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make it . There are no “ snap shots ” on his memory cards , only pre-meditated images , and lots of them .
We received a quick safety brief on how to use our breathing kits in case of gas and enter the rickety elevator for our descent 1500 feet into the bowls of the earth . It was good to know we had over an hour of air if we didn ’ t struggle . Here the miners were fighting to keep the energy front going , understaffed with so many men at the front lines and always the uneasiness at the possibility of Russian missile strikes . The primitive nature of the environment was shocking , the only light being our headlights , yet somehow in the dust , dirt and noise Kiran was able to communicate with the miners . They stood completely still for him to make the most haunting portraits in their otherworldly environment . Andriy , our fixer , was translating for us , and we were quickly developing a connection with him that was both intuitive and natural . And one that would be the most important part of all our work in the coming weeks as he wasn ’ t just doing a job , he was invested in making sure we got the best possible story for the world .
In our daily life we don ’ t usually have to ask someone to make a decision that could take their life , but not once during our journey around Ukraine did Andriy refuse to take us anywhere we needed to go , as he was totally committed to our stories getting out to the world . Kiran was very conscious of this and made a point of saying if any of us didn ’ t want to go somewhere he would respect it , but that never happened . With Kiran working for various agencies , he would have the daunting task of having to upload and process his images at night , and it was always well into the wee hours for him before sleep
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