Ep006:

Shooting Under Fire

What drives someone to pick up a camera and head into a warzone? Michael Downey has spent over 14 years documenting global conflict, from the Arab Spring to the war in Ukraine, filming for major news outlets on the front lines of some of history’s most volatile moments. In this episode, he shares how an unexpected encounter with the Muslim Brotherhood kickstarted his career — and how it eventually led him to Kyiv, where he witnessed the Russian invasion begin at 3am with the first bombs falling on the city.

Michael offers a raw, unfiltered account of navigating a city under siege — buildings shaking from nearby strikes, streets eerily empty, and a rocket that missed his rental car by just six inches. He speaks candidly about the psychological toll of working in warzones, the moral tension of being able to leave when others can’t, and the strange mental calculations it takes to keep filming in the middle of chaos. It’s a gripping, thoughtful conversation about truth, trauma, and what it means to have a front-row seat to history.