A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, August 31, 2018

It’s not often a government leader turns up in a country and disembarks from the aircraft
alone, but Afolabi Sotunde took full advantage of Theresa May’s arrival to Nigeria to
make this wonderfully graphic picture. The horizontal and diagonal lines, triangles and
curves lead us all over this picture until we settle on the warm tones of May’s mustard-
coloured jacket among the cool and calm of the greys and blues. Really quite wonderful.

Britain’s Prime Minister Theresa May arrives in Abuja, Nigeria August 29, 2018.   REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

I am drawn to Mohamad Torokman’s picture because it makes me want to know exactly what happens next. The sound grenade is just far enough in the air so that it’s clearly visible yet close enough to the policeman that it’s obvious it’s being thrown. The man in white has raised his stick, but we are not sure if it will be brought down on the policeman or, as we are told in the caption, used to gesticulate towards him. What is also very striking is that both protagonists in the image are dressed in complete tonal opposites, one all dark, one all light. 

     

A Palestinian demonstrator gestures as an Israeli border police officer throws a sound grenade during a protest against Israeli settlement, in the village of Ras Karker, near Ramallah in the occupied West bank August 31, 2018.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

A simple detail picture from Ronen Zvulun of people’s notes and prayers that have been cleared from the Western Wall somewhat saddens me and puts me in mind of the W.B Yeats poem ‘The Cloths of Heaven' . Notes of hope and prayers that would have been written and tucked so carefully by the authors are now scattered under the feet of man cleaning them out.

A worker removes notes from cracks at the Western Wall in Jerusalem’s Old City, as customary ahead of the Jewish New Year, August 28, 2018.   REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

As confusing in terms of focal point as any image can be, Naif Rahma’s picture works and I am not sure why because it should not. The first half of the image is empty dusty space of nondescript colour, and the slope of the hills gives an uneasy tilt to the image. Your eye wants to settle on the face of the man with the dark blue headdress, but the bright turquoise headdress in the foreground gets in the way as you try to study his features. Your eye then wanders off into the distance, looking for a focal point; unrewarded it returns to the foreground, and there it is, the focal sense of the picture, a battered black rifle being held aloft that serves to unsettle the viewer more. 

Followers of the Shi’ite Houthi movement take part in a ceremony marking the al-Ghadeer day in Sanaa, Yemen August 29, 2018.   REUTERS/Naif Rahma

On seeing this picture by James Oatway you just have to find out what is happening. That to me is a key element of a great news picture – you need to know more and by looking at it longer, often with text, you find out. The action is set against the clean steel background and slowly the pale blue word ELECTRICAL comes into sight. But you have to work hard against the visual pull of the red and yellow cap. Is it an accident? Is someone trapped? Read the caption.  

Police detain a school pupil for looting, where foreign shop owners were attacked and at least two killed, in the South Africa township of Soweto, South Africa August 29, 2018.   REUTERS/James Oatway 

Against a backdrop of bright cartoon pictures, children line up on the first day of term at a school in Gaza. The graduation from light tones to dark, from top to bottom, past the nervous faces of the schoolgirls, gives this picture strength and a feeling of trepidation. Their solemn faces invite the question: what does the future hold for these children? 

Palestinian schoolgirls queue at an UNRWA-run school on the first day of a new school year in Gaza City, August 29, 2018.   REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, August 24, 2018

A last minute update for my weekly round up to include Zohra Bensemra's details picture from the haj. The hands reaching across the crowds to touch against the black Kaaba that glints in the light tell the story of adoration and prayer. You can see more of Zohra's pictures here and read her account of the haj.

Muslim pilgrims kiss and touch the wall of the Kaaba as they perform Tawaf al- Ifada during the annual haj pilgrimage at the grand Mosque in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia August 23, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Andreea Campeanu’s picture of a girl in profile standing shoulder deep in swamp waters has such a dreamlike feeling it’s hard to not make up stories as to what she is thinking about as you look at her. Her head is in perfect profile as she watches the ripples in the still water that break up the reflection of the plants in the background and her head as she moves her arm gently back and forth. The ripples serve to break up the dream as we learn from the story that she is waiting for a food drop from an NGO. 

