A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, July 31, 2020

If someone has 160 suits, 200 pairs of shoes and 300 hats more is more. Thomas Mukoya asked his subject to dress up in different suits and photographed him with the same backdrop, these then presented as a combination picture. The more we can see the better – enjoy the story here.

A combination picture shows Kenyan fashionista James Maina Mwangi posing as he displays his attire comprising at least 160 suits with matching accessories including a mask to prevent the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) infection at his residence in Nairobi, Kenya July 30, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

What you mainly get a sense from in Mohamed al-Sayaghi’s picture is the weight of the sheep being carried away. It’s probably wriggling about quite a bit, making it even harder to carry. The image has been shot quite wide so you get a real feeling of the bustle of the ancient business of goat-selling, with straw, and mud all mingled in with the modern trappings of cars, a modern building with reflective glass and advertising hoardings as people prepare for the festival. 

A man carries a sheep at a livestock market ahead of the Eid al-Adha festival amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic in Sanaa, Yemen July 28, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed al-Sayaghi

In Ronen Zvulun’s picture your attention is immediately grabbed by the graphic shape of the hand contrasting with the the red and the Israeli flag. It takes more than a little while before you can visually get around this bold and loud shape to see the water cannon spray thundering into the crouching protesters, who protect themselves with small shields. Read on here.

Police use water cannon during a protest against Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's alleged corruption and his government's handling of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, near his residence in Jerusalem July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

Makeshift roofing, rubbish in the street and drying clothing hanging over rough brick walls crisscross through Khaled Abdullah’s picture and dwarf the two figures. This feeling of enormity echoes the seemingly insurmountable problem of poverty and poor housing. Everything crushes down heavily in the heat and squalor: the old tyres, the large bricks, the makeshift weights to keep the flimsy roofs from blowing away.

Boys play at a slum area for the Muhamasheen (marginalized) community in Sanaa, Yemen July 26, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Although this is a straightforward before and after image using Ahmed Jadallah’s file picture dated 2016,  the power of comparison to demonstrate the impact of  COVID-19 and social distancing is striking. Read on here.

A combination picture shows Muslim pilgrims circling the Kaaba at the Grand mosque during the annual Haj pilgrimage September 8, 2016, and after the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak July 29, 2020, in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. Pictures taken September 8, 2016 and July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah (top)/ Saudi Ministry of Media/Handout via REUTERS

What a wonderful feature picture by Zohra Bensemra who teases us with “photography pure” elements of the moment caught, tones, shape and colour. Take the time to get past the almost abstract shapes and tones of solid blacks that fill the foreground. We are given just enough highlight detail of the boy’s face in the centre, but nothing is given away in the figure on the left or the dark space on the ground, we just have to figure it out ourselves. To counter these shadows we are treated to the full orange colour in bright sunlight of the boy playing, legs at full stride, head held high, a moment caught. I even like the roof of the building that just kisses the edge of the frame against the blue sky.  

Children are seen at the fishermen port ahead of the Muslim festival of sacrifice Eid al-Adha, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Dakar, Senegal July 30,2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

The dawn light bursts over a herd of goats being sold off for slaughter in Thomas Mukoya’s picture. The image is well composed so the animals’ bodies fan out from the centre highlight of the sun, like rays of warmth reaching out to the chill in the foreground. Dotted amongst them are herders and customers alike drawing us deeper into the picture as the goods are inspected and haggled over.    

Muslim faithful buy goats at a livestock market during celebrations marking the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nairobi, Kenya July 31, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

I can’t hide my pleasure over a great detail picture that focuses on a small element of a scene that tells a bigger story, and this enjoyment is doubled when it’s an element from a hard to illustrate economic story. Afolabi Sotunde has captured a money dealer flicking through naira notes that are as tired and worn as the trader’s fingers. The story is that the economy is struggling as businesses struggle to find U.S. dollars to buy the materials they need to continue trading. The oil price, Nigeria’s main export to secure dollars, is depressed by the impact of COVID-19.  Read on here.

