A Week in Pictures Middle East & Africa April 27, 2018

First, words of congratulation to our colleagues in Asia for their Pulitzer Prize last week. Reuters won two prizes in Feature Photography and International Reporting. Adnan Abidi, Mohammad Ponir Hossain, Hannah Mckay, Cathal McNaughton, Damir Sagolj, Danish Siddiqui and Soe Zeya Tun won the prize for their work on the coverage of the Rohingya people fleeing to Bangladesh. The pictures can be seen here.

An exhausted Rohingya refugee woman touches the shore after crossing the Bangladesh-Myanmar border by boat through the Bay of Bengal, in Shah Porir Dwip, Bangladesh, September 11, 2017. REUTERS/Danish Siddiqui

A very simple picture by Essam Al-Sudani tells the story of violent amputation in Iraq. I am overwhelmed by the feeling of sadness, maybe created by the beautiful light that falls on the plastic hands and arms. I can’t help thinking that every prosthetic limb tells a tale of a ruined life. Strangely, the big clunky watch, which slightly detracts from the overall shape of the picture (imagine this picture without the watch) gives just a glimmer of hope through its ordinariness. Full story here.

Prosthetic limbs are seen at the Artificial Limb Centre in Basra, February 28, 2018.  REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani 

I hope that Ali Hashisho’s picture warms you the way it does me. It would be easy to overlook this at first glance as the light is little harsh, there are the rear lights of a bus in the bottom right of the frame and really it needs just a little crop to take the bus out and some of the foreground – maybe? What I like about this picture is the timing of the centrally placed cyclist and the man walking in the opposite direction, his legs at full stride. I have done a crop for you to judge for yourself. What I also like is that ordinary commerce is coming back to Douma. A little explanation about the phrase ‘during a media tour’ in the caption, Ali was taken to Douma under the control of the government and would have been limited as to what he could and could not photograph.

A cyclist is seen through the entrance of a shoe shop during a media tour in Douma near Damascus, Syria, April 23, 2018.    REUTERS/Ali Hashisho 

Your eye just crashes into the centre of Suhaib Salem’s emotional picture of a boy weeping at a funeral. The body language of the covered women, the eye line of the woman on the right, the shadows on the wall, the hand coming in from the bottom right and the fingers cupped around the boys face all lead me to his closed eyes. To me the boy’s grief looks uncontrollable, I get the sense he just doesn’t want to open his eyes because if he does he will know the death of his family member is real and inescapable.  

Relatives of deaf Palestinian Tahreer Wahba who died of the wounds he sustained during a protest at the Israeli-Gaza border, mourn during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip April 23, 2018.    REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

Looking at Amr Abdallah Dalsh picture I can’t help thinking of Dick Whittington and his Cat and the promise that London’s streets are paved with gold. Turned out for young Whittington that the streets were in fact dirty and poverty stricken. Looks to me that at least on the face of it old Cairo offers more promise than 14^th century London. What wonderful colours and what a great X composition in Amr’s picture. 

People sit at traditional cafes in Old Islamic Cairo, Egypt, April 21, 2018.   REUTERS/Amr Abdullah Dalsh

Steve is a hard worker and we know that because Nieri Mwangi picture shows him head down, arm muscles tensed pulling containers of water in the rain, through the busy streets, his cart clearly labelled STEVE.  You would not believe it looking at the rain and wet streets in this picture but many parts of Nairobi only have tapped water two days a week. Steve is working hard to make up the shortfall. I love the power and energy in this picture of daily life and can’t resist the fact that his Wellington boot is just an inch off the ground.

A man pulls a hard cart loaded with Jerry cans of water through the traffic in downtown Nairobi, Kenya April 19, 2018.    REUTERS/Nieri Mwangi 

A striking and thoughtful picture by Amir Cohen to illustrate the aftermath of a flash flood. A combination of quick thinking, a lucky break with lightning strikes and a well thought-out angle on the curve of the road for this time exposure work together to create this eye-catching moment. At first I did not like the chevrons and experimented with a crop but I am now of two minds. You choose.

Cars are driven as lightning strikes near a site where a group of Israeli youths were swept away by a flash flood near the Zafit river bed, south of the Dead Sea, Israel, April 26, 2018.    REUTERS/Amir Cohen 

The slightly bizarre always catches my eye so Youssef Boudlal’s picture easily finds a place in this week’s selection. I love the sense of the march of the mannequins from left to right in this strongly composed image made up of triangle after triangle, from the shapes of the building to canopies in the background and the open space on the bottom left. What I love too is the real figure who, to me, seems to be hiding in the shadows, waiting the march of the ‘undead’ headless mannequins to pass by.   