An internally displaced girl plays in the Sudd Swamp near the town of Nyal, in South Sudan august 19, 2018.   REUTERS/Andreea Campeanu 

Standing under black and red drapes, beautifully robed mourners seem to whisper in the cool of the courtyard in Francis Kokoroko’s picture. Even though there is a small triangle of bright light and heat creeping through the drapes, the picture has an overall sense of cool. It takes a while to spot the figure on the right through the complex compositional web of crosses and diagonals but when you do see him he brings an even greater sense of calm and respect to the image as a whole.

Mourners gather at the family home of the late Kofi Annan, former United Nations Secretary-General and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, in Bompata town in Kumasi, Ghana, August 19, 2018.   REUTERS/Francis Kokoroko

There is no escaping the sheer glee in Khaled Abdulla’s picture on the faces of the boys as they carry their goats away from market prior to the Eid celebration and feasting. The action bursts out of the frame as the boy on the right is only just contained in the image. The composition spreads out in a scalene triangular shape, its peak being the red tent in the rear of the picture. Take even more time to study the faces and small details and you will eventually notice the boys’ feet, some bare, some with sandals and some with Wellington boots. But the boys all have hopeful smiles, a rare treat in Yemen.  

Boys carry goats at a livestock market where people buy sacrificial animals ahead of the Eid al-Adha celebrations in Sanaa, Yemen August 18, 2018.   REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

We are often faced with tough decisions of using images of children in areas of conflict who are suffering, wounded or even dead. Equally challenging is the edit when we cover stories about children who are sick. We are challenged with showing what is really happening while being respectful and preserving the dignity of those involved. Khaled Abdullah gained access to a cancer hospital in Yemen that is struggling to maintain care as the ongoing war drains access to resources and medicines. Khaled’s picture of a child who is sick with cancer is both powerful and empathetic. You can see the full story here

A girl with cancer lies on the lap of her mother at the national Oncology Centre in Sanaa Yemen, August 6, 2018.   REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

 I am very drawn to Amir Cohen’s picture of the couple posing for a picture for many reasons. First, I love the shape created by the women taking pictures as they lead you into the centre of the picture. Secondly, the almost classical pose the couple are assuming to have their image recorded and the way the side light falls gently on their faces, lifting the tones and drawing you to the calm and natural expression on faces. And lastly, a sense of timelessness as much of the colour is drained from the image by the evening light, leaving the picture with an almost monochromatic feel.    

People enjoy themselves along the shore of the Mediterranean Sea during the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha at a beach in Tel Aviv, Israel August 23, 2018.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Maybe you agree, maybe not, but Tiksa Negeri’s picture of husband of wife at the IPD camp in Ethiopia put me immediately in mind of the painting American Gothic by Grant Wood, which you can see here. Maybe it’s the gaunt lines in Biratu’s face, or the slight tilt to the head of his wife or maybe it’s just the sense I get of pride and dignity in the face of hardship. An extra bonus to me is that Tiksa has kept the feet well in the frame too – pictures that cut the feet off are a pet hate of mine. You can see the story here.

Biratu Ejersa, 73, stands in front of his shelter with his wife, Adanech Biftu, 35, and their daughter, Mazaynesh 7, in a camp for the internally displaced people in Chelelektu, town of Southern Nations, Nationalities and peoples’ region in Ethiopia August 15, 2018.   REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

It’s the eyes of the boy in the centre of this chaotic picture by Baz Ratner that seem to look to distant horizons, or in a flight of fancy, to the future, that really make this picture stand out. Even though the pounding feet of thousands has drummed up quite a dust cloud, their vibrant coloured robes of reds, yellows, blues, greens and orange and the bright white arcs of face paint dance and cut through the murky and excited atmosphere. You can see the full story here

Maasai children hold sticks as they gather for an initiation into an age group ceremony near the town of Bisil, Kajiado county, Kenya, August 23, 2018.   REUTERS/Baz Ratner

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 

A Week in Pictures Middle East and Africa August 10, 2018

Some time on vacation but I am drawn as ever to look at the pictures. Here are the images that struck me most during this week from the region.

Iron Dome anti-missile system fires an interceptor missile as rockets are launched from Gaza towards Israel near the southern city of Sderot, Israel August 9, 2018. REUTERS/Amir Cohen 

A missile lands as an Israeli aircraft bombs a building in Gaza City August 9, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

More picture from the Israeli-Palestinian clashes here.

