When the city falls quiet, it’s not really silent. The night hums with a low, restless energy, the kind that settles deep into the bones of a place. There are cries carried on the wind, the wail of sirens slicing through the air, and the shuffle of footsteps moving toward something — or away from it. In this world, the police and paramedics are the ones who step into the shadows. They work where others won’t go, under streetlights that flicker like a tired pulse.
Chișinău’s nights don’t come easy. The city is a place with its burdens, like so many others. There’s the kind of violence that hides behind closed doors and the kind that spills into the streets. There are accidents that change lives in an instant and calls for help that arrive too late. Most people lock their doors, pull the curtains, and try not to think about it. But the ones on the front line don’t have that luxury. They face it all head-on.
There’s a mistrust of the police, and maybe it’s deserved. Some say they’re corrupt, others call them inept. They might be right, but that’s only one side of the story. The police are a machine, and machines are complicated. There are broken parts, yes, but there are also parts that keep running, against the odds. There are officers who do their jobs with decency and courage, who show up every night to face the worst this city has to offer. They do it for little pay and less thanks.
The paramedics fight a different battle. They race the clock, trying to save people who may not want to be saved. They see blood, fear, despair, and things they’ll never talk about. It’s not a job for the faint of heart.
Shooting this project was a battle of its own. The camera saw what I didn’t want to see — the sharp glare of sirens, the shifting shadows, the faces of strangers caught in moments of raw humanity. Sometimes I wanted to stop, to look away. But I couldn’t. This story needed to be told.
These photos aren’t about heroes, and they aren’t about villains. They’re about people, plain and simple. People trying to get through the night in a city that never quite sleeps. Frontline is a look at the darkness where lives collide and continue on. It’s about the quiet struggles that shape the city, whether anyone notices or not. It’s life stripped bare, down to its hard, unyielding truth.
