Category Archives: Photography

On the loss of his grandfather

Jordan, Journalism and Media, Photography, Terrorism Issue


King Hussein with Queen Noor, 1985; Photograph by Carol Spencer Mitchell

[Webshaykh’s note: Carol Spencer Miller (1954-2004) worked as a photojournalist in the Middle East, covering the crises there for some of the major American and european journals and newspapers. She had access to the elites, including King Hussein and Yassir Arafat, as well as ordinary people. Although she died before publishing her reflections on this experience, her book has been edited by her sister as Danger Pay: Memoir of a Photojournalist in the Middle East, 1984-1994 and is now available as an intriguing first-person memoir of events that seem to recycle more than disappear from the news cycle. I provide here a second excerpt about her interview with King Hussein about the murder of his grandfather in which he himself was almost killed.]

On the Loss of His Grandfather

CS: What do you remember about the day your grandfather was assassinated?

KH: (He is silent for a moment,) You want me to go through the whole experience? I remember it very vividly … very vividly. (He is silent again.)

My grandfather was everything to me – a father, an example – who a few days before had asked me a strange question, which I’ve tried to live up to ever since. He asked me to ensure that his work was no lost and that I would continue to serve the Arab nation and this country as he had done. That particular day, I went with him to the city of Nablus because people insisted that we spend the day with them. We had the intention to go pray at the Al-Aqsa Mosque. I remember being in the uniform that he insisted I wear that morning. It was the only one that I had. I remember the meeting that he had in Jerusalem with certain Palestinians that fateful Friday. I remember him speaking about his relations with some of them. The fact that his differences with people were not always of a personal nature, but were matters of policy and approach. I remember him speaking of death and that he wished he would go while he was still in possession of his faculties and the best way in his view would be from a bullet from an unknown assailant. Continue reading On the loss of his grandfather →

Picturing the Displaced in Yemen

Huthis, Photography, Terrorism Issue, Yemen


A boy who fled fighting between militants and government forces in a refugee camp near the town of Hadja, north west Yemen. Photo by David Bebber, The Times

Photographer David Bebber has produced a superb slide show in The Times on Yemenis, especially children, displaced by recent fighting in the north of Yemen between government forces and the al-Huthi rebels. To see a slide show of the 19 images, click here.


Photo by David Bebber, The Times

Ramadan Around the Globe

Islamic Rituals, Photography


A vendor of headscarfs waits for customers in the 4th day of Ramadan at a market in Jakarta, Indonesia on August 25, 2009. (Adek Berry/AFP/Getty Images)

The Boston Globe published a series of excellent photographs of Muslims around the world as they prepared for Ramadan this year. There is a total of 39 photographs and these are well worth looking at. Click here to go to the website.

Monkeying Around in Old Aden

Aden, Animals, Photography, Yemen

Here is an old photograph entitled “Donkey Man with Trick Monkey,” taken in Aden during the days of the British protectorate. It is not just any kind of “monkey,” of course. Sitting on the donkey is Papio hamadryas, the baboon, usually called rubâh in Yemen. It appears, in deference to the British colonial presence, that the monk is wearing britches.

Where else would you find an Arab?

Animals, camels, Iraq, Photography

Here is a postcard from a century ago entitled “Arab on Camel … BAGDAD.” I guess for the postcard title writer, a camel rider outside the city of Baghdad might as well be down town. But one wonders why the title was even needed. Where else would the person receiving the postcard at the time have imagined an “Arab” would be?