Alaa al-Marjani made full use of social distancing guidelines to make this wonderfully graphic image as people could worship together for the first time in months. I am put in mind of a Bridget Riley painting or ripples in water. As you watch you are quickly memorized by the shapes and pattens shifting before your eyes.
Pushing, shoving chaotic scenes are quite rare
in these days of social distancing so Aziz Taher’s picture comes as bit of a
surprise. Despite the key figure being quite small in the frame, his brightly
coloured shirt set against a sea of black catches your eye. Helping this to
happen is the vertical line of background shadow that cuts down into the figure
as we try to look around the lifted weapon in the foreground that is also
demanding our attention.
Okay I hold my hand up. I like Ahmed Yosri’s picture purely because it
appears the camel is chewing thoughtfully as it studies the public health
notice on protecting yourself from coronavirus. The reason it works I think, is
the totally clean and neutral background. Any visual noise here and the sense -
and maybe the gentle smile - would be lost.
A busy and subtle picture from Zohra Bensemra as she strikes the balance between showing the extent of the flooding and giving enough detail to show people struggling with it. The line of the edge of the building points out the man waist-deep in water and then zig zags you through to the rear of the picture so you see the whole street is flooded. Your attention is then brought back to all the dotted colours on the roof where we finally spot the woman separating out the clothing to try to dry it all off.
The strong light hitting the papers on the
blackboard and the bright yellow container gives Baz Ratner’s picture a glow of
brilliant sunshine that is momentarily blinding. You get an immediate sense of
warmth from it. Once your eyes adjust to the light your attention is grabbed by
the chicken standing on the yellow container and then to the bottom third of
the image that is populated with healthy looking chickens. We need the caption
to really understand what is going on with this perplexing image. Read on
here.
Half of Mohamed Azakir’s picture is dense
black smoke meaning nothing is really visible in this half, so your eyes travel
to the helicopter dropping water on the flames. But we get a sense that that is
just not enough, so your attention is drawn to the now iconic shape of the
grain storage unit that was destroyed in the massive blast in Beirut just over
a month ago. It’s at this point the worry sets in, will there be another
explosion? This fire is at the scene of the blast that killed dozens and
injured hundreds.
Amr Abdallah Dalsh teases us with an almost,
but not quite, perfect horizontal thirds composition as this windfarm stretches
to the horizon. Teasing too is the fact the windmills are not perfectly regular
in their vertical spacing. The colours also play into this teasing game with
the warmth of the glow of the sands and the light on the windmills set against
the cool blue grey of the unbroken skies.
Hard to resist this picture of the moment
captured of fire and fury as a missile bursts from its pod in a ball of flames.
You can almost hear the thunder clap. The strange light thrown out from the
launch gives the scene a greasy mechanical feel that spreads over the lone
helmeted figure, who looks a little vulnerable as he sits half exposed in a
sandbag shelter.
There’s no escaping the concentration and
intensity on the boy’s face that Mussa Qawasma
has captured in this beautifully back lit image. The rim light on the boy’s
face, the glow of the sanitiser bottle and the stream of fluid from it and the
momentary dance of the shadow. You can almost hear his mother’s voice: “You
make sure you wash your hands properly and do exactly what the teacher says. I
want you staying safe”. Wonderful.
Siphiwe Sibeko has taken a picture that gives us insight into an important emotional moment. We see a tiny tear, set against carefully made up eyes. This person is a volunteer for testing COVID-19 vaccines, who is being tested and then injected with the test vaccine. The probe up her nose must hurt, hence the tear? Or maybe the racing emotions of knowing that what she is just embarking on could potentially help millions or if all goes wrong, could be fatal. Read on here.
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