This image is taken from Michel Setboun’s third book about agencies. Eighty reporters were chosen to comment on one iconic image taken during their careers. The image we’re publishing today is a picture by Christopher Morris.
In December 1994, Russia invaded Chechnya and marched on Grozny. I was in Las Vegas at the time, about to get married. I had just enough time to put the ring on my wife’s finger on New Year’s Even before catching a flight the next day to Moscow and on to Grozny.
I must have taken this photo on January 6th, 1995. I was inside the presidential palace, completely surrounded by Russian troops positioned a hundred meters from the building. The only way in, and the only way out, was to use the main entrance, an immense square followed by a small corridor. The few vehicles that tried to pass were fired upon.
I photographed a soldier trying to escape the palace. I followed him to the main entrance. I had no idea that he would try to make a break for it. He started running and I lost sight of him after two hundred meters. Did he make it out? I have no idea. When I returned to the palace under siege, I felt that at that exact moment, there was no more dangerous place on earth. That’s why I’m so attached to this photo, taken from the first black-and-white series I shot for Time, whose editors are usually more interested in color. Photojournalism was once supported by major newsrooms. My career began at the Black Star agency. Two years after starting there as an intern, Howard Chapnick, its director, put my foot in the stirrup. Time and Newsweek would send out photographers for long periods on the ground, sometimes to cover the same subject. Those years are sadly over.
Interview by Maxime Vatteble.
http://www.christophermorrisphotography.com
