskyi — Ukrainian reporter and documentary photographer. He was born in the city of Zhytomyr. He has been living and working in Kyiv for the last 9 years. Graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. He has been published in many Ukrainian publications (Ukrainska Pravda, Hromadske, Novoe Vremia, Focus, Forbes, Ukrainian Week, Reporters and others), as well as in a number of foreign publications (Time, The Guardian, The Wall Street journal, The Washington mail, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The New York Times, El Pais, Radio Freedom Europe, BBC, Reuters, Der Spiegel).
Photographer's social networks: Instagram, Facebook
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Marusya Maruzhenko
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
Read also: One life is enough for a drone: Olena Guseynova and photo of the week
Viacheslav Ratynskyi has been photographing the Russian-Ukrainian war since the first hours. He works as a freelance photographer for REUTERS and other media. We talked to Viacheslav about the changes in his attitude towards military events, what he has to share with the world through his pictures, and reflective photography for a foreign audience.
In 2013, I filmed the events of the Revolution of Dignity. I spent a lot of time there, days and nights. It was an incredible sight. I've never seen anything like it, so many people, so much unity, thirst for freedom and change. Of course, there was a lot of pain, tears, suffering, and cruelty. Years later, these photographs became an independent project. After the Maidan events, I felt burnt out for a while. Later, I tried to get involved in the filming of the events in the Donbas, but for some reason, I didn't manage it. I went there a couple of times and filmed a little bit, but I missed that important time. In 2015, attention to these events has almost completely disappeared. Long story short, all these years I have felt the regret that I was never able to film anything about the brutal war in Donbas. But I have some beautiful, reflective photographs that relate to those times, and here is one of them:
Back then, at least once a week, the Azov Movement used to send buses filled with volunteers to fight in Donbas. They would gather in St Sophia's Square, dressed in military uniforms, wearing balaclavas, recite the Ukrainian nationalist prayer, and then say a long and emotional goodbye to their loved ones; girls and women would cry and embrace these young men. In my photograph, the boys in balaclavas are sitting on the steps near the monument to Bohdan Khmelnytsky, their girlfriends standing next to them, the wind playfully ruffling their skirts.
Why I love this photo: it's not about the pain and suffering that the war and Russia inevitably bring, but about the youth and the love of life.
Or a photo taken with the military, who were exercising in one of the gyms in the Ministry of Defence.
Everything interests me, I don't have the most preferred thing. Everything that has to do with Ukraine in wartime, how we are going through this incredibly difficult journey. Of course, the main focus is on the military, on the front line. But there are a lot of things happening around us, incredibly interesting stories, and events of historic importance that are the result of the war, but not directly related to the military.
I like to say that you never know where you are going to get your best shot. I've seen it many times. It's waiting for you in the most unexpected places. That's why you have to be curious about everything. It's better to look for it, find it, and shoot than not to have the guts and then regret it for a decade or more.
Of course, most of the photos I take now tend to be more reportorial, for news. But that doesn't mean that I'm not shooting something bigger at the same time. Or that certain photos won't be included in separate projects in the future. I would like to focus more on documentary projects. But events are still very dynamic, there is not always enough time for reflection, and documentary stories are more reflective.
It is very difficult to come up with ideas for these stories at this pace of work, and it is even more difficult to organise the shooting.
News is always fast, here's the facts, here's the incident, here's the picture, here's the release.
Documentary stories are long and complex.
I recently shot the aftermath of the shelling in Zaporizhzhya. Three civilians were killed. I arrived at the scene, and as usual, it was very difficult to get to the epicenter, there were a lot of services, which usually do not ease the work of journalists. I had a hard time getting to the epicentre of the strike: a church was in flames, a market nearby had been destroyed, the sound of glass being cleaned in a high-rise building opposite, a bunch of medics, a bunch of police and military. There was darkness and smoke all around the place. I saw a group of people in military uniforms with torches standing around something, studying something, lighting it up with torches. Not knowing what was happening, I started taking pictures. So, I took these photos and sent them quickly. Those are the rules of a news agency. The first few photos must be sent immediately.
