A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, October 9, 2020

A striking picture of wild fires in Lebanon from Mohamed Azakir, the silhouetted trees giving a sense of scale against the raging fires and night skies. 

Wildfires burn a forest in Chbaniyeh village, Lebanon October 9, 2020.  REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir 

Thomas Mukoya captures the moment Liban Abdullah Omar reacts to his acquittal of involvement in the Westgate attack. As the tear is wiped away he looks across the picture frame into the space left by the empty seat. This space creates a sense of momentary calm and quiet. I love the way his other hand is delicately holding another tissue. What I would like to make disappear is the white square to the left but crop it out and the image loses its shape. Read on here.  

Liban Abdullah Omar reacts after he was acquitted at the Milimani Law Courts in Nairobi, Kenya October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya

We are left in no doubt by Mike Hutching’s picture that this is about – anti-corruption. The black bold letters scream out against the reds of the banners, adding to the noise of the shouting likely coming from the open mouth. In fact this picture is so noisy we hardly notice the quite acute angle of the tilt as Mike composes his frame.    

Members of the Congress of South African Trade Unions (COSATU) carry placards as the take part in a nationwide strike over issues including corruption and job losses in Cape Town, South Africa, October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mike Hutchings 

Zohra builds her picture up by using the framing of the black gates, the centrally placed minaret and a low angle to let the figures play into the stage she has composed. This feeling of stage may also be enhanced by the bright reds, greens and yellows worn by the “actors” as they move into the setting.    

A faithful stands with hand sanitiser at the entrance of the Great Mosque as hundreds of thousands of Senegalese Mouride Brotherhood pilgrims gather for the annual Grand Magal festival, as the global spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) continues, in the holy city of Touba, Senegal October 5, 2020. REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra

You have to work hard to look into the shadows of Essam al-Sudani’s picture through the glare of the flames to see what is going on. Once you do, you are a little too visually exhausted to be met with the sad vision of three boys playing in the fumed-filled air among the rubbish on the ground.  

Children play with flames rising from oil refinery pipes in the background in Basra, Iraq July 23, 2020.  REUTERS/Essam al-Sudani 

As far as the eye can see bricks and more bricks make up a smoky, desolate landscape captured by Abdullah Dhiaa Al-Deen. The sun beats down to bleach all colour from the picture as we are drawn to the single focal point of the figure labouring away, with that set between the two other secondary features in the picture, the chimneys spewing smoke.  

An Iraqi labourer works as a brick factory's chimney belches out smoke in Najaf, Iraq September 22, 2020. Picture taken September 22, 2020. REUTERS/Abdullah Dhiaa Al-Deen

Abdullah Dhiaa Al-Deen captures the momentarily upturned face of the boy whose mouth takes the shape of the Melpomene, the muse of tragedy mask, but the image is buried in the mass of swirling mass of arms, faces, reds and blacks. Once you spot him it’s hard to look away: even as the eye is distracted by the beauty of the lights in the background, you are drawn back to his face again.  

Shi'ite Muslim pilgrims take part in a mourning ceremony, ahead of the holy Shi'ite ritual of Arbaeen, amid the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Kerbala, Iraq, October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Abdullah Dhiaa Al-Deen

Two things strike me immediately about Muhammad Hamed’s wonderful picture; the stoic nature of what looks like lonely work and the greyness of the classroom devoid of students. But this initial impression of loneliness and grey quickly disappears when we look at her face, the energy of her teaching of what looks like trigonometry. You can then imagine the children all at home watching online. And on the subject of angles and shapes, we are drawn by the  arc of the projector cable from one side of the picture through her arm to the pen poised on the white board. 

A private-school teacher gives an online lesson to students receiving distance education, amid fears of a rising number of coronavirus disease (COVID-19) cases in Amman, Jordan October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed 

Who can resist an image that has bright orange and yellow flames reflected in a black pool of water with the additional focal point of a cloaked figure poised mid-step? Not me. A visual treat from Afolabi Sotunde that delights us with moment, colour and composition. The story behind this powerful image is not so delightful as we learn of energy waste and pollution. Read on here. 

