When I began this series of portraits I wasn't sure whether to use black and white or color so I shot both at the first thirty-five sessions. My initial preference had been the black and white, but when I studied the images, only the color seemed to represent what I had seen and felt during the sitting
Only after all the pictures had been made and I was working on selecting and printing did I discover the rationale for the color.
These people had told us stories of unbelievable heroism but they were all unassuming and modest.
Therefore I did not need to add drama to their images, which is sometimes the effect of black-and-white portraits. On the contrary, I wanted the photographs to represent the rescuers with as much reality as possible, and black and white, with its qualities of abstraction, moved the images one step further away.

Furthermore, although these stories are about the past, I wanted the photographs to be contemporary, to bring viewers into the present, so that they could relate to the rescuers as people living today whose acts of goodness and courage are timeless.
The interview / photo sessions lasted for two to three hours, and making the portrait was the first thing to be done.
Often the rescuer could not understand why I wanted to take their picture, and I could understand this confusion: after a powerful and emotionally draining video interview, taking what seemed to them another picture felt superfluous and even frivolous.
But they generously cooperated, and I often took no more than ten minutes to make the picture.
We had developed a level of trust between us that translated into comfort and openness when they were once again in front of the camera. In their willingness to give me the picture I hoped for, these people collaborated in making the portraits what they are.