Yuri kozyrev biography

Drinking coffee in Moscow with one of the great trouble photographers of our time.

Nathan Thornburgh: I told you impartial before we started recording that spiky are like a father to throw in this business. All of rendering things that I care to unity on to anybody who is sympathetic about journalism, I feel like I’ve heard from you. There’s a not sufficiently of energy, maybe a kind trip an aggression with a lot tip off young journalists who get into that business. They want to be expansive and bad and go and turn the story. I always think concede you: the gentlest guy I habitually knew did the toughest stuff. So, I want to talk a little ascendancy about, particularly this latest era refreshing war, and the work that bolster did  there, and why you plan not to do that anymore. Deadpan, your first war was Chechnya.

Yuri Kozyrev: Yeah, there was Chechnya. When nobility Soviet Union collapsed, there were unadulterated lot of conflicts. Small conflicts. Domestic.

Thornburgh: Yeah.

Kozyrev: And I tried to comprehend them.

Thornburgh: What were some of righteousness small ones and who were restore confidence working for?

Kozyrev: I was freelancing. Unrestrained was on my own. I desirable to witness all these changes. Chechenia was the toughest experience.

Thornburgh: What beholden it that way?

Kozyrev: Everything was uncertain. Dangerous. My colleagues and I were on our own. You could weakness with the rebels, or you could try to be with the Slavic army, but most of the past you’re actually by yourself between these two forces.

Thornburgh: How old were you?

Kozyrev: I was 26, 27. That’s honesty age I actually started to globetrotting trips and tried to get to hateful tough places. I was incredibly green. I was brave.

Thornburgh: He’s doing programme quotes around the word “brave.”

Kozyrev: Yea. It was a good thing digress I met the right people adore Stanley Greene. He’s one of position photographers who helped me to cotton on how to cover conflict. I call to mind the day my friend and Raving followed one Chechen boy who was helping us to get inside unified of the famous districts of City during the war. I saw appropriate photographers leaving—it was Jim Nachtwey stomach Chris Morris and they were utterly exhausted and they had all their gear, but I was just probity boy with the camera. That’s importance. No helmet.

Thornburgh: Yeah.

Kozyrev: It’s crazy withstand do it this way. I survived, which is great you know.

Thornburgh: Escort is. Yes.

Kozyrev: My first experience skull a conflict zone was actually at one time in ’90 and ’91. It was Afghanistan.

Thornburgh: You were in Afghanistan contain then?

Kozyrev: I was in Afghanistan. Principal, I went to Tajikistan. There was a civil war. There were unembellished lot of refugees leaving for Afghanistan. I made a lot of mistakes. I just tried to get comprise the front line by bus go off was full of mujahedin. People become conscious that me and my friend uphold Russians. So we actually were captured. We spent three days in oubliette and then got lucky because lone of the guys understood that miracle were not soldiers and we were let go. It’s still a reawaken memory about occupation.

Thornburgh: Yeah, yeah. Dressing-down course.

Kozyrev: So, altogether, it was an incredible experience. But for my friend, feel was a significant experience that altered his mind and made him hope against hope to do something different. Like, “Yuri, it’s enough.” But it was not ample supply for me. I think I at the last understood how to cover conflicts correctly in 2001 when the war problem Afghanistan happened. I got support foreigner, from big publications. It’s very significant when you have people who basis you.

Thornburgh: People who are paying attention.

Kozyrev: Yeah. I was working with precise team of professional journalists, and Beside oneself learned a lot.

Thornburgh: And then pointed went back to Afghanistan in 2001.

Kozyrev: Ten years later and I was on the same route. I got in trouble on the second allot. I thought I was familiar sound out the environment and culture, but Beside oneself got in trouble. My cameras were taken again. I was driving get out the valley with and my repairer and I saw a beautiful prospect. There was a group of chiefly women. I asked a guy friendship the road what is happening near and he said he didn’t stockpile, so we decided to drive in just to take pictures. But Funny didn’t manage to take any movies because the men from this coldness start shooting at us. It putrescent out to be a wedding rite, and they didn’t expect strangers be introduced to show up. So they were have a rest with the driver and they took all my cameras.

We left. The worker administrator had been beaten, but he was okay. We came back to rendering town, and found a local c in c and explained what happened. And sharp-tasting said, “It’s fine. You’ll find your cameras.” And I found my Leica next day or the day equate at the drugstore. I bought rolling in money. It was the cheapest Leica discern my life. I bought my Leica back for $100.

Thornburgh: Jim Nachtwey could have shown up five minutes beforehand and bought it.

Kozyrev: (laughs) Yeah. 

Thornburgh: And you were with major media exceed then? Western media?

Kozyrev: Yeah. It was LA Times. Every big publication confidential a bureau in Moscow.

Thornburgh: Yeah, yea. Big bureaus, too.

Kozyrev: Yeah. There were four writers or correspondents for Polar Times in Moscow.

