( CNN ) A cluster of innocent eyes gaze up at a light shining above them . Packed inside a bunker along with jars of pickled beets and other provisions , they look like cherubs searching the sky for answers to their plight . These children hiding in Slovyansk , Ukraine , are looking at the camera of Andrea Rocchelli , a young Italian who died while photographing their stories . `` Andy was a very sincere person , '' said Luca Santese , who co-founded Cesura , a collaborative photo agency . `` He was n't just about conquering the subjects . He was very sincere and dedicated to the stories he was doing . '' Described by his Cesura colleagues as young , idealistic and very passionate , Rocchelli lived and breathed photography and storytelling . His last photographs , some still stored in his camera , project the maturity of a young man who , by then , had roamed confidently in dangerous war scenarios . `` Let 's say he was a real fighter , '' said Arianna Arcara , another Cesura founding partner . Arcara said Rocchelli 's bunker photos reflect the person he was and showed off his talent . `` When we saw those photos of the children in the bunker , '' she said , `` we knew we were dealing with some very potent images . ... He had reached maturity , he was on the cusp of something . '' Rocchelli was barely 30 years old when mortar shells obliterated his convoy in May near Slovyansk . Authorities are still investigating the circumstances surrounding his death . His untimely death came as his work took on a more compositional aspect -- one of an artist , Santese said . `` He had found a language , an aesthetic that was very efficient not only to document but to project emotions , '' he said . Many of Rocchelli 's photos had the imprint of a documentarian , testaments on the injustice , criminality and despair in the Ukrainian conflict . Other shots , especially of children as they inhabit the war landscape , are enveloped with softness and protection . Photographing these children in dark bunkers and hiding spaces , Rocchelli creates a womb-like image that highlights the purity of childhood versus the ugliness of war . Rocchelli was also by now a young father with an unordinary and somewhat risky profession . When news of his death arrived in Italy , some described him as a herald for a new era in journalism : the self-assigned , freelance journalists now roaming the world in dangerous zones , driven by idealism . Social media . Follow @ CNNPhotos on Twitter to join the conversation about photography . To people who knew him well , there was more to Rocchelli than meets the eye . `` He valued independence in journalism , and that is what we at Cesura want to maintain , '' Arcara said . `` You can be a photographer to win prizes or sell pictures and move on . ... But when you focus on what you really want to do , what you believe in , you can grow . '' Andy Rocchelli was an Italian photojournalist who co-founded the Cesura collective . He was killed while covering the conflict in Ukraine on May 24 .
Italian photographer Andy Rocchelli was killed by a mortar attack in May . His last photos , of the Ukrainian conflict , show his maturity and talent , colleagues say .