A vendor carries a sold sheep to the customer's car, ahead of the Muslim festival of sacrifice Eid al-Adha in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt August 9, 2018. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Ivory Coast's former first lady Simone Gbagbo smiles as she is welcomed by supporters after being released from detention in Abidjan, Ivory Coast August 8, 2018. REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon

Ruqqayah Abubakar lies on a bed after being treated at an obstetric fistula repair centre in Maiduguri, Nigeria August 1, 2018. Picture taken August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A Palestinian boy looks out of his family's house that was damaged in an Israeli air strike, in Al-Mughraqa on the outskirts of Gaza City August 9, 2018. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A boy stands on woven mats in Idlib province, Syria July 29, 2018. REUTERS/ Khalil Ashawi

Women from Berber Kabylie region walk up to visit the Azrou N'Thor (Zenith Rock) mausoleum on the top of the Djurdjura Mountain in Tizi Ouzou province, Algeria August 3, 2018. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Boys inspect graves prepared for victims of Thursday's air strike in Saada province, Yemen August 10, 2018. REUTERS/Naif Rahma

A former child soldier holds a gun as they participate in a child soldiers' release ceremony, outside Yambio, South Sudan, August 7, 2018. REUTERS/Andreea Campeanu. More picture here

Flowers are laid under a wall displaying the names of people killed in the 1998 U.S. Embassy bombing at the August 7th memorial park in Nairobi, Kenya, August 5, 2018. Picture taken August 5, 2018. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

Ethiopian Federal Police officers detain a woman suspected to be carrying explosives during the welcoming ceremony of Jawar Mohammed, U.S.-based Oromo activist and leader of the Oromo Protests, in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia August 5, 2018. REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

South Sudanese civilians celebrate the signing of a cease fire and power sharing agreement between President Salva Kiir and rebel leader Riek Machar, in Khartoum; along the streets of Juba, South Sudan August 5, 2018. REUTERS/Samir Bol

Although it's from the week when i was travelling before I just had to include this from Siphiwe Sibeko. You can see images from Zimbabwe here.

A supporter of the opposition Movement for Democratic Change party (MDC) of Nelson Chamisa wears a cone as they block a street in Harare, Zimbabwe, August 1, 2018. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

A Week in Pictures Middle East and Africa July 27, 2018

I just needed to add Mohamed Abd El Ghany’s star spangled picture of the 'Blood Moon'. What I like so much about this is that Mohamed has approached this differently know that there would be many images of the moon in its red state through out the region. By using a long exposure and tripod he has put the lunar eclipse in the context of the cosmos and man. I feel this drives home just how small we look with our little electric light and digital technology. See more lunar eclipse pictures here

A Man takes pictures during the ‘Blood Moon’ lunar eclipse in the desert of Al Fayoum Governorate, south west of Cairo, Egypt July 27, 2018.   REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

Baz Ratner’s picture of people watching as slum homes are destroyed to make way for a road has a slightly uncomfortable yet familiar feel to it. How often have you peered through fencing to watch construction work, or those of you who have toddlers would have more than likely entertained them with a trip to look at the ‘diggers’ and ‘workmen’. Although a very busy and complex image we are drawn into it from the strong dark tones in the foreground, through to the centrally placed figures wearing red in the middle ground up to the hazy distance of a mechanical digger tearing at the makeshift buildings in the dust. What is slightly uncomfortable is that this is the destruction of the homes of some of the poorest in the city. Read on here.

Onlookers watch as bulldozers demolish houses to make way for a new road in the Kibera slum in Nairobi, July 23, 2018.   REUTERS/Baz Ratner

The only way to describe Luc Gnago’s picture from the bus station in Mali is an explosion of light and colour. I am excited and exhausted as my eye races around this busy scene. Any colour you like is there. I so want to be there in the hustle and bustle, and I am not even worried by his shadow cast on the back of the green minibus or is that the shadow of the woman with the sack on her head? 

People hurry as they move to and from mini buses at the bus station in the evening light in Bamako, Mali, July 24, 2018.    REUTERS/Luc Gnago

I can’t help but think of the sun-dried bones of a prehistoric dinosaur when looking at the building in Tiksa Negri’s picture from Eritrea. I like the beauty and magnificence of the building destroyed by conflict and baked for years by the sun. It’s the same heat that the person carrying a table is sheltering from.  

A man carries a table as he walks past the ruins of a building in the port city of Massawa, Eritrea July 22. 2018.   REUTERS/Tiksa Negri

What is exciting is that we are now getting pictures out of Eritrea after years of no access. I love the pool of light which draws the viewer straight to the figures crossing the road silhouetted by the single car heading towards us. I sense that Tiksa Negri’s night street scene picture is really quite illustrative of the issues confronting the country and the capital, Asmara. The fact that the streets are hardly lit demonstrates the extent of the poverty the country is facing. 

An Eritrean couple walk along a street at night in Asmara, Eritrea July 21, 2018.   REUTERS/Tiksa Negri

In very much the same vein as the picture above, a small detail in a wide, even-toned space will catch your eye and you will look closely into it. With Ammar Awad’s powerful picture of a warplane in an attack dive you need to study it even more closely. Only then will you spot the two bombs released from the aircraft - destruction and possible death only seconds away.  

A warplane carries out a bombing run above Syria near the Israeli-Syrian border as seen from the Israeli-occupied Golan heights Israel, July 24, 2018. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

The strong light and the shallow depth of field in Suhaib Salem’s picture create an almost abstract swirl of body shapes, faces and hands that finally draws you to the face of the grieving woman. Once your eye settles on her, you look deeper into the grief. Her arms are tightly wrapped around the man, squeezing hard. It’s then you notice the hand from the almost invisible woman standing passively on the left, fingers digging into her brow, we assume, trying to rub her grief away.   

Relatives of Palestinian militant Abu Dakah, 31, who was killed in an Israeli strike, mourn during his funeral in Khan Younis in the Southern Gaza strip July 21, 2018.   REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

One normally associates the rainbow colours with LGBT and gay rights demonstrations, but not so in Corinna Kern’s haunting picture. Most colour has been taken out of the image as Corinna shoots through a transparent banner that has Netanyahu’s face printed on it. The image has the look of video frozen in transition as you fade from one sequence to the next. 

Israeli national flags can be seen through a banner with a picture of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a LGBT community members protest against the discriminatory surrogate bill in Tel Aviv, Israel July 22, 2018.   REUTERS/Corinna Kern

Strong colours, strong lines of design and a flow and counter flow all balance in Siphiwe Sibeko’s picture to make you feel like you are on a powerful tide of people moving from left to right and back again. Everyone is looking from right to left in this picture, their arms all leading in the same direction, a seething mass of people. But the main figure looks in the opposite direction, her face held motionless in the strong light. She seems to be beckoning to the army of people from Zimbabwe: Onwards, onwards!    

Supporters of Zimbabwe’s opposition party attend a rally in Chitungwiza, outside the capital Harare, Zimbabwe, July 26, 2018.   REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

The inclusion of a second picture from the same story by the same photographer is rare in my weekly round-up, but I cannot resist the grace and beauty of the hands, fingers, eyes and colours in Luc Gnago’s wonderful picture of supporters at a political rally. You are immediately smitten with the beauty of the woman in profile with the red head scarf. You then feel as if you are in a complex and delicate dance that involves half glances of eyes through veils that finger and hand movements momentarily reveal. Count the number of eyes you can see but where you can’t see the full face; include in that count the posters too and you will maybe understand how I got this impression. Read on here.

Supporters of candidate Aliou Diallo, leader of the Democratic Alliance for Peace (Alliance Democratique pour la paix, or ADP-MALIBA) Party, attend an election rally in Bamako, Mali, July 26, 2018.   REUTERS/Luc Gnago

Amr Abdullah Dalsh uses the simple technique of back focusing that draws you immediately to the point of the picture, a portrait of a son. The ugly top stark lighting in the room not only highlights the picture in the black frame against a white wall but also darkens the eyes of the parents as they recount their story of their arrested son. The mood is very somber. Shawkan, their son, faces the death penalty. Read on here.

A photograph of jailed Egyptian photojournalist Mahmoud Abu Zeid, also known as ‘Shawkan’ is seen behind his parents at their home in Cairo, Egypt July 19, 2018.   REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

A Week in Pictures Middle East & Africa July 20, 2018

I can’t decide if Amir Cohen is lucky or unlucky to be close enough to an Iron Dome missile system to capture its launch during a mortar attack, but either way it’s a striking picture. What adds to the strength of this image is that the photographer was quick enough to not only capture the missile’s launch but keep in the frame an equally lucky/unlucky person to give it scale and drama.  

