I could not resist Alaa al-Marjani’s picture
from Iraq. It’s full of colour and joy as arms reach up into the swirling
coloured smoke that stretches to the back of the image. Compositionally, the
picture has the figures well placed on the left, their upturned faces leading
us to the abstract patterns in the smoke.
Iraqi women wave coloured smoke candles
during the festival of colours, in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq January 15,
2020. REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani
A terrific image from Mohamed Azakir that
really needs little explanation in terms of content, showing riot police
responding with tear gas and baton charges against the demonstrators smashing
banks in Beirut. What gives this image such strength is how you feel as you are
led left to right across it, from the heat of the yellows and whites to the
cool icy blues on the right. Your eye immediately picks out the silhouetted
figure in full riot gear, back-lit by the hot glow of a neon light on the left.
Next you are drawn towards the mass of riot police. The extended foot gives us
the impression they are just starting their march towards the unseen
demonstrators. Above them, the Bank of Beirut sign is the focus of the clashes.
Riot police officers stand behind shields
amid a cloud of tear gas during protests against the economic crisis outside a
bank of Beirut office in Beirut, Lebanon, January 14, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir
It takes more than a little while to work
out what is going on in Zohra Bensemra’s picture. You pick out some legs and
feet against a mosaic pavement. The bright colours lead your eye to the hand
across the folded arm and then you settle on the seated figure on the right.
The image has a mixed air of calm, confusion and tension as you can’t quite
make out who is who or what is going on. This is intentional as Zohra is hiding
the identities of women who have been victims of rape, which was not a criminal
offence in Senegal until the start of this year when the law was finally
changed. Read on here.
A youth, 17, who said she was raped by her
friend, sits with other women at La Maison Rose, a shelter for women and girls
who have fled abuse, rape, forced marriage and other trauma in Dakar, Senegal
January 7, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra
Hamad Mohammed has waited to frame the car perfectly
in the line of light and shadow in the sand. The harsh light has allowed him to
expose for the highlights, so the shadows fall in compete black. The tyre tracks
in the sand look like ripples in a pool. Wonderful.
X-Raid Mini JCW Team’s Orlando Terranova
and Bernado Graue in action during stage 11 of the Dakar rally Shubaytah to
Haradh, Saudi Arabia, January 11, 2020.
REUTERS/Hamad Mohammed
You can almost hear the buzzing of locusts
in Njeri Mwangi’s picture as people try to keep the inspects off their grazing
lands. The out of focus and fuzzy feel to the image is created by the millions
of insects in the air. Spare a minute’s thought and imagine what it would be
like trying to shoot pictures in the swam, trying to keep focus, hoping the
subjects will run in front of a dark background so the insects stand out, and meanwhile
fighting to keep the lens clean, so you can capture the moment. Let alone stopping
the locusts from crawling into your clothing.
Samburu men attempt to fend-off a swarm of
desert locusts flying over grazing land in Lemasulani village, Samburu County,
Kenya January 17, 2020. REUTERS/Njeri
Mwangi
Crash! Siphiwe Sibeko captures the perfect
moment as England’s Joe Root is clean bowled. The ball is still in the frame,
the bails in mid-flight, the dust of the ball strike still in mid-air as the
batsman flails about, beaten and out. And all this set against a clean
background so we can see all the action, with no distractions.
England’s Joe Root is clean bowled by South
Africa’s Kagiso Rabada during the Third test at St Georges park, Port
Elizabeth, South Africa January 16, 2020.
REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko
I love the symmetric feel to Khalil
Ashawi’s picture. The children are almost in height order waiting to get on the
bus, teacher book book in hand in the doorway. I can’t help feeling that the
children seem to be waiting to escape their desperate world of conflict into a
world of leaning and exploration. That sense is maybe created by the smiling
images of children on the clean white bus. It could also be that a feeling of
escape is also created by the metal container in the background , which looks
like a space ship from a 1950's science fiction film. You can read on here.
Students wait in line to attend class
inside a bus in the city of al-Bab, Syria January 14, 2020. REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi
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