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 

A Week in Pictures Middle East and Africa February 8, 2019

There is no mistaking the classic beauty of Eissa Alragehi’s picture. It depicts the kind of calm that the pre-Raphaelites strove to achieve in their paintings of imagined rural bliss. But this is Yemen, a far from perfect world, so maybe this is why the top of the tree is cropped off, a slight distraction in this otherwise wonderful picture.  

Students displaced from different cities in Yemen’s northwestern province attend an outdoor class under a tree near Abs, Yemen January 28, 2019.   REUTERS/Eissa Alragehi

Also from Yemen, this brutal image by Fawaz Salman of the execution of two men convicted in court of child rape raises many ethical dilemmas. Should this picture be taken? Should this picture be published? If it’s not taken or published are we self-censoring what is happening in Yemen? If it is taken and published are we normalizing brutality? Is this execution, although legal in Yemen, brutal or just?  These decisions are not taken lightly and keep me awake at night. The men are not dead and this is not the moment of death. My view is that this an important picture to take and publish because this is what is happening in Yemen now. Professional photographers facing this decision will use their own moral compass to decide how to shoot this image. It is also worth noticing the dozens of people using phones to film and photograph the scene. Will they face the same ethical dilemmas when they decide whether to share on social media – thus raising another unanswerable question? 

A police officer prepares for the execution of Wadah Refat, 28 and Mohamed Khaled, 31, who were convicted of raping a twelve-year-old boy, in Aden Yemen February 7, 2018.    REUTERS/Fawaz Salman

And while we are considering ethical dilemmas, Khaled Abdullah had some difficult choices when illustrating the story of conjoined children born in Sanaa Yemen. It is a tragic story that needs to be highlighted, but many would shy away from publishing brutal images of babies suffering in this way. A solution is a clever picture of medical staff looking at x-rays. Even though the reality of the conjoined children can be clearly seen, the image offers hope as the doctors study the x-ray and we allow ourselves the belief there just might be a chance of a normal life. The full story, with other images, can be seen here

Doctors check the x-ray film of newly born conjoined twins at the child intensive care unit of al-Thawra hospital in Sanaa, Yemen February 6, 2019.   REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

It’s nice when shapes and light all come together to lift an ordinary scene into an image that is a little more special, and this is where Philimon Bulawayo’s picture succeeds. The great shapes of the hat and shoulders are set against the colour of the background, enhanced by the flicker of light from the flame on the face. Delightful. It lifts my spirits.

Zimbabwean Bishop Regina Katsande lights a candle during a national prayer meeting in Harare, Zimbabwe, February 7, 2019.   REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

Mohamed, Torokman’s picture has the same structural feel as Philimon’s image above. A single gesture by Alexander Van de Bellen, who looks across to his Palestinian counterpart, lifts an ordinary scene into a picture that is a little more special. The direction of the look by the two men keeps your eye from speeding beyond the edge of the frame as you follow the line of the flags. I like the 16 X 9 format of this image too. It’s easy on the eye as you race back and forth from side to side and back again. 

Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and Austrian President Alexander Van der Bellen attend a joint news conference in Ramallah, in the occupied Israeli-occupied West Bank February 5, 2019.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman 

The Pope visits United Arab Emirates. There’s a lot of excitement and security is tight. Ahmed Jadallah, as well as producing many classic ‘Pope makes a visit’ pictures, had the  courage to turn 180 degrees from the action to look in the opposite direction to the crowds to produce this very calm security picture. The soldier, although tiny, still jumps out in the frame to grab your eye as the blacks of his uniform stand out against the soft pastels of the blue sky and eggshell white of the minarets.

A member of the security forces guards during the arrival of Pope Francis at the Sheikh Zayad Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates February 4, 2019.   REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah

It’s not often that direct eye contact adds to a news picture. In fact it will often destroy it, but Feisal Omar’s image bucks that trend. The reason is that the eye contact takes you directly into the centre of the image, past the red jacket and the cut-off hand that extends annoyingly out of the frame on the right, and the yellow and orange on the rescue worker’s clothing on the left. Once we are through this visual noise, we get to see the injured man on the stretcher and the intense look of the men wheeling him to safety.

Security forces and emergency services evacuate an injured man from the scene where a car bomb exploded at a shopping mall in Mogadishu, Somalia, February 4, 2019.  REUTERS/Feisal Omar

It’s difficult to ignore a sea of red with a beaming smile in the middle. It’s especially difficult when there are two people wearing blue shirts on either side of the picture, maybe they didn’t get the email? I like to think that Siphiwe Sibeko spotted these blue shirts when he shot and cropped the picture. I suspect so, as there were thousands attending the rally. If not, he can add luck to his list of skills. 

Supporters of South Africa’s radical left-wing party, the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF), hold placards during the launch of the party’s election manifesto in Soshanguve, near Pretoria, South Africa February 2, 2019.    REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko 

A Week in Pictures Middle East & Africa December 15 2017

Okay okay it’s from last week, but it’s good enough for a mention this week as I bend the rules to include Ronen Zvulun’s picture. Wham! You are drawn in to the white shirt and face on the pavement make up a tiny fraction of the picture. As your eye draws out from the centre, the more intrigued and maybe confused you are. Shadows of people push you back in, where you are met with a surreal combination of hooves, boots, shoes and stirrups that I think Salvador Dali would have admired.  

