"I missed a lot, there's no question about that. I wish I could have stayed longer in all these places. If you remember, when I was working in Iraq I was staying on the ground; I was looking for more in-depth stories. But right now, I think that's the only way we can cover it."

Noor photographer Yuri Kozyrev has a reputation for being a self-effacing, modest man. At last week's Visa Pour l'Image photojournalism festival, he maintained a low profile despite having one of the most celebrated exhibitions this year and receiving the Visa d'Or News Award. His work has been hailed as being one of the most comprehensive and coherent to emerge from more than nine months of revolutions across the Middle East. He was in Yemen and Bahrain, Egypt and Libya - taking only a few days off to attend Visa Pour l'Image in Perpignan and Noor's Annual General Meeting in Amsterdam. But even then, he couldn't stay long. "I'm very proud of being part of Noor," he tells BJP. "We had our annual meeting [two weeks ago] and when I got to Amsterdam I realised that I needed to go back to Libya; that I couldn't miss the fall of Tripoli. All the guys said: ‘You should go.' They understood."

On assignment for Time, Kozyrev was first in Yemen on 01 December when there were barely any talks of public unrest. "The fact that I managed to get to Yemen was great," he says. "I had to maintain a low-profile; they almost threw me out of the country at one point." And while Kozyrev is used to working in tense situations - he has covered two Chechen wars, the fall of the Soviet Union, and the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq - Yemen was different. "There were so many restrictions there. You have to be very careful when you move around, and that's not exactly the way I like to work." But, he adds, "it was important to be there and to witness what was happening."

In the following nine months, Kozyrev would crisscross the Middle East, first in Egypt, then to Bahrain, Libya, Bahrain again, then Libya, Yemen and once again in Libya.

"Egypt was incredible. I was lucky to be there. It's all about luck," he says. "I was really lucky to have Patrick [Witty] of Time magazine arrange my trip from Yemen to Cairo. It was almost impossible to get there - I had a connecting flight in Saudi Arabia and they didn't like me there." Kozyrev arrived at Cairo's international airport when hundreds, if not thousands, of people were trying to leave the country. "It really was an emergency situation," he tells BJP. "I had to get to Tahrir Square, and when I got there, there was an amazing atmosphere. I had the feeling that I needed to stay in Tahrir." He looked at the buildings that overlooked the square - "people were locking themselves in, and when I got inside, it was amazing. It was full of photographers of all ages - from 17 to 70. It was the perfect place for me." And when he looked out of the window, he had his first picture - "a young injured man, lying on the ground."

On his second day, Kozyrev "got into trouble, like most of us did. The military grabbed me; they brought me to the Museum [of Egyptian Antiquities] and took all my memory cards. The guy that did that was smart - he knew exactly how to open my camera to get the cards. Then they kicked me out of the square." Of course, the next morning, he was back in Tahrir Square with friends sharing their memory cards with him - "I think I ended up with 20GB worth of cards," he says, laughing.

Since these days in January, when "people were happy," he says, Kozyrev has been back to Cairo three or four times. "It was a very emotional experience, but now it's different," as the future of the country remains unknown as the fall elections approach - a process Kozyrev is keen to witness. "I'm planning to move to Cairo," he says. "In fact, most of my stuff is already there. When I'm done with Libya, I'll be moving there."

In Bahrain, things became more complicated - not only because the revolution there has failed, but also because the local authorities were clamping down on photographers and journalists. "When I arrived at the airport, I knew I was going to get in trouble. I was ready for it," he tells BJP. "They detained me; they took all my cameras, but they let me go. So, I went to a shop and bought a compact camera."

Libyan rebels fire katyusha rockets at government troops on the frontline. Ras Lanuf, Libya, March 9, 2011. Image © Yuri Kozyrev / Noor for Time.

The next day, his cameras were returned to him. "Patrick [Witty, Time's international picture editor] had been on the phone all night telling them that I needed my cameras, that I was there to tell their stories." For Kozyrev, his work in Bahrain, and, in fact, all across the Middle East, could not have happened without Time magazine's support. "Kira [Pollack, Time's director of photography] and Patrick were very crucial. Patrick was incredible. He sent me to Yemen. He arranged for my trip to Bahrain when I was still in Egypt. I was too busy; I didn't have time to think: ‘I need to go to Bahrain.' He really arranged everything for me. And the fact that he stayed up all night phoning people to get my cameras back - it's pretty unique."

