A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, September 20, 2019

Afolabi Sotunde’s image of a traditional healer is far removed from preconceived notions of what such a scene would look like, but the light and colour in the frame are quite astounding. Once you read the caption you quickly look past the beauty of the light and colour and descend into the story. Read on here

Agbetuyi Samuel, a traditional header with his friend, also a healer, prepare a traditional medicine that contains the head of a pangolin in his house in Akure, Nigeria, August 28, 2019.   REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A sliver of catchlight highlights the profile of lips and nose of a riot police officer in this well-observed picture by Philimon Bulawayo. The face, although quite stern, still warms and softens the cool hard edges of the blue helmets and the grey uniforms. Cover the highlight with your finger and look again at the image: the feeling of menace trebles.  

Riot police stand before striking healthcare workers protesting over the disappearance of Peter Magombeyi, the leader of their union outside a hospital in Harare, Zimbabwe, September 18, 2019.   REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

A complex combination of the symmetrical shapes of the doors and windows, with people moving in and out, gives the viewer a slightly uncomfortable feeling in Alphonso Toweh’s picture. You struggle to see what is going on in the distance as you peer through the entrances at the bright light and colours of the clothing. Only once out are drawn back into the blackened building do you notice the man looking at the scene where so many children died.       

A man looks into the burned building after a fire swept through a school killing children in Monrovia, Liberia September 18, 2019.    REUTERS/Alphonso Toweh

The pressure is on when you know you are on the top global story, the attack on the Aramco oil field. Hamad Mohammed keep his cool told the story visually when on the face of it all you have to photograph is shapeless lumps of metal, the story was rocket fragments being displayed to the media by the Saudi military. A clever use of a silhouette of a camera being held in profile leads you to the unmistakable shape of fins of a rocket in the background. Of course, you need to the see the objects too and you can do so here. 

Remains of the missiles which the Saudi government says were used to attack an Aramco oil facility are displayed during a news conference in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, September 18, 2019.   REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammad.

After Xenophobic attacks in both Nigeria and South Africa, people have fled home. Temilade Adelaja has captured exhausted children flopping all over mum and dad as they are carried through the airport. You can almost feel of the weight of these sleeping children. But what I love most about this picture is the tiny detail of the passport being held bottom left.   

Nigerians, who were evacuated from South Africa after xenophobic attacks on foreign nationals, arrive at the airport in Lagos, Nigeria, September 18, 2019.    REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

No doubt Corinna Kern could not believe her luck as Benny Gantz, the leader of the Blue and White party, lifted his had to gesture into blue and white light. The contrast between the warm tones on his face and the cold light on his hand is set against a perfectly black background. Maybe it was not luck, and Corinna spotted the light and just had to wait for the perfect shape to capture the right moment. 

Blue and White party leader Benny Gantz speaks at the party’s headquarters following the announcement of the exit polls during Israel’s parliamentary election in Tel Aviv, Israel September 18, 2019.   REUTERS/Corinna Kern

A perfect moment of light and shape captured by Zoubeir Souissi is wonderfully pleasing to the eye, but why? I think it’s the tip of the finger’s shadow just a fraction away from the face. A moment before or after and the visual tension between the shapes would be lost. The temptation would be to crop to just the shadows and the hand, but then you would lose the right and downward pressure of the figure on the left that counters the upwards and left flow of the shadows.

Election workers count votes as the country awaits the official results of the presidential election in Tunis, Tunisia September 17, 2019.   REUTERS/Zoubeir Souissi

A wonderful daily life picture by Mohammed Salem draws you in layer by layer using focus, compositional structure and a little tilt to offset and break up the vertical and horizontal lines of the walls and buildings. Each time you look you find more and more. The boy in the green shorts on the left, not so distracting as he is not in focus; the girl in the foreground looks through the gap in the fence to lead us to the perfectly timed skipping girl in midair. Finally, you notice the boy in the background on the left looking across at the play. And this is all set in the warm tones of rusting metal.

A Palestinian girl plays with a skipping rope outside her family house at Al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza City September 16, 2019.   REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

Thousands have marched globally in support of action on climate change, but it’s the simplicity of Afolabi Sotunde’s picture that caught my eye. The baking sun with an optical ring and a protest banner being lifted up towards it, the image grey and bleached of all colour, giving it a sense of foreboding. You can see the rest of the pictures here.  

A protester raises a placard during a demonstration for climate protection in Abuja, Nigeria, September 20, 2019.   REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A Week in Pictures Middle East and Africa February 22, 2019

It’s good when one of the best pictures of the week matches one of the top global news stories. Rodi Said’s picture shows a fighter handing bread to children during the battle for Baghouz. Compositionally, the picture is made up of strong diagonals, the arm of the fighter reaching up left to right, the reaching out for the food all set against the strong dark shadow of the truck. What really makes this image stand out is that its structure compels the viewer to look at each and every one of the faces, all with different expressions. The almost square format of the image goes unnoticed. You can see more from the story here

A fighter from the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) gives bread to children near the village of Baghouz, Deir Al Zor province, Syria February 20, 2019. REUTERS/Rodi Said

This is a powerful image as part of a story by Zohra Bensemra, the rest of which can be seen here The child looks so vulnerable, alone and isolated. The mood is created by the long shadow and maybe also because this image has been shot on a longish lens and slightly through obstructions, almost as if we are intruding on his loneliness. 

