The women of Iran – 120 years ago
Antoin Sevruguin, the father of Iranian society photography, captured portraits of Iranian women in the early 20th century, from well-known ladies at the court to women from various tribes around the country.
Click here to see the photographs.
Family bond: Two colourful sisters, hand in hand, pose for a photograph in Kabul, surrounded by trading locals
The Daily Mail, a British newspaper, has an online gallery of photographs taken in Afghanistan by Dr. Bill Podlich, who worked on a UNESCO project there in the 1960s. This was Afghanistan before the Taliban.
National Geographic sponsored a photography contest and here is one of the best. The caption reads: “A passerby walks around Ben Youssef Madrasa, an Islamic college in Marrakesh, Morocco.” Photos were submitted to the National Geographic Photography Contest by Takashi Nakagawa Takashi Nakagawa/2015 National Geographic Photography Contest
“Photography has brought us closer, it’s enabled us to find a common language.†Photo by Ilan Assayag
The reality exposed by Bedouin women armed with cameras
Mothers and daughters from unrecognized villages empowered through photography.
By Vered Lee, Haaretz,| May 13, 2015
Mahadia Abu-Joda, 53, a mother of 13 and resident of the unrecognized Bedouin village of Za’arura, cradles a red digital camera in her hand. “The first time in my life that I held a camera and prepared to take a picture, about a year and a half ago, I held it upside down and in the wrong direction,†she says through the hijab that conceals her hair and frames her face.
Abu-Joda’s photographs appear in one of the four recently published photography books that document life in four unrecognized Bedouin villages in the Negev from a feminine point of view: Za’arura, Atir, Wadi al-Na’am and Alsra. The books, which are accompanied by an exhibition on display at present at Multaka-Mifgash, a Jewish-Arab cultural center in Be’er Sheva, were produced by the Negev Coexistence Forum and created during a project operated by the organization Human Rights Defenders, in which about 30 Bedouin women from the unrecognized villages participated. Continue reading Bedouin Women with Cameras…
The Sana’a Suq (market) at night. Photo: Rod Waddington/Flickr Creative Commons
The ancient treasure of Sana’a in Yemen: One of the world’s most beautiful cities is being bombed
Luke Malpass, The Sydney Morning Herald, April 1, 2015
Inhabited continuously for more than 2500 years, and connected to the civilisations of the Bible and Koran, the old city of Sana’a in Yemen is an architectural and cultural jewel.
It is also under attack, with the possibility the UNESCO World Heritage site could suffer the same fate as Syria’s Aleppo, where fierce fighting has devastated its population and cultural treasures.
Australian photographer Rod Waddington, who visited Yemen in 2013, fears a tragedy: “It would be major; it’s like what ISIS is doing in Northern Iraq, destroying all of the sights.”
Following are a selection of images from Mr Waddington and UNESCO portraying a country he describes as one of the most photogenic in the world.
A girl in Sana’a. Photo: Rod Waddington/Flickr Creative Commons
Click here for more images of Sanaa
Time Magazine has a photographic essay on “Exploring the Mawlids of Egypt.”
The photograph illustrates Luce Ben Aben, Moorish women preparing couscous, Algiers, Algeria.
There is a trove of old photographs from around the Middle East at the website http://www.azerbaijanrugs.com/oldphotos/old-photographs-me.htm
Kurds in national costumes
Young girl of Bethlehem. This color photochrome print was made between 1890 and 1900.
Reuters has an interesting photo essay of recent bullfighting in the UAE.
Two bulls lock their horns during a bullfight in the eastern emirate of Fujairah October 17, 2014. There are no matadors or picadors, but bulls locking horns with each other draw big crowds to bullfights in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). An hour’s drive from the dancing water fountains of Dubai’s glitzy downtown, hundreds of fans gather in Fujairah to watch bulls fighting, or perhaps more accurately head butting, with honour rather than money at stake. The UAE sport involves two bulls locking horns in a three-to-four minute Sumo-wrestling-like fight that usually ends with no bloodshed. Picture taken October 17, 2014. REUTERS/Ahmed Jadallah