Then came Libya, which Kozyrev tells BJP, only happened thanks to the support of the Magnum Foundation and Time. When he got there, things were different," he says. "It's amazing to see a country that was closed to all foreigners for so long, but when we got there we had incredible access. It was up to us to decide what to do. You could push forward as far as you wanted. It was all about your instinct."

Kozyrev always travelled with other photographers - "sometimes I was with Tyler [Hicks] and Lynsey [Addario, both working for The New York Times], other times with John Moore [of Getty Images]. We always help each other. It's not only about pictures - we take care of each other."

Libya quickly became one of the hardest assignments of Kozyrev's career. "I can compare it with Chechnya. But, at that time, I was very young, it was okay for me to run around. This time, I had better understanding of what was going on. There was a lot of frustration with the rebels. We had no ideas who these guys were. I couldn't trust them. It was very dangerous."

He adds: "When you're there, you don't always realise how bad things are; how dangerous it can be. There are no places to hide - it's a completely flat landscape with just one road going in one direction. You just follow the rebels along that road. They didn't know what they were doing, and we realised that very quickly. Again, in these situations, you have to trust your instinct, and although it was really hard to find a driver, travelling with the rebels wasn't a good idea. You want to watch them, but not be part of them. Especially in the beginning when they were so badly organised."

But were there too many photographers in Libya? "Yes and no," he says. "There were a lot of young people who did their first stories in Cairo and then moved to Libya. They were staying longer than any of us were. Some were very committed, and some of them were frustrated. It's interesting." Kozyrev goes on to cite the example of Michael Christopher Brown. "He was shooting with his iPhone at some point. We all thought at first that it was a joke. His Canon was broken, but he wanted to stay. He wanted to capture this experience. In the end, he got incredible stuff. I'm not a big fan of Hipstamatic, but what he got was amazing. When you don't have a camera, you have a good excuse to leave. But he wanted to stay, and he found a way to continue shooting. He's young but brave."

What's next?
"We can say that Tripoli is liberated," says Kozyrev. "But, it's not over. Gaddafi is gone, but we don't know where he is. Remember in Iraq, we all thought that if they found Saddam [Hussein], it would be the end of the story, but, actually, it was just the beginning of a huge story. I have a feeling it will be the same in Libya. We have different characters, but still... There will be some resistance, for sure."

Next, Kozyrev is looking forward to getting back to Cairo, because, even though he feels privileged to have witnessed four revolutions, there is a lot more he needs to document. "I want to have the facts," he tells BJP. "I want to tell the story about the people. To know who they are; to follow them. Like we did in Russia - the story wasn't about the Soviet Union collapsing, it was about the people. Tahrir Square was one story, but there are so many more stories."

His plan is to travel around the country - beyond the cliché of the pyramids. "You have to go elsewhere. Suddenly, you learn about the fighting that's going on between Bedouins and the army. If you go to the South of country - all the men have long beards. They are Salafis [followers of a strong Islamic movement]. They were in prisons all these years and now they have been released. What do they bring to the people, to the country? They are more organised than younger people. So, you see, there are plenty of stories to do."

And, of course, there is Syria. The uprising started on 26 January - since then, Syrian security forces and the army have tried to crush down the protests. The problem? The country has banned photojournalists from entering the country. "I'd love to go," says Kozyrev. "But I don't want to do stupid things. I don't want to end up in prison and waste my time." Still, he's looking for a way to cover what's happening there, because it's part of the story; it's part of the Arab Spring. "I have some kind of advantage with my Russian passport. It helped me to get to Yemen, and even helped me getting into Libya. I know I can go to Syria, but not sure I could stay, travel and take pictures. I need to find a way. Maybe, this time, I'll be the one with an iPhone," he says, laughing.

After nine months of reporting non-stop from Libya, Yemen, Bahrain and Egypt, Kozyrev admits that it has taken a toll on his personal life, but he remains committed to the stories. "It's my life. It's all about commitment. I believe that's the only way to get results. You can't just visit Tahrir for one day and say: ‘I saw the revolution.' You need to make sacrifices. It's not easy."

Kozyrev's work On Revolution Road continues.

Yuri Kozyrev | On Revolution Road from NOOR on Vimeo.
Music, sounds and production: José Bautista | Kanseisounds.org