Saudi Gazette

This week we take a look at pictures that either broke the internet, got you emotional and checked you in with reality or just made a lasting impression. Pictures are worth a thousand words and sometimes, a lot more.

French archaeologists have discovered a “little Pompeii” — the remarkably well preserved remains of an entire district of an ancient Roman town south of Lyon.

Panorama by @babaktafreshi, The World at Night project. The picture shows the aurora storm over the iconic Kirkjufell (church mountain) in Iceland. “I will remember this night of March 2015 forever when the northern lights were roaring across the sky the entire night with rays and crowns and colors beyond the usual green, easily visible to eyes (though not as vivid recorded by the camera). I have photographed aurora in both hemispheres and chased it in many occasions, but so far this has been the most intense.”

Follow @babaktafreshi for more of the Earth & Sky stories.

Photo by @andrea_frazzetta // Volcano Erta Ale, Ethiopia. “A small settlement consisting of a few stone huts is the only outpost to the crater rim where you can spend the night.

In this image there is Binyam, my local guide, sleeping on the doorway of my stone hut.

I will remember forever this night. The vibrant ground at the edges of the volcano and the sound of the lava as a background. They brought me some of the most intense dreams I’ve ever done.”

Photo by @stevemccurryofficial

“This portrait will be in my new book, Afghanistan, published by @taschen coming out in September.”

Posted on @magnumphotos Instagram page: The Whirling Dervishes in the Divan Edebiyati Monastery and Museum. Istanbul, Turkey. 1996. © #IanBerry/#MagnumPhotos

A Palestinian child plays near their home at the al-Shati refugee camp in Gaza on July 31, 2017.

Photograph by @majdi_fathi—@nurphoto_agency/@sipausa Posted by @time

Photo by @rezaphotography

“Witnessing the private sorrow, Afghanistan.

The noise of war invades my mind. If I force myself to blot out all visual memories, if I compel myself to concentrate and listen to nothing but the sounds of war, then, like a blind man, I am submerged in an entirely different experience. The sounds buried in my memory are numerous: the rustling steps of combatants advancing quickly, the menacing drone of airplanes preparing to release their bombs, ear-shattering bombardments, rocket launchers, machine guns reloaded before a burst of gunfire, the bullets whizzing by, announcing that death is near, the heavy crunching sound of a slow, sad exodus through the snow

And the voices, the voices of war? They tear into your soul, leaving behind countless scars.

In the darkness of night, they recount the suffering of those we’ve met and whose stories we’ve heard: the cries of a hungry baby; the terse orders of a doctor trying to stave off death in his field hospital, the silence of a child who has witnessed the horrors of war, the desperate prayer of a woman who has lost everything...

I will never forgot that night in Dasht-e-Ghala it wasn’t loud. It was a murmur.

A moan evoking both the sorrowful plea and the soothing lullaby of a mother for her little one pierced the silent shadows.

In their humble home, the little sister was witnessing the heartbreaking scene.

The mother sat at the side of her son, holding him in her arms, gently caressing him.

Her only son, wounded in battle, had just breathed his last. He was only twenty years old. A few hours still lay ahead of them before their inevitable separation. All night long, she continued her plaintive monologue for him, just for him.”

Text written by Rachel Deghati

Published in “War + Peace” (National Geographic Publishing, 2007)

Photo by @yamashitaphoto

Sunset over the Whitney, New York City: red glass cubes, part of artist Larry Bell’s fifth-floor installation for the 2017 Whitney Biennial, is a study in refection and transparency.