A reflection of two gas flaring furnaces and a woman walking on sand barriers is seen in the pool of oil-smeared water at a flow station in Ughelli, Delta State, Nigeria September 17, 2020. REUTERS/Afolabi Sotunde

Bolts and padlocks add a literal sense to coronavirus (COVID-19) lockdown in Mohammed Salem’s thoughtfully shot picture of food being delivered. Timing is all important to get the figure at the centre of the smallest of gaps and it’s not an easy one to expose for either.   

A worker is seen through an opening in a school door as he carries a sack of flour distributed by UNRWA to be delivered to a Palestinian family amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Gaza City October 7, 2020. REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, June 12, 2020

Although the figures are kneeling, masked, socially distanced and some with heads bowed, there is no escaping the power and anger in the clenched fist that punches into the blue sky in Zohra Bensemra’s picture. To me this combination of order and anger is also echoed in the hand-written sign that spells out BLACK LIVES MATTER, the letters in capitals and alternatively coloured black and red. You can see more pictures from the global protests over the death of George Floyd here. 

Senegalese kneel during a Black Lives Matter gathering following the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis police custody, in Dakar, Senegal June 9, 2020. REUTERS/ Zohra Bensemra 

There is a brutality and starkness in Siphiwe Sibeko’s picture that is captured in full direct sunlight. We are left in no doubt what is going on. It’s tightly cropped and vertically composed, and we are more than a little horrified to see a rhino’s horn being lopped off with a power saw. The position of the hand and the horn make it look like a trophy being lifted by a winning team captain or maybe a victorious warrior lifting the severed head of his opponent. Although quite sad and another consequence of the coronavirus, it’s not as bad as it seems, so read on here. 

Workers dehorn a tranquillised rhino in an effort to deter poaching, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at the Pilanesberg Game Reserve in North West Province, South Africa, May 12, 2020. Picture taken May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko  

I love pictures that make you take time to look and think “what is going on here?” as much as pictures that hit you in the face with immediate impact. Both make you stop and look closer to understand, which to me is the power of news photography. Amir Cohen’s picture certainly makes you ask “what is going on here?” Why the apparent adoration from people wearing glowing headphones for a man, who is wearing a face mask while walking his dog down a street? In the background another man is wearing a flared all-in-one, orange, blue and yellow jump suit. Again, why?

A man wears a mask and walks his dog past people taking part in a silent disco event as some businesses reopened at the end of last month under a host of new rules, following weeks of shutdown amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) crisis, in Tel Aviv, Israel June 4, 2020. Picture taken June 4, 2020. REUTERS/Amir Cohen 

Muhammad Hamed’s picture is simple but very eye-catching, with rich, strong reds distorted by shimmering silver. We are given enough information through the distortion that this is a man wearing a mask cleaning, and because the water distortion fills the whole frame it feels like he is cleaning everything in the world.  

A worker cleans a window of a cafe before reopening it to the public for the first time since the start of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) restrictions in Amman, Jordan June 6, 2020. REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed 

I feel I am being looked at and judged by the child painted on the wall in Baz Ratner’s picture. My eye is drawn straight to that face and that fixed stare, a look of expectation that seems to be saying: “What are you going to do?” It’s only after I am visually released that I can come back out of the picture to notice the banners that read ‘Life is Priceless’ and then finally the demonstrators matching past.   

Protesters hold placards during a demonstration against police killings and brutality, in the Mathare slum in Nairobi, Kenya, June 8, 2020. REUTERS/Baz Ratner 

The structure and composition of Khaled Abdullah’s tightly cropped picture echo the crammed full cheek of the man chewing qat. Neither the image nor his cheek can fit in another morsel. Khaled’s tight frame inspired me to look to see what would happen if this was cropped even tighter as I am so interested in the focal point of the crammed full cheek. I think at the end of the day I prefer the original shape. Read on here. 

People chew qat, a mild stimulant, at a fruit market amid concerns of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sanaa, Yemen June 1, 2020. Picture taken June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah 

People chew qat, a mild stimulant, at a fruit market amid concerns of the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Sanaa, Yemen June 1, 2020. Picture taken June 1, 2020. REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah 

The strength of Amir Cohen’s picture is that I get an immediate narrative in my head, maybe actual or maybe just imagined? What indignity in the eye of this captured bird in picture! I feel I am being told, “Okay I will stop struggling now as you have got me but I don’t like it.” I Imagine it was quite a struggle because if you look close enough you can see the blood on the fingers. Once that is noticed the beak looks much sharper and that look in the eye now says “You better watch out when you do let go.” Read on here as this is quite a wonderful and affectionate story. 

A conservationist holds the head of a griffon vulture after it was temporarily captured as part of a national project to protect and increase the population of the protected bird in Israel, at a makeshift data-collecting station near Sde Boker in southern Israel October 29, 2019. Picture taken October 29, 2019. REUTERS/Amir Cohen

Siphiwe Sibeko has captured the joining hands in prayer, but not quite, as the faithful follow the social distancing guidelines while they attend Church in an open field. Bending down to shoot his picture, Siphiwe has given his picture the symbol of a cross created by outstretched arms against the clear blue sky. I also love the dynamic space created between the woman’s right hand and the hand that comes in from the right, nearly touching but not quite.

Congregants of the Inhlanhla Yokuphila Apostolic Church In Zion practice social distancing as they attend a church service at an open field, as South Africa loosens a nationwide lockdown aimed at limiting the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Soweto, South Africa, June 7, 2020. REUTERS/Siphiwe Sibeko 

  

   

A Week in Pictures, Middle East and Africa, May 1, 2020

No social distancing here as people crowd in to get free soup in Suhaib Salem’s picture. I get a sense of ripples on a still pond that has been disturbed by a single stone being thrown into it. The ladle is in the centre where the people are closest and the ripples form tight circles. As you look to the edges of the frame, the people are more widely spaced and the ripples get wider. Make sense? 

Palestinians gather to get soup offered for free during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, amid concerns about the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Gaza City, April 26, 2020.   REUTERS/Suhaib Salem 

Just a gentle and thoughtful image from Khaled Abdullah. Even though it is shot quite wide, giving you the feel of what it would be like to worship inside this crowded mosque, you are transfixed by the size of the Quran the man is reading.  

People recite the Quran at the grand Mosque amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), in Sanaa, Yemen April 26, 2020.    REUTERS/Khaled Abdullah 

  

Is the anger in Mohamed Azakir’s picture dissipated by the mask or does it add to the menace? At first glance it looks quite confrontational, the raised the hand, the leaning in eye contact and much gym activity apparent from the tattooed arm. But look closely at the eyes, are they not raising a question and almost pleading to make a point? Look too at the contact between the man and the soldier, although they are touching, it’s just fingers from the protester and just enough pressure from the soldier to keep to him away. Remove the mask and we would see his mouth, and probably get a completely different feel about this confrontation. Read on here. 

A Lebanese demonstrator gestures to a Lebanese soldier during a protest against the collapsing Lebanese pound currency and price hikes, in Zouk, north of Beirut, Lebanon April 27, 2020. REUTERS/Mohamed Azakir  

If you let your imagination run away with you, Zohra Bensemra seems to have captured a wonderful, mystical and many-limbed two-headed creature thrashing around in the sands of Senegal. Just sit back to take a moment and enjoy the shape, light, composition and action of this delightful feature picture.  Read on here.

Street children play soccer at a camp, which the Village Pilot NGO has set up to house and confine children in need of help amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in lac Rose, suburbs of Dakar, Senegal April 20, 2020.    REUTERS/Zohra Bensemra   

Lit by neon lights, Raneen Sawafta’s picture is quite striking in its glow. There is of course always a temptation to colour adjust from what we see to what we know. That aside, what I like most about Raneen’s image are the dark shadows of the figure set against the highlight in the background, the subtle tilt to the whole frame and the catchlight on the drum, drumstick and face mask.  

A Palestinian Musharati wearing a mask beats a drum to wake Muslims to have the predawn meal before they start their day-long fast during the holy month of Ramadan amid concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Nablus, in the Israeli occupied West Bank April 28, 2020.  REUTERS/Raneen Sawafta   

A small crop to Muhammad Hamed’s picture makes quite a shift in the focal point and the sense of the image. In the first image below the focus and importance of the image is about the moon alongside a mosque. In the second uncropped image the focal point is the King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque with a moon next to it. Which do you like best? 

A crescent moon is seen next to King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque during the holy fasting month of Ramadan as prayers by worshippers in the holy places are suspended due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Amman, Jordan April 26, 2020.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed  

A crescent moon is seen next to King Hussein Bin Talal Mosque during the holy fasting month of Ramadan as prayers by worshippers in the holy places are suspended due to concerns over the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in Amman, Jordan April 26, 2020.   REUTERS/Muhammad Hamed  

The joy on a child’s face when they see an enormous birthday cake and sparklers is universal and that joy is captured by Alaa al-Marjani. What is also captured is the cake decoration of a Dettol bottle, a coronavirus model, an icing face mask and is that a hint of a practical joker’s smile on the woman’s face? A birthday never to be forgotten, for sure.   

An Iraqi family celebrates their daughters birthday with a cake decorated with Dettol bottles, a face mask and a model of the coronavirus, during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) at a cake shop in the holy city of Najaf, Iraq April 24, 2020.   REUTERS/Alaa al-Marjani   

The glow of blue and white neon lights, orange and yellow flames and silhouetted figures set against strong black vertical and horizontal lines all make for a very eye-catching image. What gives Ali Hashisho’s picture the edge for me is the skulking figure on the righthand side of the image. He looks to me to be the most dangerous person in this scene. Read on here.

A demonstrator is seen next to a burning fire in front of a bank during a protest against economic hardship in Sidon, Lebanon, April 29, 2020.   REUTERS/Ali Hashisho 

Muhammad Hamed’s is a well-seen portrait of a man who obviously takes great pride in his appearance and who is determined to take care of himself by wearing a mask against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19). It is also a well-timed image because Muhammed has waited for the man to be in full light and exposed for the highlights so the background falls into shadow. Any background distraction would take your eyes away from the details of every hair in his beard and the neatness of his headdress.      

A man wears a protective face mask as he walks through the main market downtown after the government eased the restrictions on the movement aimed at containing the spread of coronavirus (COVID-19) in Amman, Jordan April 29, 2020.   REUTERS/Muhammed Hamed 

There’s a new hair fashion in town, ‘the coronavirus’. What is intended as a lighter and more upbeat picture by Thomas Mukoya has a slightly bitter-sweet feel to me. The intention is obvious, a hairdresser shapes women’s hair to represent the coronavirus for a little fun, and it works well – that is the sweet part. To show the hair from all sides the girl is photographed from behind; but her body language, as she looks out of the window, says to me that she longs to be able to go outside to run and play at any time like she used to. That’s the bitter part. I sense that Thomas spotted this thoughtful moment as the girl, who is experiencing daily lockdown and curfew, looked longingly out of the window, maybe thinking about the time when she could go out when she wanted. Maybe I am again letting my imagination get the better of me and she is just looking out of the window and Thomas decided to shoot her dark hair against the highlight of the window. But I doubt it as that would make no sense for this type of fun and controlled shoot. Either way it’s a great picture that got me thinking. Read on here.  

Stacy Ayuma, 8, is seen after plaiting with the "coronavirus" hairstyle, designed to emulate the prickly appearance of the virus under a microscope, as a fashion statement against the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Mama Brayo Beauty Salon within Kambi-Muru village of Kibera slums in Nairobi, Kenya April 29, 2020. REUTERS/Thomas Mukoya