A man carries Nigerian naira banknotes at a livestock market in Abuja, Nigeria July 29, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, August 16, 2019

Strong colours and graphic shapes grab your attention immediately in Benoit Tessier’s

picture, with the open arms of the man being searched filling the clean background of the
cloudless blue sky. It also has a slightly bizarre feeling that highlights the tension of the
pat-down. What can you possibly find in such wide-open spaces that stretch to the far
horizon? I am sure there is sound reasoning behind this. Read on here.

A French soldier of the 2^nd Foreign Engineer Regiment searches a man during an area control operation in the Gourma region during Operation Barkhane in Ndaki, Mali, July 27, 2019.   REUTERS/Benoit Tessier 

Baz Ratner’s image is completely abstract and we can only guess at what is depicted in
the eye-catching swirl of hot red, orange and blacks. No figures, no real shape and no
sense of scale but you can’t help but continue to look to make sense of it, being drawn in
deeper and deeper. Once you read the caption you find out what is going on.

Lava is seen glowing inside the crater of the Nyiragongo volcano inside the Virunga national park near Goma in the Democratic republic of Congo August 9, 2019.   REUTERS/Baz Ratner 

Continuing with the theme of abstraction and moving slowly to the figurative, Feisal
Omar’s image of sheep being led to market is a pleasing graphic image with a gentle
curved composition and a strong right to left sweep to it.

Sheep are seen at a livestock market ahead of the Eid-al-Adha festival in Mogadishu, Somalia august 10, 2019.    REUTERS/Feisal Omar 

All good things come in threes so I had to complete the abstraction set with Muhammad
Hamed’s star-lit sky. The figure on the rock outcrop using a light gives us a single focal
point that both the previous images didn’t have. What has struck me is just how
comforting this focal point is and how - when it’s lacking from an image - it is missed
even if the image is strong in its overall design

A man watches the stars seen in the skies over Al-Kharza area of Wadi Rum in the south of Amman, Jordan July 27, 2019.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

A powerful and angry picture by Ammar Awad. Two policemen moving through a crowd
of struggling security forces and protesters are momentarily circled by the movement
throughout the image. The dark shapes of the uniformed men are harsh against the
pavement and the drift of tear gas, their weapons a stark focal point of the image. If the
circular composition is not enough to lead your eye to the police in the centre, the hand in
the foreground points the way.

Israel police clash with Palestinian worshippers on the compound known to Muslims as Noble Sanctuary and to Jews as temple Mount as Muslims mark Eid al-Adha in Jerusalem Old City August 11, 2019.    REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Amir Cohen’s picture is one of those images that leads you in layer after layer like a
stage set. You start with the hooded figure on the left and his book, then across to the
man in the peaked cap and his book on the right, then down to sleeping man centrally
placed and next to him another man deep in concentration in his book. All set against a
wonderful backdrop of the ancient and yellowed wall.

Jewish worshipers pray on the Tisha B’Av, a day of fasting and lament, that commemorates the date in the Jewish calendar on which it is believed the First and Second temples were destroyed, near the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City August 11, 2019.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen  

Umit Bektas’ image looks like a bas-relief of white-robed figures on a rocky foreground
against a jet-black sky. The picture is drained of almost all colour and the eye is led to the
back of the image through the ever-decreasing size of the figures, which are dotted about
equally in space from foreground to far distance. This visual impression works only
because almost all the figures are uniformly clad.

Muslim pilgrims gather on Mount Mercy on the plains of Arafat during the annual Haj pilgrimage, outside the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia August 10, 2019.    REUTERS/Umit Bektas

A very brutal image by Philimon Bulawayo from the clashes in Harare that raises many
questions. A woman lies unconscious as a red-booted, baton-holding, policeman looks
down at her as he strolls by. The viewer may leap to many conclusions. Is she dead? I
checked with the photographer and was told no, she is okay. The body language appears
so aggressive and as an image is as powerful as the violence that led up to this scene. 

