A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, October 23, 2020

During the daylight hours before darkness in which protesters were gunned down in the streets Temilade Adelaja was out photographing the demonstrations. Her picture conveys a sense of nervousness, that static you feel in the ions of the atmosphere before violence breaks out. Everyone is looking in different ways as if they are watching for something, holding hands in solidarity, giving one another strength. Read on here for this fast-developing story.  

Demonstrators hold hands as they gather near the Lagos State House, despite a round-the-clock curfew imposed by the authorities on the Nigerian state of Lagos in response to protests against alleged police brutality, Nigeria October 20, 2020. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

Ramzi Boudina has captured a wonderful moment of happiness and joy. Belly laughs all around for these women as they rock back and forth. Your eye is led through the image from the centrally placed woman with her arms up, through the rows of beautifully dressed spectators to the drums in the rear then back down to the bottom right corner. From here the woman’s eyeline takes us back up again into the crowd, like a Mexican wave. Read on here.

Women spectators cheer during a match in an annual local soccer tournament played by an all women teams, at the village of Sahel, in the mostly Berber Kabylie region in the mountains east of Algiers, Algeria October 16, 2020. REUTERS/Ramzi Boudina 

With what looks like something right out of a Wim Wenders playbook, Siphiwe Sibeko manages to create a powerful picture to illustrate a story that has not yet begun and that is taking place in a landscape full of emptiness. Photographing something that is not yet happening is not easy. Taking advantage of the clear skies and open horizon, Siphiwe waited for the police to walk onto the ‘stage’ he has created by getting low on the ground. 

Police officers stand guard as they set up a roadblock at the entrance of the small town of Senekal, ahead of Friday's appearance of two suspects for the murder of farm manager Brendin Horner, in Senekal, in the Free State province, South Africa, October 15, 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

There is a starkness about Ammar Awad’s picture that, to me, is quite chilling although I am not quite sure why. Maybe it’s the coldness of the whites and blues of the full PPE, set against the reds of the ambulance door? Maybe it’s the empty space on the left? Or maybe the tiny glimpse of the bandaged foot on the stretcher?    

Medical staff move a patient from an ambulance at a hospital entrance, as Israel began easing the second nationwide coronavirus disease (COVID-19) lockdown, in Jerusalem October 18, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad

Time to relax and Amr Abdallah Dalsh provides us with the perfect setting. The ripples in the water lead up from the cool blues of the water to the mountain ridges and then up to the warmth of the evening skies. Drift away, relax and sleep, like the figure in water.   

An Egyptian man swims in a lake in front of Taghaghien Island Resort in Egypt's Western Desert, during the activation of domestic tourism after the government cancelled the celebration of the Siyaha peace festival, or the 'Peace festival', amid concerns over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Siwa Oasis, west of the Egyptian capital, Egypt October 16, 2020. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh 

Mixed messages in terms of social distancing in Mohamed Abd El Ghany’s picture of the start of school. As far as the eye can see boys are wearing masks and most are covering noses and mouths. It’s worth taking the time to look for uncovered faces and, rewarding as they are, it’s the close proximity that may be worrying in a time of COVID-19  

Students wearing protective masks attend the first day at Al Sadeeya school, following months of closure due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Cairo, Egypt October 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany

A clever tilt in the crop by the editor gives Khaled Abdullah’s picture a strong diagonal design that drags us from one side of the image to the other and back again. The men praying act as a counter to the right to left movement of the men walking and waving. I love the subtle little ‘bracket’ of the raised arm on the extreme left of the picture that curves us back into the image. 

Freed Houthi prisoners pray as they arrive after their release in a prisoner swap, in Sanaa airport, Yemen October 15, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah 

It’s the locked-on eye contact in Baz Ratner’s picture that captures me. She is being brave but is a little scared that the COVID-19 test will be painful, her head is gently but firmly held by the gloved and masked health worker. I really like the contrast of the textures of the smooth and brilliant white PPE against the rough brickwork behind her. Read on here.