Mannequins displaying women’s clothing for sale are lined up in the street at the market in Ouled Moussa district on the outskirts of Rabat, Morocco, April 24, 2018.   REUTERS/Youssef Boudlal 

And if you think you have had a hard day at work today have a look at this powerful picture from Ibraheem Abu Mustafa, it should make you feel better.

A photojournalist runs during clashes between Israeli troops and Palestinians at a protest where Palestinians demand their right to return to their homeland at the Gaza-Israeli border in the southern Gaza strip April 27, 2018.   REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

A Week in Pictures Middle East and Africa February 9, 2018

I can’t stop looking at Khaled Abdullah’s stark and very sad picture. The children’s tiny, frightened faces peer out from a busy, colourful image. To me, the sadness in their eyes fills the frame, so all you can do is feel for their suffering. How much worse can it get? You live in war zone, you are only a child, and you and your sibling both have cancer. 

A boy and his sister who both suffer from cancer lie on a bed at a cancer treatment centre in Sanaa, Yemen, February 4, 2018.    REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

How could I resist highlighting the bizarre scene of a masked gunman scrolling through his phone, sitting on a red sofa in a grey, rubble-strewn street in al-Bab, Syria? I think Khalid Ashawi’s centrally composed picture is as striking as it is bizarre, so no resistance from me, it’s here.

A Turkish-backed Free Syrian Army fighter is seen in the eastern suburbs of al-Bab, Syria, February 4, 2018.   REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

To me, the strength of Ismail Zitouny’s almost abstract combination of texture, tone, wood, metal and cloth is that it takes quite a while to understand that you are looking at the wrapped figure of a woman. Her invisibility mirrors the plight of the displaced people who cannot return to their homes in the ghost town of Tawergha. More pictures here.

A Libyan woman displaced from the town of Tawergha stands at a camp in Tripoli, Libya, February 5, 2018.   REUTERS/Ismail Zitouny

The ghost-like figures that appear from the smoke and dust of the aftermath of an air strike in Bassam Khablieh’s picture haunt me far more than his other images of blood-stained pavements taken at the same time. Why? The people seem to be drowning in the streets as they run from the devastation, putting me in mind of the first line of Stevie Smith’s poem ‘Not Waving but Drowning’: ‘Nobody heard him, the dead man.’

Civil defence members and civilians are seen running after an air raid in the besieged town of Douma in eastern Ghouta in Damascus, Syria, February 6, 2018.   REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

It’s not clear what everyone is looking at, but what is clear is the desperation in the faces of those gathered behind the wide-eyed, open-mouthed security officers in red berets in Ibraheem Abu Mustafa’s picture. I feel as if every pair of eyes has a sad story to tell. The man in the rear of the image pushes his passport forwards, giving us a clue as to what this picture is about. Story here.

Members of Palestinian Hamas security forces stand guard as people ask for travel permits to cross into Egypt through the Rafah border crossing after it was opened by Egyptian authorities for humanitarian cases, in the southern Gaza strip, February 7, 2018.   REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Wild swings in the stock market provide great opportunities for making and losing lots of money but they also provide photographers with an opportunity to shoot thoughtful and clever pictures. Not easy when you consider the only ‘action’ is people sitting at screens. I love the circular composition of Faisal Al Nasser’s picture, where the top line of the screens curves round to visually link with the curve of the balcony in the rear of the picture. This shape is echoed by the trader’s agal holding his keffiyeh in place. And in Satish Kumar’s wonderfully graphic image below that, I love it that investor has momentarily taken his eyes of the screen to look directly into the lens. At this moment, did he lose money or make it?

A Saudi trader observes the stock market on monitors at Falcom stock exchange in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia February 7, 2018.   REUTERS/Faisal Al Nasser

An investor looks up from the screen at the Dubai International Financial market in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, February 7, 2018.  REUTERS/Satish Kumar

In what initially looks like a curious mixture of street theatre and a Zombie run, Amir Cohen has captured a picture that draws you in as your interest is piqued. What is actually going on? Some faces painted white in a reverse Al Jolson style, others half painted white. Once you move beyond the right to left gaze of the focal point of the image you are zigzagged uncomfortably to the rear of the picture to see dark eyes and pale death-like faces. Two words stand out: Israel and deport. Story here.

African migrants protest against the Israeli government’s plan to deport part of their community, in front of the Rwandan embassy in Herzliya, Israel, February 7, 2018.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen

It’s not often I feel I can share a sports picture from the Middle East and Africa region, but Mike Hutchings’ eye-watering picture of an awkward delivery during the one-day international between South Africa and India seemed to select itself today.

