"Anti-Qaddafi fighters arrested a Nigerian man they accused of being a Qaddafi loyalist in Mahruga, Libya"

http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/world/africa/2011-sept-libya-slide-show.html#51

This is a picture from September 17, 2011 of anti-Qaddafi fighters guarding a Nigerian man who they accused of being a Qaddafi loyalist. The photographer's purpose in putting the Nigerian man in the center of the photograph with his face in the light is to make him the focus of the photograph. The eyes are immediately drawn to his fear, eliciting sympathy from the viewer and creating a apprehensive and panicked mood, especially since the fighters seem to be determining what to do with him, possibly whether he will live or die. The photographer also took the picture from the Nigerian man's level instead of the fighters' level to connect the viewer with the Nigerian man. The Nigerian man's face is the only clear face in the picture since two of the anti-Qaddafi fighters' faces are cut off and the third is blocked by another's hand. By excluding the faces of the anti-Qaddafi fighters, the photographer prevents the viewer from forming a connection and sympathizing with their actions (many anti-Qaddafi fighters have been targeting black Africans as Qaddafi supporters, even though there is no evidence to support these claims) and takes away their individual identities, dehumanizing them into an oppressive barrier confining the Nigerian man. Their guns surround him showing that he is trapped, and the drab, gray wall behind him closes him in further, showing that there is little hope of escape. The exclusion of the fighters' faces also makes them anonymous, showing that due to the absence of a stable government, they could kill the man without fear of any repercussions, and if they were to kill him, it would be just one example of many murders in this area committed with impunity. The absence of their faces also signifies the anonymity of the anti-Qaddafi fighters on a larger scale. No one really knows who this group is, what type of government it will form, or how it will rule the country.