A health worker collects a swab sample from a young girl during free mass testing for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya, October 17, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner

As an addition a few extra pictures from last week that I didn’t want to miss out  

A demonstrator in underwear carries a hairdryer and a megaphone during a protest over alleged police brutality, in Lagos, Nigeria October 14, 2020. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

Photographer Mohammed Asad documents a Palestinian spear-fisherman who holds a fish while diving underwater in the Mediterranean Sea off the coast of the southern Gaza Strip, October 8, 2020. Picture taken October 8, 2020. REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

An employee works at the main control room of Saline Water Conversion Corporation's Ras al-Khair Power and Desalination Plant in Ras al-Khair, Saudi Arabia, October 8, 2020. REUTERS/Hamad I Mohammed 

A schoolgirl stands next to the Kenya-Uganda railway line during the partial reopening of schools, after the government scrapped plans to cancel the academic year due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in Kibera slums of Nairobi, Kenya October 12, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

Rickshaw taxis drive past the Salaam Somali Bank in Wadajir district of Mogadishu, Somalia October 14, 2020. REUTES/Feisal Omar

A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, July 24, 2020

Baz Ratner has given his picture enough space at the top of the image to make us feel calm enough to take the time to look carefully. Detail is hard to come by as it has been exposed for the highlights, the curves of the backdrop, which give it the calm feel. But Baz is shooting pictures inside a COVID-19 hospital and this is a race to stop the spread of the disease in Kenya. But calm and reassuring, the figures lean towards one another, the nurse, in protective gear carefully preparing medication for the figure who is in silhouette, waiting. See the rest of the pictures here.  

A nurse treats a COVID-19 patient inside a field hospital built on a soccer stadium in Machakos, as the number of confirmed coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases continues to rise in Kenya, July 23, 2020.REUTERS/Baz Ratner 

What attracts me most to Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah’s image is not only the obvious passion of the woman who is shouting but the more subtle element of the hands in the picture. Take some time and look at them all, the pointed finger in the foreground and to the right of that the ‘inward facing’ gestures of the woman in red. To the right of that, the two hands from people out of frame, one pointing in and the other out. And then to the left, the finger and thumb touching gesture of the woman in blue, the incidental hand of the woman in the mask and finally, in the background, the raised hand of the figure in black.     

A Sudanese woman chants slogans outside the court during the new trial against ousted President Omar al-Bashir and some of his former allies on charges of leading a military coup that brought the autocrat to power in 1989 in Khartoum, Sudan July 21, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Nureldin Abdallah  

 Zohra Bensemra’s gentle picture has a hint of the bizarre about it, which for me is always attractive as it makes me stop and look. Carefully shot in classic thirds, with compositional horizontal lines, and the man’s head just breaking through the horizon. I also like the echo of the colours of blue in the tyre and the sea. Read on here for the story.  

A man from Guediawaye je m'engage association waters a newly planted tree to reforest the coastline on the coast of Guediawaye on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal July 16, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra  

 Strong shapes and bold tones and dominate Thomas Mukoya’s picture that is almost a mirror image of a line drawn vertically through the centre of the masked figure. Even the hot glow of the furnace in the background is balanced, in part, by the cool light coming in from the window. I get a very strong sense of sadness, probably created by the downcast eyes and the heavy shadows of the interior.

A health worker closes the chamber during the cremation of the body of Prof. Charles Kariuki who died due to the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at a crematorium in Nairobi, Kenya July 20, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya 

 No pushing, no shoving, just a gentle and quiet moment captured by Khaled Abdullah as a young girls is given a food ration voucher. She and others in the picture look as if they have been waiting patiently for quite a while. A strong diagonal leads your eye down from the red decoration on the woman’s dress along the helping outstretched arms and hands holding the vouchers down to the face of the man looking up in the bottom right of the frame. Read on here.

A girl receives a food ration voucher at a charity kitchen in Sanaa, Yemen July 19, 2020.  REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah  

 So much for social distancing in Mohamed Abd El Ghany’s wonderfully crowded and crushed picture, a narrow(ish) depth of field squashing you into the man at the focal point in the centre. What is terrific for me is the almost regular spacing of the men’s heads in a blur of activity and the fact that you have to take a minute to look carefully to see what the blurring is: cattle ready for slaughter.  

A general view of a cattle market in Al Manashi village, ahead of the Muslim festival of sacrifice Eid al-Adha, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Giza, on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt July 23, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany  

 I see a pattern forming in so much that sometimes I add more than one picture from the same photographer from different stories in my weekly review. This is true for Mohamed Abd El Ghany this week with his action blurred street racing picture in the heat of the Cairo night. Just sharp enough so that you can see what is going on, but not so sharp so that you are distracted by messy details of cars and vendors in the streets at night. Maybe Mohammed is having a spell of good luck and the photography Gods are smiling on him. Let’s hope they don’t turn away the following week. On the Photography Gods of luck, I was once told by an older photographer when I started my career. “Son,” he said, “Seems the harder I work, the luckier I get. You might learn from that.” That stuck with me.    

Egyptian merchants are seen in action during a horse cart race showing off their horses’ strengths, following the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Cairo, Egypt, July 17, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany