A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, March 20, 2020

As many Muslims around the World have been forced to perform Friday prayers away from the mosques they usually pray in many elderly have decided to stay at home. Ali Hashisho’s picture is gentle and affectionate portrait of an aging couple at home in prayer. Beautifully composed and lit so we focus on this woman’s eyes. Her expression to me seems to be one of gentle contemplation that brings peace and calm. The tilt of her head and shape of her head dress leads us to her husband and the softly side lit room.    

Nouzat Awada, 79, and her husband Ahmad al-Asmar, 84, perform Friday prayers inside their home as mosques are closed over concerns of the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sidon, Lebanon, March 20, 2020.   REUTERS/Ali Hashisho 

For me Ronen Zvulun’s picture is both touching and a little sad. The couple are dancing seemingly momentarily oblivious of the fact that the room, which should be filled with friends and family to celebrate their marriage, is empty due to the measures implemented to control coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The only other figure in the image is a lone musician who plays a tune they dance to, an image that sums up the impact the virus has had on social behavior.

Israeli couple Roni Ben-Ari and Yonatan Meushar dance as they get married at Ein Hemed Forest Wedding Venue who are offering, free small-scale weddings for young couples whose wedding cannot take pace die to the restrictions imposed by the government to fight coronavirus, in Ein Hemed, Israel, March 18, 2020.   REUTERS/Ronen Zvulun 

I’ve seen dozens of images of workers disinfecting all sorts of places but not many have the beauty of the side light that makes Omar Sanadiki’s picture stand out. What I like too, if you take the time to look carefully is the portrait of Syrian President Assad on the edge of the shadows that places the picture in Damascus.    

A worker sanitises schools as part of preventive measures against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Damascus, Syria, March 18, 220.   REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

The team in the whole MEA region have worked hard to produce a series of ‘before and after’ combination images that illustrate the impact that self isolation, government ruling and fears over the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) has had on communities throughout the region. There are many more that you can see here but below are four that I really like, from Amir Cohen, Alaa al-Marjani, Shokry Hussein and Zohra Bensemra.

A combination picture shows children on a swing at the beach of Ashkelon, israel march 16, 2020 and the same swing march 17, 2020, as Israel takes stringent steps to contain the coronavirus disease (COVID-19).   REUTERS/Amir Cohen 

A combination picture shows passengers wearing protective face masks as they wait in Najaf airport following the outbreak of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Najaf March 15, 2020 and then the same set of seats after all flights were suspended, amid concerns over the disease spreading March 17, 2020.  REUTERS/Alaa Al-Marjani  

A combination picture shows students attending a lecture at Cairo University in Cairo, Egypt, February 12, 2020 and the same scene following government efforts to slow the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) March 15, 2020.   REUTERS/Shokry Hussein

A combination picture shows Senegalese working out on a beach along route de la Corniche in Dakar, Senegal, March 12, 2020 and the same empty beach after the government tightened up measures to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dakar, Senegal March 19, 2020.   REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

As far as the eye can see black and white chairs are spaced out with military precision waiting to be filled with people who will be tested for the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). Standing in the middle of Stephanie McGehee’s picture is the slightly scary figure of a masked and suited helper, her gesture saying ‘stop right there’.   

A volunteer directs visitors at a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing centre at the Kuwait international Fairgrounds in Mishref, Kuwait March 18. 2020.   Stephanie McGehee

My intention this week was to choose only coronavirus disease (COVID-19) related pictures but the next three images were all too interesting and powerful to ignore.

Abdullah Rashid shot a clever picture from the perspective of the rescuers eye view as he got himself a lift on a mechanized digger as people search for flood victims. I can’t help feeling through the body language of the driver that he feels he has the best seat, especially when you finally work out that the other rescuers are all squashed into the bucket of the digger. 

Volunteers search for people who need help in a flooded area after heavy rainfall in east Mosul, Iraq 18, 2020.   REUTERS/Abdullah Rashid  

A beautiful and well-timed image by Temilade Adeleja. Remove the figure in your minds’ eye and all you get is a smoggy featureless image. What is so crucial to make this work is that the image is timed to show the figure’s legs at full stretch and his arm outstretched so you get the classic ‘walking’ shape. Not so easy to capture when you think he is walking carefully on logs that are floating on polluted water. Read on here. 

A man walks on logs of wood placed in the river at the Makoko community in Lagos, Nigeria March 9, 2020.   REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja

I am not a fan of ever taking selfies as I am acutely aware of the need for the ‘selfie face’ and the impact it has on an image – smile or frown, either way will impact on the sensibility of the image. I think Khalil Ashawi’s picture is a wonderful example of how people compose their personal image before composing the ‘selfie’ frame to capture themselves in a historic moment in time.  

A Turkey-backed Syrian rebel fighter take a picture with a mobile phone during a protest against the agreement on joint Russian and Turkish patrols on M4 highway in Idlib province Syrian March 15, 2020.   REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi

Almost to the point of abstraction Thaier Al -Sudani blends amazing lush colours and rich tones of flag carrying Shi’te pilgrims defying a curfew to make their way to Kadhimaya. You are seduced into the rich greens for what seems like an eternity until finally you escape to the hint of red in the background so your eye can finally make sense of the covered figures making their way down the road. 

