The War in Ukraine, As Seen on Film

In 2018 – when war was just a glint in Putin’s eye – Kearney travelled the entirety of Ukraine and fell in love with the place. Ever since the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022, he’s made frequent, near-monthly trips, working as a photographer and videographer, initially with VICE News. He’s travelled the nation extensively, though especially in Donbass, where he’s spent a majority of his time on the frontline embedded with the Ukrainian military. In February, he was one of the last members of the media in Bakhmut before it fell into Russian hands.

Kearney is documenting the war using analog cameras, capturing an entirely different side of the conflict. They have the intimate feel of holiday snaps – some of them even have a dreamlike, wanderlust quality. But the realities of war intrude still, be it subtly, or obviously and horrifically, as is the case with some of the images. Right now he’s in Donbass, and during the course of our conversation, a bomb goes off in the distance. Five minutes after the call, someone’s garden gets hit down the road. Quite a lot going on, then. Read our conversation with Kearney to find out more.

VICE: How did you get into photography?
Conall Kearney: It's funny, but it actually came from me being a very shit skateboarder. I used to skate with a bunch of guys. I wasn't very good, but I still wanted to skate, so I became the photographer of the group. Being from Belfast, there's obviously a lot of trouble occasionally. Around 2014, there were riots in Belfast. That was when I was very into photography, and very into documentary photography. It kinda came at the perfect moment. 

How would you kind of describe your approach to photography? If that's a wanky question…
I guess it's a wanky answer, but it needs to be as raw as possible. The reason I mostly shoot on analog is I don't really like to edit photos. I shoot point-and-shoot, so you don't have many options. You just kind of photograph what’s in front to you, and then I don't edit at all. I just like capturing that raw motion, that raw event in front of me, so whatever I see, I’ll just photograph it – I don't set anything up. To be wanky about it, it's like the war itself – it's very unpredictable. You never know if it's gonna work, and it's good when it's good. And it's fucking horrendous when it doesn't work. 

What specifically about this conflict made you want to go?
I covered a bunch of places previous to Ukraine. I've been in Palestine, Lebanon and I covered the Hong Kong revolution. A few years ago, I actually travelled around Ukraine, just for tourism, and fell in love with the country and always wanted to come back. Both those worlds of like, professional work and my love for Ukraine as a country came into play. So I was able to combine both those aspects of professional and personal reasons for coming here. I came three days after the war started. I’ve been coming back every opportunity that I can.

When you went out there before the full-scale invasion, did you go to the Donbass region? 
Well, we attempted to. Me and a friend travelled the whole country. We thought we were pretty brave and so tried to drive to Donbass. We got there and saw our first tank and were like, ‘Yeah, fuck this’, and just turned around. We were not ready for it – we were essentially on a holiday. 

You've been going to Ukraine regularly for a number of years. What kind of contacts do you have now? 
I came to Ukraine with VICE, actually, as director of photography for VICE News. We covered the siege of Kharkiv, when the Russians were essentially about to take it. That was all civilians we were talking to then, just people we met. But since that trip – because I kept coming over and over again – I've built up my own contacts, especially military. In Ukraine, it's a big trust system where if you know someone and they give you the go ahead, someone else is gonna open up. Now I have a very good network of contacts that's mostly frontline military guys.

Is there anything specific or broad you want to say about this war as you've experienced it so far?
Kearney: At the start of the war, everybody was signing up. Everybody was super-pro military; the military were – and they still are to an extent – like gods in Ukraine. They’re very untouchable. But now that we’re almost two years into the war, there’s a big divide in Ukraine of people not wanting to fight; people who went back to Kyiv and are completely avoiding the war, or buying themselves out of conscription. 

In terms of the military side, it started off like, ‘Yeah, we want to fight, we’re very motivated,’ but we're at the stage where the war is absolutely slowing down, and you're starting to see more traditional issues related to war, like PTSD. I've definitely noticed a huge rise in traumatised soldiers, or essentially the traumatisation of the whole country. At the start of the war, that wasn't really a thing. But now, it's very noticeable. 

It makes sense that would happen, especially when there's no end in sight. 
Another thing is, I mean, it was – and still is – a growing army, and they were trying to professionalise themselves. So for the first year, they were very strict, they were very fit. But the past two trips, I’ve really noticed a lot more drunken soldiers: lost souls at the side of the road, staring into space. It's very visible these days. That was almost hush hush, behind closed doors. But at the minute, especially in Donbass – even this week – the amount of soldiers we've spoken to or seen, it's just crazy. It's unbelievable, the amount of these traumatised guys who are still at the front. 

I really like the photos. I've never seen this war, or to some extent, any war looking like this. But the analog photography just gives it a completely different, intimate feel.
I agree. It’s kinda up my own ass, but it's a slight bit different than the usual bang-bang stuff.

This almost feels like it's someone's holiday photography.
Yeah, pretty much. That’s the vibe.

Despite probably getting better, more experienced, and knowing more people, are you finding it's getting harder as a freelancer?
Yeah, absolutely. I think as I get more experienced, it seems the industry has less money or less attitude to take work from freelancers. [pause] Wow, a massive bomb just went off in the distance here. I think you may even hear the sirens going off. 

Jeez. Okay, so… is there anything else you want to say that we haven't covered? 
Ukraine, in particular, has attracted so many fucking weirdos. I've been covering serious conflict stuff for the past five, six years, and travelling around. Ukraine is the only one where it's just attracted complete lunatics from day one, because it's so easy to get to. In the age of social media and influencers, there's definitely more influencers here. It's very bizarre to see… On both sides, there's tonnes of weird fucking Americans. And trust me, I’ve met a lot of them.

Well, thank you man. Best of luck with it out there.
Cheers, appreciate it! And good luck wherever you're at.

I’m in Shoreditch.
That’s the real battlefield.