South Africa’s Aiden Markham gets hit by a delivery from Hardik Pandya during the Third One-Day International against India in Newlands Stadium in Cape Town, South Africa, February 8, 2018.   REUTERS/Mike Hutchings

Omar Sanadiki’s pictures from rare trip to Aleppo reveals slow signs of the city coming back to life. Once you look beyond the massive hole in the foreground and the destruction of the city to the horizon, you begin to pick out tiny details: cars moving, people walking about and sitting at a table. A small hardware store has opened for business and what looks like a food stall on the left has three customers. You do have to look hard, but it’s there. So I think there is a little hope here.    

People and cars are seen in the streets of old town Aleppo, Syria, February 8, 2018.   REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Khalil’s Ashawi’s picture is full of tension and action. What really makes this picture work for me is that in addition to the strong light coming through the pillars as the gunman runs for cover, the barrel and aiming sight of the rifle are silhouetted against the light on the wall. If you use your thumb to take away the end of the rifle, the image is much harder to define and you lose the immediate sense of ‘gunman’.  Read the latest from this conflict here.  

A Turkey-backed Free Syrian fighter is seen in the eastern suburbs of al-Bab, Syria February 8, 2018.   REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

   

2018

Middle East and Africa A Week in Pictures 20 August 2017

A quiet moment in a city under siege in Bassam Khabieh’s picture from Douma in Syria. The body language of the boy is as sad and somber as the grays of the wall behind him, the bricks on the ground left and right of the image keeping the rhythm of the composition that is built up by the position of the figures and the pillars in the wall. The only warm colour in the picture is the headdress of the man looking down at his grandson, the affection and warmth on his face slowly coming to the fore of the image.

A child sits next to his grandfather in Douma, near Damascus, Syria, August 14, 2017.    REUTERS/Bassam Khabieh

The Egyptian Cup Final between Al Masry and Al Ahly in Alexandria, was a quiet affair, not that the sport was not competitive, the winner scored in extra time, but because no fans were allowed to attended due to violence at previous fixtures. You can almost hear the ref’s whistle pierce the near silence in Amr Dalsh’s eerie picture of the floodlit pitch surrounded by empty seats.   

A general view of match action during the Egyptian Cup Final between Al Masry and Al Ahly in Alexandria, Egypt August 15, 2017.    REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh

I am not a great fan of sunset pictures or silhouettes but Zohra Bensemra's perfectly timed picture of a boy diving into a canal caught my eye this week. The body of the boy appearing to make a horizontal bridge across the canal, his fingers seem to reach out to disturb the calm of the waters before the splash we all know is going to happen. What is most intriguing for me is that this peaceful captured moment is close to the city of Raqqa where a battle rages on.  

A boy cools off in an irrigation canal on the outskirts of Raqqa, Syria, August 16, 2017.    REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

With reports of hundreds being buried in a landslide in Sierra Leone Nigeria based photographer Afolabi Sotunde was at the scene within 24 hours. Rescue workers looking for survivors and recovering bodies. Afolabi's picture of fresh graves being dig for the victims stretch from the foreground of the picture to the horizon giving the viewer a real sense of the large numbers involved in this tragedy. The longer you look at the picture the more graves you see with grim faced workers going about their solemn business, a sad and poignant picture. 

Workers are seen digging graves at Paloko cemetery in Waterloo, Sierra Leone August 17, 2017.   REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

From a very large series of pictures based on recycling this week I could not resist picking out Thierry Gouegnon’s image of a woman carrying utensils made from recycled metal. The brutal vertical line of the corner of the building, almost cutting the picture in half, gives it a mirror image feeling. I love it that the woman’s foot almost touches this imaginary line; and if it did it would break the mirror-like spell. Looking at the position of the people in the frame, especially the person on the right, what also springs to mind, is a still taken on 360 VR where you can see front and back at the same time. 

A woman walks with kitchen tools made of recycled sheet metal in a recycling area in Anoumambo, Abidjan, Ivory Coast August 17, 2017.    REUTERS/Thierry Gouegnon

A simple detail picture by Afolabi Sotunde demonstrates the force with which flood waters and mud swept through homes in Pentagon, near Freetown, Sierra Leone.  As you take in the sharp contrast between the white exterior wall and debris crammed against the bars of the window, it dawns on you what little chance of survival the occupants had.

Debris is seen inside the window of a house along the valley after a flash flood at Pentagon, Regent Town, Sierra Leone August 18, 2017.   REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

A captured expression, no matter how old the subject, can reveal innermost thinking, which is the essence of great portrait photography.  There is little doubt in my mind what this baby is thinking in Amr Abdullah Dalsh’s picture during baby swimming lessons. This involves dunking the babe’s under the water, counter intuitive to me, but apparently it teaches them to hold their breath, enables them to sleep better and improves their flexibility.  Intrigued? If so read on here.

An Egyptian baby boy his held by his father before taking part in swimming lessons, the first of its kind, in Cairo, Egypt August 15, 2017.   REUTERS/Amr Abdulalh Dalsh