A Koran student, called a talibes, eats as he begs in front of a hotel in Saint-Louis, Senegal, February 9, 2019.    REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

Classic thirds, a clean background and the strong contrast of shadows and highlights juxtaposed produce an immediate ‘look at me’ demand from Muhammad Hamed’s picture. When you look closer every figure occupies its own space, not an inch of crossover. What is most wonderful is the position of the feet and legs of the central figure, the moment of visual tension between foot and ground, drawing attention at the very edge of this open space to a small but important detail. 

People walk along the highway near Amman, Jordan, during a march from the city of Aqaba, south of the capital, demanding more employment opportunities, February 20, 2019.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed

In essence, Amir Cohen’s picture is of a man walking away from a news conference through a small crowd. But what a wonderful moment of light, shapes and colour. There are basically two colours, the warm skin tones on the face and the cool blue of the room behind. The dark shadows of the surrounding figures crowd into Benny Gantz, the shadow from the bottom of the frame creeping up to chest height like dark waters, only to be pushed back down by the spotlight on the ceiling. The sidelight on his face is perfectly captured as there is a highlight in the eye that lifts it from the shadow. 

Benny Gantz, head of Resilience Party is seen after a news conference in Tel Aviv, Israel February 21, 2019.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen  

The story of Eskom’s rolling power shortages is South Africa not an easy one to illustrate, but Siphiwe Sibeko has managed to produce a gentle and well-timed image that does the job well. What is key is that the ball is in open space and not crossed by the cables. Maybe the trees on the bottom left were a little annoying, but if you remove them, the picture falls over to the left out of the frame. So best left alone.

Boys play soccer near electricity pylons in Soweto, South Africa February 20, 2019.   REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

It’s not often you see images that are shot with direct flash, wallop! But Afoabi Sotunde has caught the sense of the moment in the men’s faces when they learn that Nigeria’s election has been postponed hours before polls where due to open. No background details distract from the stark realisation that something is amiss. 

Men listen to the radio following the postponement of the Presidential election in Maiduguri, Nigeria February 16, 2019.   REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

The muted colours, soft light and gentle action of the woman pumping water in Luc Gnago’s picture give it a very strong sense of tranquillity. I am intrigued by the letters, numbers, words and pictures painted on the wall. All in all, a terrific image that stands alone by its sheer beauty.   

A girl draws water from a fountain a day after the postponement of the presidential election in kano, Nigeria February 17, 2019.    REUTERS/Luc Gnago  

Hayam Adel’s picture verges on the surreal, like a scene from an Egyptian Alice in Wonderland or the wedding dress of Dickens’ Miss Havisham. The figures dotted about in the space lead us deep into the image past the visually addictive swirls of the wedding dresses. I would so love the girl in the foreground be a little to the left so we can see the feet of the girl in red but the world is not perfect. This picture was used as part of a story about population restriction measures being introduced by the government, which you can see here

Egyptian girls play outside a shop for brides in the province of Fayoum, southwest of Cairo, Egypt February 19, 2019.   REUTERS/Hayam Adel

A week in Pictures Middle East and Africa February 1, 2019

After months of deliberation the Lebanese have formed a unity government. Not an easy assignment for Mohamed Azakir other than the standard headshot of a politician at a podium especially when outside the weather is a light drizzle. But unbeknown to Mohamed he’s not only made one but in my mind several nice pictures. On the original crop that moved to the wire I quite like the blue at the top of the frame, expecting it to be a political phrase; but it’s not, it’s the name of the company who created a hoarding, so my view is to crop it out. The orange bag is also a distraction so maybe nice to crop that out too leaving us with the graphic shape of the umbrella between the face and hand. But if you do that you loose the stride of the figure and the position of his feet, which are key to the original image, so maybe a vertical crop. Below are all possible crops, you chose. I think I prefer the third version with no blue banner and no legs.

A man holding an umbrella walks past a banner of Lebanese Prime Minister Saad al-Hariri in Beirut, Lebanon, February 1, 2019. Mohamed Azakir

I actually like chaos and the opportunity it brings to make pictures and for things to happen. Afolabi Sotunde took full advantage of the chaotic scenes of protesters of opposing sides demonstrating in Abuja and an unlucky policeman trying to keep them apart. The hands and feet all jumping about give this image quite a friendly and almost celebratory feeling. But we all know that at any minute things can take a turn for the worse, so there is an underlying feeling of tension.       