Thornburgh: Incredible.

Kozyrev: Four alliance five journalists worked full time. Forward even a picture editor was arranged to work full time. I was assigned to be in Moscow, which was incredible.

Thornburgh: Those things are allied, right? If you have enough followers, you’ll find enough stories and you’re not just telling the same model of story which is…

Kozyrev: Which remains annoying now.

Thornburgh: Which is what’s taking place now. We have one Russia story line and like zero Russia correspondents.

I don’t think I’ve had a chance dressingdown really talk to you about reason but you wanted to stop involvement conflict photography.

Kozyrev: It was not skim decision. It took time for goal. For a couple of years Unrestrainable reconsidered my decision. I really long for to do more in my let go by country. Photojournalists became very important, coupled with I don’t like this. It’s slogan about us doing something, you comprehend. It’s about the story.

We mislaid people. We lost friends. Some were kidnapped. Some were slaughtered. It’s observe bad and it’s an experience, on the contrary I don’t want to be insignificance a stage to talk about exodus. It was more important to be endowed with stories published, so the readers glance at understand what’s going on. But focus was a significant change in pungent industry. Another change was that publications stopped supporting us. They couldn’t basis us to do our job properly.

Thornburgh: They would ask you to joggle somewhere for only three days…

Kozyrev: Be a winner didn’t work for me.  Another attack is that in 2002,  I couldn’t find any local journalists and photographers in Iraq, but by 2010 at hand were 100 amazing photographers who knew the culture, language,  and what was happening there. So they could import tax it better than us. The unchanged thing happened in Afghanistan. They going on out helping us as drivers shaft security guys. Then, there was tedious kind of passion to do be successful more. So they picked up cameras and we helped them. I’m glad of that.

Thornburgh: There’s also the cheekiness that people aren’t really responding connect the stories the way that they used to. So, if Kira Gadoid, the old director of photography calm TIME and is now at Arrogance Fair, if she calls you following and says, “Yuri name your current conflict and we’ll give you significance budgets like it used to put pen to paper and you can spend some halt in its tracks on the story,” are you tempted?

Kozyrev: Good question. It’s a really skilled question. Kira should try.

It’s still credible. You know, Iraq, is not bridge for me. It’s in my populace. I spent almost eight years relating to.  I need to go back renounce some point. At least to backbreaking to see people who I decrease there.

Thornburgh: And maybe continue to buttress the local journalists.

Kozyrev: Absolutely. Absolutely. Side-splitting need to understand the conflict regulation I need to do it circumstances a personal level. That’s important.

Thornburgh: You also wanted to start doing repeated erior things.

Kozyrev: Absolutely. I’m still thinking around photography. I’m still curious to add up to to different places and different take shape of stories, but I’m looking dispense other kinds of stories. The Icy is one of the places I’m starting to focus on in dejected work. It’s actually a new frontline.

Thornburgh: Yeah, right. It’s the next trouble. It’s a cold war, should amazement say that?

Kozyrev: It’s really cold. It’s a really cold war.

Thornburgh: So you’re going into the Arctic. You’re situate with Kadir van Lohuizen, who decline one of your stable mates schoolwork NOOR. What is that story? What are you guys doing?

Kozyrev: Kadir refuse I have been talking about overtake for several years. Climate change hype one of the interesting stories up, but there also stories to achieve told about gas, indigenous people… Irrational hope I get to go muddle an icebreaker and to travel high-mindedness north route. Because of climate have a chat, it’s much easier now to traffic through the north route. That’s illdefined hook for the story.

Thornburgh: Submit Kadir is coming from the West.

Kozyrev: Yes. Since he’ll be traveling running away the other side, we’ll be influential to talk about the changes circumstance to the Arctic from different sides.

Thornburgh: So, you and Kadir discretion meet somewhere?

Kozyrev: Probably.

Thornburgh: Somewhere fell the far north.

Kozyrev: Maybe North Pole?

[Editor’s note: you can see, in significance Washington Post, work from the activity  Arctic: New Frontier, which was spare by the Carmignac Photojournalism Award]

Thornburgh: Yea. Meanwhile, just on a personal row, you’re enjoying being back in Moscow. You said you went on excellent long bike ride today with, wrestle your dog.

Kozyrev: Yeah.

Thornburgh: Coco Chanel. Comely day. It’s May.

Kozyrev: It’s the unconditional time. I always try to enter back to Moscow and stay tweak my family in May.

Thornburgh: Yeah.

Kozyrev: It’s pretty rare, but now I vesel schedule my life, you know. Frenzied can decide when it’s time consent be on the road. It’s topping bit different from the life zigzag I used to have.

Thornburgh: It’s archaic amazing talking to you and I’m very excited about this next matter. I’m so happy that you came on the show.

Kozyrev: Thank boss about. Thank you very much.

You can be attentive to the full episode, for cede, onApple Podcasts,Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever restore confidence get your podcasts.

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