A Palestinian man lays on the ground beneath police horses as he is detained by Israeli police during scuffles at Damascus Gate after Friday prayers in Jerusalem’s Old City, as Palestinians call for a ‘Day of Rage’ in response to U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel December 8, 2017.   REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun

A crisscross composition of blacks, reds, whites and the silhouette of an outstretched hand that demands you look at the weeping woman makes for a powerful picture of grief. Everything leads to the open mouth and closed eyes of the woman who sobs for her dead relative. The sadness of this picture is burned into my mind forever.   

A relative of a Palestinian man, who was shot dead during clashes with Israeli troops on Friday, mourns during his funeral in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza strip December 9, 2017.   REUTERS/Suhaib Salem

To say that Thaier Al-Sudani’s picture is a little messy is an understatement - a blue gash right to left across the centre of the picture, ugly lines in the buildings in the background, a power cable top right, not to mention two balloons, one red, one pink, in the bottom left. So why did this catch my eye? The answer is in the detail: this is a moment of sheer joy. A man is dancing and waving a flag, and in fact he is so happy he has thrown his crutches aside and is dancing on the roof of a kiosk on his one good leg.  

A man holds an Iraqi flag as he celebrates the final victory over Islamic State at Tahrir Square in Baghdad, Iraq, December 10, 2017.  REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani 

Sometimes a picture raises many questions. Satish Kumar’s picture of a camel hanging upside down is one such image – what is going on? At first glance I thought of food, game hanging from the ceiling or even a giant turkey, maybe because it was near lunchtime and I was hungry. Who are the people on the right? They are actually vets and this is the Dubai Camel Hospital, a warm picture that will certainly bring a smile to most – click here to know more. 

A camel is seen hanging upside down as he is brought in for foot surgery at the Dubai Camel hospital in Dubai, UAE December 11, 2017.  REUTERS/Satish Kumar

I bet Baz Ratner could not believe his luck when a tiny figure dressed all in black stopped at the exact point on a wall where the sunlight ended and the shadows began, climbed onto a railing and leaned over to try to catch a glimpse of the burial of Rabbi Shteinman. This gives a focal point to what would otherwise have been a very busy picture with a strong diagonal composition and no focus. 

An Ultra-Orthodox Jewish man tries to see the burial of prominent spiritual leader Rabbi Aharon Yehuda Leib Shteinman, who died at the age of 104, during his funeral ceremony in Bnei Brak near Tel Aviv, Israel, December 12, 2017.   REUTERS/Baz Ratner

On Wednesday I was interviewed by Monocle about Reuters’ pictures of the year and was asked what makes a picture of the year. The answer is easy: a powerful, beautifully composed image that captures a key moment in a top news story. Mohamad Torokman’s picture of an undercover policeman making an arrest is made extraordinary when the policeman points his pistol at Torokman, delivering a very clear message – keep back. Torokman’s presence of mind has to be admired. In one minute everyone around him is shouting anti-Israel slogans, and in the next, as the undercover security reveal their identity, protesters are grabbed and detained. To continue to take pictures when a gun is being pointed at you at close range in a riot situation is for me truly remarkable. Could you remain calm enough to grasp what had happened, react, keep safe and get the picture sharp? The full back-story can be read here. 

Undercover Israeli security personnel detain a Palestinian demonstrator during clashes at a protest against U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 13, 2107.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

I think it’s worth showing a few more pictures shot by Mohamad Torokman this week to demonstrate that his fantastic picture of the undercover policeman was not a one-off but part of a very strong body of work. It’s also worth mentioning that he works as part of a team, but this week the luck was with him.

A Palestinian lawyer hurls stones towards Israeli troops during clashes toprotest against U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 13, 2017.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

An Israeli border policeman reacts as he fires towards Palestinian protesters during clashes as Palestinians call for a ‘Day of Rage’ in response to U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 8, 2017.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

A Palestinian demonstrator hurls stones towards Israeli troops during clashes to protest against U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 11, 2017.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

A Palestinian kicks a burning tire during clashes with Israeli troops at a protest against U.S President Donald Trump’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel, near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah December 12, 2017.   REUTERS/Mohamad Torokman

The slowly turning wheels of the political story in Zimbabwe have overtaken the frenzied elation in the streets in Harare of last month. It’s much harder to photograph politics than street demonstrations, but it’s equally important and when it’s done well, it’s very rewarding. I think that Philimon Bulawayo’s quiet photograph of a picture being hung, half out of the spotlight, prior to a political meeting speaks volumes. To me this picture asks the question will President Mnangagwa bring  Zimbabwe out of the shadows and back into the international community? Only time will tell, but either way, it’s a great picture.

An official puts up a portrait of Zimbabwe’s President Emmerson Mnangagwa ahead of a meeting of the ZANU-PF central committee in downtown Harare, Zimbabwe, December 14, 2017.   REUTERS/Philimon Bulawayo

Sometimes when events unfold and there is a great single picture there is also the sequence around that single image. A question often asked is can video be replacement for a series of stills? Personally, and especially in this case, I don't think so as each picture can be carefully studied frame by brutal frame as the event unfolds. Video would have been more about the motion but you just would not be able to see the detail a high resolution picture provides. Have a look at Goran Tomaesvic's picture and then the combo we produced and decide for yourself. You can read the full story here too.

Israel border police stand away after shooting a Palestinian man with a knife and what looks like an explosive belt near the Jewish settlement of Beit El, near the West Bank city of Ramallah, December 15, 2107.   REUTERS/Goran Tomasevic