A Nigerian police officer tries to disperse protesters, both supporting and opposing the suspension of the Chief Justice of Nigeria Walter Onnoghen, in Abuja, Nigeria, January 28, 2018. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Some pictures are a ‘slow burn’ before they begin to grab your attention. Ahmed Jadallah’s image of worshippers in UAE is one such picture. A first glance a well-lit picture of people in shadow with minarets in the background, an easy up and down, left to right composition to draw your eye along the image. It’s then that you spot the Christian statue of the Virgin Mary in a shrine in the Muslim setting, which raises the question ‘what’s going on?’ The answer, it’s a preview to Pope Francis’ visit to the UAE. Photographing an event before it starts is never easy, so this gentle picture is a little special.

Expat worshippers prays in front of St Mary’s shrine at the St. Mary Catholic church in Oud Metha, as Catholics wait for the visit by pope Francis to the United Arab Emirates in Dubai, UAE, January 18, 2019.   REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

There’s always something a little comic and maybe a little yukky about feet sticking out of the end of the bed, especially when they belong to someone who is over 3000 years old. Mohamed Abd El Ghany didn’t waste a minute playing to our preconceived ideas when he took this wonderful picture, you just can’t stop looking. You can see more here.

The mummy of the boy pharaoh King Tutankhamen is on display in his newly renovated tomb in the Valley of the Kings in Luxor, Egypt January 31, 2019.   REUTERS/ Mohamed Abd El Ghany

There is no mistaking the anguish on the boy’s face in Ibraheem Abu Mustafa’s picture as the child screams, blood streaming from his eye socket. You don’t need to be an optician to know that he is likely to blinded in that eye. If that imagery is not strong enough on its own, the juxtaposition of the man in the shirt that reads ‘Shit happens’ compounds the sense that for sure shit does happen and it’s often sad. Ibraheem followed up on the boy and his recovery, which offers no solace or happy ending and can be seen here

Wounded Palestinian boy Mohammad An-Najjar, 12, is evacuated during a protest at the Israeli-Gaza border fence, in the southern Gaza strip, January 11, 2019.   REUTERS/Ibraheem Abd Musta

I like graphic shapes and lines in a picture, even better if there is vast areas of powerful strong tones or colour that leads your eye to the tiniest detail. Zohra Bensemra’s bridge picture ticks all those visual boxes. Your eye is rushed along the new black road surface by the solid white line, not stopping for a second as you zoom past the past the man to the tiny solitary car on the bridge on the distant horizon. Take a second more and you notice the wonderful detail of the smallest of highlights between road and vehicle. We are left breathless.

A man walks along the newly inaugurated Sene-Gambia bridge that links Gambia’s south and north banks in Farafenni-Soma, Gambia January 25, 2019.   REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

As an antidote to this breathtaking speed I have added the calm ripples of a gentle current that bends the lines of refection in a second image from Zohra from the same bridge. Now breathe out.

A general view of the newly inaugurated Sene-Gambia bridge that links Gambia’s south and north banks in Farafenni-Soma, Gambia January 25, 2019.   REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

I can’t stop my eye from darting all over Afolabi Sotunde’s picture as the more I look the more I see. The warmth and richness of the colour vying for attention, circled and checkered cloth, faces half obscured with strong shadows from the harsh light or modest glances away from the camera; faded and peeling election posters on a metal corrugated hut, the bright reds of clothing in the mid ground on the left and a second queue of women on the right. And then, finally, to the symmetrical brown roofed building in the distance. I don’t think Afolabi could have crammed any more details into this picture if he tried. Read on here

Women queue for relief at the Teachers’ Village IDP camp in Maiduguri, Nigeria, January 16, 2019.  REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde 

An easy link from Afolabi’s picture above to the complex visual composition of Khaled Abdullah’s picture from Yemen as vibrant colours and harsh light fight for your attention. It takes a little while before you notice the small boy, but once you do see him no matter how hard the colours and light fight for your attention you can’t pull yourself away from the look in this child’s eye.

A boy looks as a woman holds bread she has just made outside her hut at a makeshift camp of internally displaced people near Sanaa, Yemen January 28, 2019.   REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah 

There is a buzz to be heard on the Israeli political landscape as Benny Gantz throws his hat into the ring before the country’s elections. Faced with the challenge of finding an interesting picture to illustrate a good breaking story that is visually arid Amir Cohen has cleverly combined a billboard poster with a street sign. It’s both visually effective and confusing, so to help you fathom it out I’ve added a second picture (that plays with reds and blues) to explain how the first was shot. I feel a little guilty - as if I’m revealing a magician’s secret to their trick.

A part of a campaign billboard of Benny Gantz, a former Israel armed forces chief and the head of a new political party, Israel Resilience, can be seen in Tel Aviv, Israel January 29, 2019.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen 

A campaign billboard of Benny Gantz, a former Israel armed forces chief and the head of a new political party, Israel Resilience, can be seen in Tel Aviv, Israel January 29, 2019.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen