The Image Makers section examines how a photo influences our view of reality. This week: How impressive a meeting seems is often a matter of perspective.
That looks dangerous, the bullet belt, an ornament of ammunition, that extends from the rifle on the shoulder of the Houthi fighter along his body to the knees. The belt around his waist presses a large traditional dagger to his stomach. Yes, the fighter of the people’s army in the Yemeni capital Sanaa is armed to the teeth. More fighters can be seen in the background, also with guns, but without a bloodthirsty dagger. It is therefore logical that this photogenic Houthi has attracted attention.
Arno Haijtema is editor of de Volkskrant. He writes about photography and the way in which news photos determine our worldview.
A few things stand out once the initial shock of the clash of arms during Wednesday’s mobilization campaign has passed. This is part of the offensive by the Iran-backed Houthis against Israel and its ‘accomplices’. Photographer Khaled Abdullah, who works for the international news agency Reuters, knelt while printing. That low point of view does something to the figure of the warrior, making him appear taller and more imposing than would be the case if the camera had been at eye level.
Because of that low perspective, the photographer deprives us of an overview of the group of men. The setting, due to their screen-filling presence, resembles that of a mass gathering. But that is mainly a suggestion: there is no photo of this meeting with a distance on which the true size could be determined by the viewer. All the photos Abdullah took here on Wednesday show the same visually limited reality. This gives rise to the suspicion that the mobilization campaign was the size of, say, a school class: by no means an indication of mass enthusiasm among Yemenis for the armed struggle.
They are all elderly men standing here, loosely, at attention. Tanned skin, some with a belly that indicates a well-fed life, sandals and slippers on their feet. Are these the men who should frighten the world, make oil tankers and container ships avoid the Red Sea and force them to sail around Africa? Which in turn are bombed by the Americans and British, with Dutch assistance? No, their sight will not make the world tremble. I suspect that the campaign meeting and the photos taken of it are mainly intended for the Houthis themselves: an encouragement to citizens to keep morale high. And proof that the struggle is fully supported by society.
Photographer Abdullah has a knack for pleasing those in power in Sanaa. Many more of the photographs he took in recent weeks of demonstrations and parades – his main subjects – have the frog’s perspective that creates giants, and the cramped frame that obscures the view of the larger (presumably limited) whole. They therefore resemble a mass scene in a feature film with too limited a budget for extras.
Only when a gathering is truly numerically impressive does Abdullah seem to use a high vantage point to fully visualize it. Such as a meeting on Tuesday of police officers and cadets in a packed mosque where Houthi leader Abdul-Malik al-Houthi gave a speech. Or a large demonstration against the United States in Sanaa on January 19.
It is not incomprehensible that Abdullah reports unilaterally from the territory of the Houthi rebels, especially in times of war. But it could be that the journalistic independence that Reuters strives for is somewhat compromised by the sympathy that Abdullah may feel for his fellow countrymen. We do not know to what extent he, under the control of the rebels, is free to show a broader perspective. But what is also possible: that, in the competitive battle that is also photojournalism, his pursuit of exciting images has gained the upper hand. He wouldn’t be the first journalist to have that happen to him.