"For those who grew up in the 1970s, the Second World War, or the Great Patriotic War, as we call it in Russia, was still very close. I still recall the celebrations of the 30th anniversary on Victory Day, marked on 9 May.
My father had six uncles. Only one of them returned from the front.
Baltermants was among a small group of Soviet photographers who went to the front to document that war, often risking their lives to get a good picture. The images he produced have become classical examples of war photography. Several generations were raised on his work. Since then, the equipment and the news business itself has changed a lot. Photographers can now deliver their images to the front pages the same day, sharing with readers around the world the drama of the events that had just unfolded. But what remains the same is the commitment of news photographers to cover wars, conflicts and news in general, to be true mediators and expose the events happening in far away lands."
Mikhail Evstafiev is born in 1963, he began painting and photographing at en early age. At the end of the 80's, he enrolls in the army and is sent in Afghanistan. Back home, he starts a freelance photographers carreer, covering the greatest events for the Agence France Presse and Reuters until 2003.
Picture on the left : 1943, Europe — Soviet Soldiers Charge to the Front — Image by © Dmitri BaltermantsThe Dmitri Baltermants CollectionCorbis
Picture on the right : On the Crimean Peninusual in 1941 survivors search for relatives slain by roving Nazi murder squads USSR 1941 photo Dmitri BALTERMANTS
Magot Julien