An Israeli man looks on as Iron Dome launcher fires an interceptor rocket in the southern Israeli city of Ashkelon July 14, 2018.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen

No less striking a moment is captured by Ibraheem Abu Mustafa’s picture of an airstrike in Gaza on the same day as the Iron Dome launch. The ball of fire and great plumes of smoke are see in the terrifying context of city buildings all around. Stepping away from the actual news story that this was the worse exchange of fire between Israel and Gaza since 2014, and looking at this in pure visual terms, like the dark shapes in the foreground, it gives it scale and places it in a city. I did have a look at a tighter crop of the ball of fire as a focal point of the picture but think at the end of the day the wider image tells the story better. What do you think?   

An explosion is seen following an Israeli airstrike on a building in Gaza City July 14, 2018.   REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

An editor’s crop has transformed Philimon Bulawayo’s picture from vertical to  horizontal but also removed wasted white space at the top, drawing your eye to Chamisa’s face and the outstretched hands. What you do lose is the sense of the enormous crowds and the people who have climbed the pylon in the background. For my money I like the tighter crop. You may differ. 

Zimbabwe’s opposition party leader Nelson Chamisa is greeted by supporters at a rally at Sakubva stadium in Mutare, Zimbabwe, July 14, 2018.   REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

Sometimes you look and look at a picture and think something is a little out of place but can’t quite put your finger on what. Thomas Mukoya’s picture is one such image. The harsh light creates a complex set of shapes and colours, the hat, silhouetted figures, the pink shirt with writing on it you can’t make out and the tents, all make it hard for the eye to settle. Then slowly it dawns: the US flags have been attached to their poles back to front.  

Residents wave the U.S. national flag as the chant slogans as they walk along the road prior to the visit by former U.S. president Barack Obama to his ancestral home, Nyangoma Kogelo village, in Siaya county, western Kenya, July 16, 2018.   REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Siphiwe Sibeko’s picture breaks all the rules. You have a flat line that cuts the image in half, top to bottom; large empty black spaces; faces looking out of the frame so close to the edge of the picture you sense they are going to bump their heads. And yet it works wonderfully. 

Former U.S. President Barack Obama delivers the 16^th Nelson Mandela annual lecture, marking the centenary of the anti-apartheid leader’s birth in Johannesburg, South Africa, July 17, 2018.   REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

 We encourage photographers when they are shooting a story to make sure to include a detail picture. In my mind a detail picture is an image of something small that might easily go unseen but is quite revealing. It doesn’t have to be a closeup but often it is. Ari Jalal’s picture is quite abstract when you look at it in its entirety and turns the notion of detail on its head. You see a wide picture, horizonal line cutting the image in half with two slabs of toned colour, a ‘button’ casting a shadow in the top centre and small patches of colour. You have to look closely to see the patches of colour are hand prints and signatures of patients. Now you take the time to look at each of the hand prints and try to read the writing of each individual’s story.  

A mural of painted hands and messages from wounded people, who have recovered and have been discharged from the Medecins Sans Frontieres hospital in Mosul, Iraq, July 10, 2018.   REUTERS/Ari Jalal

One can only imagine the feelings you must have as a father hugging your daughters after being separated for 18 years, but Tiksa Negeri captures this moment forever. A very quiet image that needs a caption to explain it but you immediately get a sense of the powerful and tight embrace, as his daughters are held close and tight, their faces pressed to his chest. When you look into the shadows of the image, its real beauty comes alive, the sisters looking into each other’s tear-stained eyes, one with her hand on her father’s chest, just inside his jacket, where she can feel his heart beat. The lines on his face speak to me of years of worry and separation. You can see more heart-warming pictures from Asmara here

Adisalem Abu, reacts as he embraces his daughters, after meeting them for the first time in eighteen years at the Asmara International Airport after Ethiopian Airlines flight ET314 arrived in Asmara, Eritrea July 18, 2018.   REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri

The woman in the blue head scarf in Khalil Ashawi’s picture looks like she is frozen in time. Her mind and eyes are a thousand miles away, her sleeping baby is held close. Even though the picture is busy with the swirl of activity around her, your eye is drawn to the central point of her face. You are not distracted by the boy in the blue shirt, the white highlight to the left or the purple head scarf, you just keep coming back to that face.   

People are evacuated from the villages of al-Foua and Kefraya, Syria, July 19, 2018.   REUTERS/Khail Ashawi