Wolfgang Schwan is a famous photographer from Philadelphia, who was truly fond of rock climbing. During the beginning of the full-scale invasion of Russia into Ukraine, the American was working as a photographer in this country to show the world the truth about the war. His photos revealed the consequences of the Russian world and appeared in all leading foreign media. Read more about the amazing life and work of Wolfgang Schwan on philadelphiaski.com.
The beginning of the photographer’s career
Before the war, Wolfgang Schwan had already been working as a photographer in Philadelphia for four years. He had about two years of experience in mass media. The American began to shoot people due to his interest in rock climbing.
Even in his youth, while practicing this sport, he filmed his friends with the camera of an ordinary mobile phone. Then, he decided to develop his skills and bought a professional camera. Schwan adored this new hobby and devoted all his free time to it.
He especially liked documentary photos. Therefore, he worked a lot with addicted and homeless people and showed their transformation.
When he started his career as a photographer the former life ‘at the fingertips’ appeared to be useful. He sought to cover real emergency events and felt comfortable in extreme conditions. Thus, during the period of mass protests in the US, Wolfgang took many important photos that are already presented in the history textbooks.
Wolfgang Schwan was born in Pennsylvania, near Philadelphia. This region was once famous for its industry, coal mining, etc. During the 1960s and 1970s, mining ceased and the district began to lose its power. There was less money, the quality of education deteriorated and crime increased. This story may be referred to as an American Donbas. When Schwan learned about such an industrial region in Ukraine, where the war is still going on, he wanted to come. There, he also sought to photograph the unique coal mines and their impact on the environment in eastern Ukraine. Moreover, he witnessed the largest war in the twenty-first century.
Photos of war: how a photographer shot the Russian invasion
In the winter of 2022, Wolfgang Schwan worked in Ukraine. He was interested in the history and culture of this country and tried to understand the causes of the situation in its eastern region. The photographer shot the daily life of soldiers in the trenches in Donbas.
On February 24, 2022, Russia launched a so-called special military operation, occupying even more territory compared to 2014. The whole world reacted to this and so was the American photographer, who was in Bakhmut. Schwan rented an apartment there and worked on the front line from Stanytsia Luhanska to the north of Mariupol.
After waking up on the morning of February 24 from the explosions, he and his team went to Ukrainian cities to shoot the real pictures that symbolized the war in Ukraine.
Later, in an interview with the Ukrainian mass media, Wolfgang Schwan said that he never aspired to work as a military photographer but fate decided otherwise.
In the Kharkiv region, a foreign photographer witnessed a Russian terrorist attack on Chuguiv. There, Schwan photographed a local history teacher who came under fire, Olena Kurilova.
The photographer considers his photos special as during the first days of the war other photographers did not have similar images that showed the consequences of Russian strikes on the civilians. He immediately realized that he wanted to continue to show things and people as they really were.
The image of a girl in a sexual pose near a destroyed Russian tank is his most favorite picture made during the war. The photo was taken near Zhytomyr after the Russians fled from northern Ukraine.