Two sides of every story
When Piotrek and Danil were hiding in the bush at the tracks (to be precise - the edge of that bush peeks out from the left side of this photo up at the tracks) and were hoping for a good shot, I decided to take less risky (and less interesting, too) frame from the ground level, from the place where Qarmet security seemed to appear quite seldom. So the same ТЭМ2-965 with these funny bucket wagons containing liquid slag straight from the blast furnace near by, posed to my camera. I think the best shot generally would be with pouring the slag out of these wagons but I doubt whether we would have managed to even get to there being uncaught before. The security of Qarmet is opposite to literally rest of Kazachstan and sensitive for any trace of potential spionage. I reckon it roots from the history of the industry here and what happened when Mittal owned the steelworks and what obligations were made by the new (forced?) owner of the company and thus journalists or photo-reporters aren't warmly welcomed in Karaganda steel and coal industry. Pity. September 21, 2026.
Photo by Jarek / Chester
Two sides of every story
When Piotrek and Danil were hiding in the bush at the tracks (to be precise - the edge of that bush peeks out from the left side of this photo up at the tracks) and were hoping for a good shot, I decided to take less risky (and less interesting, too) frame from the ground level, from the place where Qarmet security seemed to appear quite seldom. So the same ТЭМ2-965 with these funny bucket wagons containing liquid slag straight from the blast furnace near by, posed to my camera. I think the best shot generally would be with pouring the slag out of these wagons but I doubt whether we would have managed to even get to there being uncaught before. The security of Qarmet is opposite to literally rest of Kazachstan and sensitive for any trace of potential spionage. I reckon it roots from the history of the industry here and what happened when Mittal owned the steelworks and what obligations were made by the new (forced?) owner of the company and thus journalists or photo-reporters aren't warmly welcomed in Karaganda steel and coal industry. Pity. September 21, 2026.
Photo by Jarek / Chester