Shi’ite pilgrims make their way to Kadhimiya to mark the death of Imam Moussa al-Kadhim during a curfew imposed to prevent the spread coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Baghdad, Iraq, March 18, 2020.   REUTERS/Thaier Al-Sudani

Zohra Bensemra’s picture is a wonderful study of light, colour and shape that all seem to dance around one another in the frame. I love the way objects on the edges of the frame are cropped to point that we know what they are, a washing line, a gate, a blue tub of water, but they don’t intrude on central character. The girl who is beautifully dressed, carefully washing her hands in a tiny and delicate movement as if preparing for a Hollywood evening of glamour. 

A girl washes her hands at the entrance of her parents’ house in Pikine on the outskirts of Dakar, Senegal March 9, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra 

Through a sophisticated balance of deep shadows and bright colours Baz Ratner intrigues us with his portrait of a security guard who is protecting himself coronavirus disease (COVID-19). The guard seems to be almost hiding in the shadows of a post behind his head from the glare of the bright light and colors in the background. Baz gives us just enough detail to see the face mask and a hint of highlight in his eye.  

A security guard uses a face mask to prevent the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at the main railway station in Nairobi, Kenya, match 17, 2020.   REUTERS/Baz Ratner

A Week in Pictures Middle East & Africa, May 25, 2018

There is no escaping the beauty of simple and strong composition of Amr Abdullah Dalsh’s picture. The tiny, silhouetted figures are dwarfed in front of the symmetrical structure, the strong light seems to dazzle, and makes me want to blink. It grabs you like a scene from an epic Spielberg film.

Egyptian Muslims perform evening prayers called ‘Tarawih’ inside Al Sultan Hassan mosque during the Muslim holy fasting month of Ramadan in the old Islamic area of Cairo, Egypt May 20, 2018. REUTERS/Amr Abdallah Dalsh 

I admit it is a slightly bizarre choice to include Siphiwe Sibeko’s picture of cabbages being farmed. But take a minute to really look. Although the cabbages are bagged up it at first appears that the man sitting on top of the cabbages is perilously high on his unstable seat, what could possible go wrong? Next, I love the complementary reds and greens that vie for attention as they drive your eye around this picture. You quickly end up looking at the sign. The designer started off boldly only to discover, probably around the letter ‘T’, that if they carried on as they’d started they would not be able to fit the word ‘property’ into the sign. Lastly, is that a G or an upside down 5? This picture is being used to illustrate the complex story of a legal test of the constitution on land expropriation which you can read here

Farm workers harvest cabbages at a farm in Eikenhof, near Johannesburg, South Africa, May 21, 2018.   REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko

Omar Sanadiki’s beautifully lit picture seems to deliver mixed messages. You feel the pleasant warmth of the sun on the man’s face as he poses for a picture showing the V for victory sign with his hand. But his face is expressionless, cold, his mouth and eyes say nothing, and his hand is dirty with ash and grime, as are all his clothes. He sits in an environment of total destruction. Although we can never be certain what he is thinking I can guess that it is not thoughts of triumph.  

A man gestures as he sits on the rubble of damaged buildings in al-Hajar al-Aswad, Syria May 21, 2018.   REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

Omar Sanadiki’s picture of people moving through the rubble of destroyed buildings is not so different from Amr’s picture of the faithful at the mosque, at least in its visual structure. People are dwarfed in a landscape, and even though one image is taken at night and the other by day, the colours are similar. If you rotate one of the images through 180 degrees you will find the same the strong compositional U shape. All that aside, Omar’s image is one of relentless destruction, the figures leading you from the foreground to as far away as the eye can see. More pictures here .

Soldiers walk past damaged buildings in Yarmouk Palestinian camp in Damascus, Syria May 22, 2018.   REUTERS/Omar Sanadiki

I am amazed at the order of Khaled Abdullah’s zigzag picture, not only in terms of its visual composition, but by the order of the people waiting in line for food handouts. They must be hungry, hot, a little frightened and no doubt tired. I have also chosen a second image from the same scene, as I was struck how this large line of people made such an impact on the landscape, and that so many are in need of help. The order, in both senses in Khaled’s powerful pictures, highlights to me the scale of the problem these people are facing. 

Women and girls queue outside a charity food distribution centre to get the iftar meal during the holy month of Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen, May 22, 2018.   REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

Women and girls queue outside a charity food distribution centre to get the iftar meal during the holy month of Ramadan in Sanaa, Yemen, May 22, 2018.   REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah

The question that pops into my mind when looking at Essam al-Sudani’s picture is how can anything actually live in these conditions and why, as an investor, would you bet money on its survival? On the face of it nothing could grow. A yellow sandstorm as far as the eye can see is only punctuated by wind battered saplings as if in a scene plucked from a post-apocalyptic science fiction film. Maybe this is why I am not a successful investor?

Palm trees belonging to Kuwaiti investor Abdul-Aziz al-Babtain are seen near the port city of Basra, Iraq May 11, 2018.   REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani

Amr Abdullah Dalsh’s picture is, it must be said, a bit of a cliché, but one I kept coming back to. It’s fun, and it has caaptured a good moment. I do wish there was no water across the boy’s face, but I do like his scrunched up features and the ‘crown’ of water. So here it is, I hope you enjoy a quiet smile, like me.

An Egyptian boy jumps into the water to cool off in hot and humid weather during the holy fasting month of Ramadan in Cairo, Egypt May 23, 2018.   REUTERS/Amr Abdullah Dalsh