A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, July 17, 2020

There is something childishly wonderful about watching people get soaked but not as wonderful as intentionally getting soaked yourself. I dare you not to smile at Mike Hutchings’ pictures. The sea foam looks almost like drifting snow but Mike has left a sliver of background at the top of the frame so we get a sense of the power and scale of the wave crashing in.  

People are drenched by sea spray thrown up by huge swells as a cold front moves in over Cape Town, South Africa, July 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings 

I could not resist adding a second frame from the same scene as I love the way the wave is backlit so it looks like an alien reaching out to consume a hapless human. Move over Ridley Scott and James Cameron, there’s a new boy in town. 

People watch spray thrown up by huge swells as a cold front moves in over Cape Town, South Africa, July 13, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings 

A captured moment by Mohamed Abd El Ghany as a young woman adjusts her veil in a mirror, or is she looking at herself? It’s a shy look with a catch light in her eye that draws us to that glance as her hands gently adjust the garment. Once you ease away from that look you are enveloped in the richness and depth of the gold, blue, red and green colours all warmed up under artificial lighting.    

Sudanese refugee, Hamida Abdallah, fixes her veil in front of a mirror at her apartment in Ain Shams district, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19, in Cairo, Egypt, July 7, 2020. Picture taken July 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Abd El Ghany 

Ammar Awad’s picture is crammed full of faces, hands and reds and is more than a little claustrophobic to look at. Pirates, clowns, gloves and masks all fill the space, vying for attention, and the longer you look the hotter the temperature seems to get in this busy, crowded picture.  

Israelis protest against the government's response to the financial fallout of the coronavirus disease (COVID- 19) crisis at Rabin square in Tel Aviv, Israel July 11, 2020. REUTERS/Ammar Awad 

With an initial glance, Baz Ratner has produced a semi-formal environmental portrait of proud, traditionally dressed people looking directly at us through the lens, set against a clean background. But look again, peering around a corner is the smiling face of another, watching the scene unfold, breaking the formality of the moment with an almost cheeky glance. And look even deeper, a backward glance of a strikingly dressed passerby also catches our eye. Read on here.  

A family from the Turkana tribe pose for a picture in the village of Lorengippi near the town of Lodwar, Turkana county, Kenya July 2, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner 

 A very nicely seen picture by Temilade Adelaja as we get an insight into the records department through the open doorway. Soft light and warm colours leave us with the feeling that this is a pleasant place to work. Maybe it’s not the light and colours that leave us with that impression but a sense of a bygone age, no computer on the desk, calm worker with pen on paper, neatly stacked files on the bookshelf at the rear and the sign above the door that states very clearly that this is the RECORD DEPARTMENT. Read on here. 

A woman wearing a protective mask works at the record department of the Primary Healthcare Centre, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Lagos, Nigeria May 7, 2020. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja 

 Hang on, something’s missing in Mike Hutchings’ picture. The shoulders look right and the hands are well placed to support the weight of the head. The pattern of the stonework replaces the eyes and the curve of the arch replaces the imaginary top line of the head as the mind’s eye struggles to recreate what is missing: the head of the statue. Read on here. 

A damaged bust of Cecil John Rhodes, a controversial figure in the history of South Africa, is seen after the statue had been vandalised and had the head removed in Cape Town, South Africa, July 14, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings 

 Essam Al-Sudani has produced one of the most moving and sad set of images I have seen for quite some time: a child cancer ward impacted by coronavirus disease COVID-19. Many of the images appear without hope at all as parents sit with gravely ill children. This single image really jumped out at me as there is no escaping the faraway look in this mother’s eye as she looks out of the window. We can only imagine what she is thinking, her thoughts uninterrupted by her child, who is bound tightly in swaddling and silent. Read on here. 

An Iraqi woman wearing a protective mask carries her baby, who is suffering from cancer, at the Children's Hospital for Cancer Diseases, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Basra, Iraq July 9, 2020.  REUTERS/Essam Al-Sudani  

Raneen Sawafta shoots wide and exposes for the highlights so all the shadows fall into darkness, leaving us with the masked face and hand of the dancer surrounded by solid black, with just the tiniest hint of torso. Even the mask doesn’t detract too much from the intensity seen in her face, a feeling created by the downcast eyes.  

A Palestinian girl wearing a mask rehearses for a performance at the Freedom Theatre amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis in Jenin in the Israeli-occupied West Bank July 16, 2020. REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta  

   

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

As a late addition to this week’s selection is Ganoo Essa’s stark image on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan. Grouped together in worship a small group of people are dwarfed by the Kaaba where normally thousands would worship around it. The building construction in the background half-light seem to lean into the scene, an enlarged echo in shape of the tiny figures in the foreground. I love the final touch of the man rushing in from left to right.  

Worshippers perform Taraweeh prayer at Kaaba in the Grand Mosque on the first day of the holy month of Ramadan during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in the holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia April 24, 2020.   REUTERS/Ganoo Essa   

You get a real sense of the children’s heads turning sharply to look at the man coughing in Thomas Mukoya’s picture. The moment is captured perfectly as they walk past, a comforting arm across the shoulder of the smaller boy. Would I want to crop this tighter, even to a vertical? Maybe, but then you’d lose the context of the place they are walking through. 

A man coughs as children walk past amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nairobi, Kenya, April 19, 2020.     REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya 

Mike Hutchings has been working on the complex story of land rights at a time when there is forced curfew and lockdown in South Africa. For me, what gives this image its strength is the way Mike has used scale and shape to build a very sophisticated image. A large group of people standing about in harsh light in a featureless landscape is not great material for a picture. What Mike has done is stand back and used a terrific bold line made up of the crowds of people that horizontally cuts across the image. The apex of the tent, quite small in reality but large in the frame, cuts upwards across this compositional line. The running boy gives the eye a focal point and brings the viewer back round the image from left to right.   

A child runs past a tent set up after a Khayelitsha township community won a court case against local authorities who has demolished shacks and evicted residents on land that they said was illegally occupied during a nationwide lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cape Town, South Africa, April 19, 2020.    REUTERS/Mike Hutchings  

   

A sort of antidote to the sophistication, quiet and subtlety of the image above (not that you should need one) is the wham-bam of Mike Hutchings’ image below. Full of action and noise as police stride across the landscape firing weapons. The figures form a diamond composition in the frame against a slight tilt and a deep blue sky. A lens vignette holding all the action in the frame, and, if you take the time to look, a spent cartridge popping out of the shotgun lets you know these weapons are being fired. Read on here. 

Police fire shot guns and tear gas as they attempt to disperse Khayelitsha township residents trying to erect shacks on open ground during a nationwide lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Cape Town, South Africa, April 21, 2020.    REUTERS/Mike Hutchings  

You can almost smell the incense and hear the song in Tiksa Negeri’s image of an Easter celebration. Timeless pageant, beautiful dress, rich colours and a wonderfully big umbrella have all been cleverly shot so the red carpet in the foreground doesn’t dominate and distract the eye away from the ceremony. I would so love to be at this ceremony. 

Ethiopian Orthodox deacons sing during Easter Eve sermon at the Holy Trinity Cathedral amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia April 18, 2020.    REUTERS/Tiksa Negeri  

At first glance Zohra Bensemra’s picture is just a grey wall with square black holes of unfinished windows. You also catch a glimpse of yellow almost centre frame. This bit of colour is just enough to catch your eye and draw you in. It’s then you see the zigzag of workers passing building materials up through the rickety scaffolding, from the bottom of the frame, where we see the helmeted man reaching up, to the workman at the top of the frame, reaching down. 

Workers stand on scaffolding at a construction site amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Dakar, Senegal, April 18, 2020.    REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra 

 Two relatively ‘simple in concept’ images work well for different reasons. The concept is people look at graffiti of the coronavirus. The first from Khalil Ashawi shows the image of the virus seeming to jump out from a bomb-damaged building to threaten people walking past, a double warning ‘keep away, keep away’. The artist uses the curves of the crushed building to echo the shape of their art, depicting the virus like a WWII sea mine. The image is almost totally bleached of all colour.  Read on here.    

People walk past a damaged building that has drawings on them that allude to the coronavirus and encouraging people to stay at home, in rebel held Idlib City, amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Syria April 18, 2020.    REUTERS/Khalil Ashawi   

The second graffiti image, from Thomas Mukoya, doesn’t so much say ‘keep away’ but ‘look at me’. The bright colours of the art and people crowding in to look at it initially seem to have had the reverse affect. But the clever composition between the gathered heads allows the single eye to peer out at you with sheer malice.   

Children look at an advocacy graffiti by the Mathare Roots youth group against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Mathare Valley slum, in Nairobi Kenya, April 19, 2020.   REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya    

 Even with the spread of the coronavirus, the politics in Israel continues. Corinna Kern takes full advantage of this combination of events to shoot a wonderful anti-government demonstration meets social distancing picture, aided by the neon lights to give the image an eye-catching glow. Even though the image is shot quite wide you are drawn into the centre by the blue and white of the Israeli national flag and the red writing on the white background of a protest banner. Read on here.   

Israelis demonstrate against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, under strict social distancing restrictions introduced to slow down the spread of coronavirus disease (COVID-19), on Rabin Square, Tel Aviv, Israel April 19, 2020.    REUTERS/Corinna Kern    

The bar needs to be very high when shooting wildlife pictures as there are so many beautiful images shot by specialist photographers that anything less looks quite weak. In my opinion, Amir Cohen’s image of a town fox certainly reaches that high standard. A cleverly timed slow exposure allows us to see enough of the animal’s form to know it’s a fox but blurs things enough so we get the sense of it hunting at night in a warm glow of soft textured colours. Read on here  

A red fox runs near the seashore in Ashkelon, where predatory animals now roam the streets amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak restrictions that has closed beaches and emptied streets of people April 19, 2020.   REUTERS/Amir Cohen  

Such a busy picture from Rania Gomaa captures a complex and historic moment. Family and friends gather around a wedding couple excited and happy in a narrow and crowded street. The bride, beautiful in her white wedding dress, reaches up to adjust her tiara, her groom watches, splendid and proud in his sharp suit and neat haircut. And then you have the face masks worn to protect the couple against the coronavirus. Such a powerful and touching moment as the bride’s sister carefully adjusts her mask the same time as the bride herself is adjusting her tiara. There more than likely will never be another wedding picture quite like this one. 

Bride Noha Hamid and groom Mustafa Amin wear protective masks amid concerns over the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during their wedding ceremony in Qalyub, north of Cairo, Egypt, April 16, 2020.   REUTERS/Rania Gomaa