Mohammed
Salem’s affectionate picture of skaters poses the questions: What is shadow? What
is painting? And what is silhouette? Your eye bounces around the images as if
you are a skater yourself. The downward curves of the painted arcs of colour
and the upward black line lead you to the inverted solid black figure. The
shadows of the spectators leaning in from bottom right lead to the centre, where
a Matisse-like series of cut outs layer on top of each other. Read
on here
Members of
the Gaza Skating Team cast shadows as they practice their rollerblading and
skating skills at the seaport of Gaza City March 8, 2019. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem
Hands that
look almost as old as the wall itself wait to dig fingers deep into the cross
in the wall in Raneen Sawafta’s wonderful detail picture of religious fervor.
The colour and texture of the hands begin to merge into the warm tones and
lines of the wall, a sense of melting that is stopped only by the dashes of red
on the pink nails and the strong dark lines of wrinkles in the knuckle joints.
A
worshipper places her fingers inside the holes in a column that form the shape
of a cross before the arrival of the Holy Fire, at the Church of the Nativity
in Bethlehem, in the Israeli-occupied West bank April 27, 2019. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta
There’s no
mistaking the powerful draw of the fire in Corinna Kern’s image. Even today the
impact is quite striking, so I can’t help imagining what life-changing effect
this might have had on people who witnessed this scene in centuries past. The
figures are dwarfed by the buildings glowing with the warm light of the fire.
Worshippers
take part in the Christian Orthodox Holy Fire ceremony at the Church of the
Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem’s Old City April 27, 2019. REUTERS/Corinna Kern
A
cyclone has hit Mozambique for the second time in a month. What I have come to realise is that to tell
the story visually you have to show both show the enormity of the devastation
and the impact it has on individuals. Mike Hutching’s picture does just that. A
lone figure is striding through water, firewood gathered and carried on the
head. In the background, destroyed crops that disappear into the distance lean
to the right, countering the leftward motion of the figure, showing the storm’s
powerful mark on the flooded landscape. Read on here
A villager
carries wood through maize fields flooded in the aftermath of Cyclone Kenneth,
along the Mieze river near Pemba Mozambique, April 30, 2019. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings
There
is an eerie calm around Umit Bektas’ picture. A small crowd gathers in front of
what looks like a skeletal building, the focus of their attention a camel at
rest, being cared for by the man in a yellow shirt, his hand resting affectionately
on the animal’s back. Why is this happening? What are they expecting? Closer
inspection shows that the camel’s legs are tied; the caption reveals it’s due
for slaughter, the crowd waiting for meat.
Sudanese protesters
wait for a camel to be slaughtered to share its meat in-front of the defence ministry
in Khartoum, Sudan, May 1, 2019.
REUTERS/Umit Bektas
A
frenzied picture by Suhaib Salem of honey harvesting in Gaza. It’s been said that
if your pictures are not good enough, get closer. Suhaib gets in as close as he
can, with a bee filling a large part of
the frame top right and a swarm of bees filling the air as the workers try to
calm them with smoke. This picture is, as they say, as busy as a bee.
Palestinian
beekeepers collect honey at a farm in Gaza City, April 29, 2019. REUTERS Suhaib Salem
A view
through the window of an incomplete house at Baken park housing project near
Bethlehem, South Africa, April 16, 2019.
REUTERS/Sumaya Hisham
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