I would like to add that filming a corpse is disrespectful to the deceased, to the audience. But there are different circumstances, sometimes it's necessary to shock the viewer, to show the maximum horror of what's happening in the first person. But I try to avoid very violent scenes. It is only in exceptional cases that I take such photographs. Or rather, I always photograph. To record, to document. But I rarely publish them.
So, let's move on. I sent off the photos in a hurry and it was only then that I noticed that people in uniform were examining the body of the deceased. The unfortunate man was lying in the rubble. His body had no head. It was a horrible scene. I noticed this later when I selected all the photos and sent them to the editor. I had a phone call from the editor: “I understand everything, but we are not pathologists. We are not going to publish these photos.”
That's why you must always be careful. Respectful of the feelings of others. You can't allow yourself to become callous and indifferent.
As for Western publications, it depends on the media itself. Some yellow press publications are just waiting for this kind of photo, they're usually tabloids, but that doesn't make them any less read. It's usually a low-quality product.
But there are other publishers, for example, I work with the German magazine Süddeutsche Zeitung. It's a magazine that comes out every Friday as a supplement to the biggest German newspaper, the Süddeutsche Zeitung. It's read by millions of Germans. The magazine is very well done, even though it is only a supplement to the newspaper at the weekend. They have excellent photo editors. The visuals are always top-notch.
In the spring of 2022, this magazine introduced the column "Photos from the War" and in each number, it publishes a photo from Ukraine. So in this column, you will never see shocking photos or photos with a "wow" effect. There are no explosions, very rarely photos directly from the front. Usually, it is a very thoughtful photo with a deep story behind it.
I have to admit that these are the most difficult and probably the most interesting photographs to take.
It's a kind of journalism in photography, where a single image is supposed to tell a long, deep story. It is extremely difficult to take these kinds of photos. But some of my photos have been published in the Süddeutsche Zeitung, and next week the magazine will publish another one.
This photograph shows employees of one of Kiev`s shopping malls. On the lawn next to the Retroville shopping center in Kyiv's Vynohradar district, they are waiting for an air raid alert to end in August 2022. The authorities asked people to leave shopping centers during the alert after last year's Russian missile attack on a shopping center in Kremenets. Moreover, this is the same Retroville that the Russian Dagger hit in March 2022. We see smashed and boarded-up windows behind people's backs.
But there are no taboos, everything has to be documented. We'll figure it out later. The main thing is not to cause any harm.
You cannot film anything that is forbidden, anything that could harm the military or endanger civilians, etc. For example, is it possible to shoot air defense systems? Of course, you can! Is it possible to publish the work of the air defense? I think it is possible. The only question is when to publish it. I would not publish it in the news. Not to harm is the main policy. We should do our work for the common good.
Viacheslav Ratynskyi — Ukrainian reporter and documentary photographer. He was born in the city of Zhytomyr. He has been living and working in Kyiv for the last 9 years. Graduate of the Faculty of Journalism of Ivan Franko National University of Lviv. He has been published in many Ukrainian publications (Ukrainska Pravda, Hromadske, Novoe Vremia, Focus, Forbes, Ukrainian Week, Reporters and others), as well as in a number of foreign publications (Time, The Guardian, The Wall Street journal, The Washington mail, The Telegraph, Daily Mail, The New York Times, El Pais, Radio Freedom Europe, BBC, Reuters, Der Spiegel).
Photographer's social networks: Instagram, Facebook
The material was worked on:
Researcher of the topic, author of the text: Marusya Maruzhenko
Site Manager: Vladislav Kuhar
Read also: One life is enough for a drone: Olena Guseynova and photo of the week
UAPP is an independent association of professional Ukrainian photographers, designed to protect their interests, support, develop and promote Ukrainian photography as an important element of national culture.
UAPP's activities span educational, social, research and cultural initiatives, as well as book publishing.
UAPP represents Ukrainian professional photography in the international photographic community and is an official member of the Federation of European Photographers (FEP) — an international organization representing more than 50,000 professional photographers in Europe and other countries around the world.
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