A policeman walks past a woman injured during clashes after police banned protests over austerity and rising costs called by the opposition Movement for Democratic Change (MDC) party in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 16, 2019.  REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo 

Week in Pictures Middle East and Africa, August 17, 2018

Strong compositional lines cut across Azad Lashkari’s picture like a frenzied attack on the visual senses. The horizon line slightly lower than the centre of the picture cuts through the heads of those holding the poles, forcing you to look up at the soldiers precariously balanced, before your eye speeds back to the flag in the distance. The diagonal lines of the safety mats bring your eye back around to the foreground of the image. A wonderful feat of balance and composition.     

Members of the Peshmerga Zirvani commandos demonstrate their skills during their graduation ceremony at the Tiger training camp in Erbil, Iraq August 16, 2018. REUTERS/Azad Lashkari

Luc Gnago’s picture is a wonderful example of what I call a picture that ‘does what it says on the tin’. It’s the vote count of the presidential run-off, we see the candidates’ names on the blackboard, the number of votes marked in white chalk marks and an official holding up a voting form with the candidates’ pictures on them. If I were to nit-pick I would like the man in the background to not be there but I have learned we don’t live in a perfect world so I go away very happy with this picture.   

Election workers start the counting of the ballots during a run-off presidential election in Bamako, Mali August 12, 2018.   REUTERS/Luc Gnago

I just had to include a second picture from Luc Gnago as it’s just brimming with life, colour and energy.  “Don’t touch my vote,” the black on red placard screams, amid a noisy scene of the bus loaded with people and speakers thundering support, and motor cyclists weaving about the road. You can almost taste the heady atmosphere, as the woman with her tongue out seems to suggest.  

Supporters of Soumaila Cisse, leader of the opposition party Union for the Republic and Democracy (URD), carry banners as they protest along a street in Bamako, Mali, August 16, 2018. The banner reads ‘Don’t touch my vote’.   REUTERS/Luc Gnago 

This picture just makes me feel good and I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because it’s something one would not expect from Rwanda, a cycling race? Maybe it’s a sense I get, that while it may be plagued with doping scandals cycling might have an opportunity for a new start on a new continent. Or maybe it’s the sense of effort, the straining sinews of the cyclist’s leg caught in the sunlight and out of focus hands clapping encouragement that draws me to this image.

Samuel Mugisha of Team Rwanda competes during the Tour de Rwanda 2018 in Kigali, Rwanda August 12, 2018.   REUTERS/Jean Bizimana

Sometimes happy accidents occur when you set out to achieve one thing and your idea changes to another. Amir Cohen set out to cover the meteor shower but the noticed in his time exposures how vehicles illuminated the road like a magical path. Working on longer exposures and hoping for a greater volume of traffic he got lucky and succeeded in shooting this wonderful atmospheric image. Incidentally, he also managed some terrific pictures of meteors streaking across the skies.

The road is illuminated by the headlights of cars being driven through the Ramon Crater near the town of Mitzpe Ramon, southern Israel, August 12, 2018.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen  

Although you can see only dozens of people in Muhammad Hamed's picture, the visual echo of people's heads, getting smaller as you look to the background, in the shapes of vegetation behind makes us feel as though thousands are attending, as far as the eye can see. Maybe it's just my imagination, but it looks to me that dust thrown up by the mourners seems ghost-like as it hovers over the flag-draped body.

Guard of Honour and relatives of sergeant Hisham Agarbeh, of the anti-terrorist unit, who was killed in an attack, carry his body during his funeral in Birayn in the city of Zarqa, Jordan, august 12, 2018.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

Zohra Bensemra’s picture looks like a combination of a Bridget Riley painting, a Matisse cut out and a cityscape still from the 1927 classic film Metropolis. The harsh light has drained all colour, reducing it almost to blacks and white. The flat black shapes of the foreground look like a cut out that has been laid on the image and once we force our way past this heavy blackness we finally get to see hundreds of people making their way from prayer. What a visual and cultural feast.  Read more from the Haj here. 

Muslim pilgrims walk out after the Friday prayer at the Grand Mosque ahead of the annual Haj pilgrimage in the Holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia August 17, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra