Ben Curtis is an award-winning photographer for the Associated Press known for his coverage of conflicts across Africa and the Middle East. He has covered stories in numerous countries including elections in Iran and the Athens Olympics. Curtis holds both U.S. and British citizenship and has worked for AP since 2003, currently serving as their chief photographer for East Africa.

1. The boy asked the photographer to take pictures of him with a fake "precious" stones

2. Ben Curtis has covered stories across the Middle East and Africa, including
conflicts in Gaza, Lebanon, Kenya, Liberia and Iraq. He also covered Iran's
elections in 2009 and the Athens Olympics. More recently he has been
working on the political upheavals in Egypt and Libya. Curtis is currently
AP’s chief photographer for East Africa
His photographs have won a number of awards, including a World Press
Photo award in 2005 for his coverage of Togolese postelection violence.
A dual U.S. and British citizen, Curtis began his AP career in 2003 as a
photographer in Dakar, Senegal, covering 23 countries. In 2005 he moved
to Cairo as Middle East photo editor with responsibility for AP's photo
coverage across the region.
Before joining AP, Curtis worked for the U.K. Press Association for six years
in Scotland and London. Curtis holds a law degree from Sheffield University
and a postgraduate photojournalism diploma from Stradbroke College,
both in England. (AP)

3. A young girl runs past pro-peace graffiti written during the post-election violence of the previous election in 2007 and a poster of presidential candidate Raila
Odinga, center-right, in the Kibera slum of Nairobi, Kenya Wednesday, March 6, 2013.

4. A Guinea fan in costume before the African Nations Cup Group C soccer match between Zambia and Guinea at the Border Guard Stadium in Alexandria,
Egypt, Thursday, Jan. 26, 2006.

6. A Kenyan man sits in the cab of a
destroyed truck used as a makeshift
roadblock while a tyre burns on the roof,
as he and others enforce the roadblock,
during post-election violence in Kisumu,
Kenya, Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2008. The
International Criminal Court's chief
prosecutor dropped all crimes against
humanity charges against Kenya's
president Uhuru Kenyatta on Friday, Dec.
5, 2014 highlighting the court's problems
in bringing to justice the high-ranking
officials it has accused of atrocities.

7. A Chadian soldier wearing reflective sunglasses observes the convoy ahead of him, as Chadian soldiers who are fighting in support of Central African Republic
president Francois Bozize, ride on the road leading to Damara, about 70km (44 miles) north of the capital Bangui, Central African Republic Wednesday, Jan. 2,
2013.

8. A Somali schoolgirl sits at her desk during a lesson in the town of Dhobley, currently under control by Kenyan military and Somali government forces, in
Somalia Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012. Kenya's military has been fighting inside Somalia in an ongoing offensive against militant group al-Shabab since October,
when Somali gunmen carried out several kidnappings in Kenya.

9. An opposition supporter shields his face from the flames of a burning makeshift roadblock in the village of Marura, near Eldoret, Kenya, Friday, Jan. 18, 2008.

10. Palestinian men, reflected in a broken mirror, look at the damage in a bedroom of their house, which was occupied by Israeli soldiers during the conflict, in
Mughraka, central Gaza strip, Wednesday, Jan. 21, 2009.

11. One of the few to have a mosquito net, a displaced family who fled the recent fighting between government and rebel forces in Bor by boat across the White
Nile, sit under it after waking up in the morning in the town of Awerial, South Sudan, Thursday, Jan. 2, 2014.

12. U.S. President Barack Obama shakes the hands of a line of women stationed to welcome his arrival at State House in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania Monday, July 1,
2013. Teeming crowds and blaring horns welcomed President Barack Obama to Tanzania's largest city, where the U.S. president's likeness is everywhere as he
arrived on the last leg of his three-country tour of the African continent

13. Young Palestinian girls giggle as they are photographed in front of a house at sunset near where a shell fired from an Israeli gunboat landed earlier Thursday,
Jan. 22, 2009, according to local residents, in the Shati refugee camp in Gaza City, in the Gaza strip.

14. A supporter of main challenger and reformist candidate Mir Hossein Mousavi, not wanting to be photographed, hides her face using a poster of him as she
waits in the stands at an election rally at the Heidarnia stadium in Tehran, Iran, Tuesday, June 9, 2009.

15. An armed resident gestures a victory sign in the main square in Zawiya, 30 miles (50 kilometers) west of Tripoli, in Libya, Sunday, Feb. 27, 2011

16. Remembering Nelson Mandela

17. Young schoolboys walk home at the end of the school day.

18. A Libyan rebel fighter smokes a cigarette next to an improvised multiple rocket launcher in the back of a pickup truck, as the rebels prepare to make an
advance, in the desert on the outskirts of Ajdabiya, Libya, on Thursday, April 14, 2011

19. In this photo taken during a government-organised visit for foreign media, a pro-Gadhafi fighter makes his evening prayers in the desert as a plume of smoke
rises from the burning oil refinery in Ras Lanouf, 380 miles (615 kilometers) southeast of the capital Tripoli, in Libya Saturday, March 12, 2011.

20. A rebel fighter holds a rocket propelled grenade launcher, near the front line in Brega, Libya Monday, April 4, 2011

21. Seen through the ruins of a building damaged during a previous conflict, Kenyan army soldiers patrol in Tabda, inside Somalia, Monday, Feb. 20, 2012.

22. Evacuees wait on a bus and look back at others still disembarking, after nearly 1,200 migrant workers who were evacuated from Misrata by boat, many
suffering from dehydration and needing medical attention, arrived at the port in Benghazi, Libya, Friday, April 15, 2011.

23. An Ultra-Orthodox Jew makes a derogatory gesture to media and police, due to them working on a Saturday covering and policing the protest, at a
demonstration against a municipal parking lot that is open on the Jewish Sabbath, in Jerusalem Saturday, July 16, 2011.

24. Demonstrators show the message "Let Live" on the palms of their hands as they take part in the "Global March for Elephants and Rhinos" to raise awareness
for their plight, in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014.

26. Rwandan children listen and pray during a Sunday morning service at the Saint-Famille Catholic church, the scene of many killings during the 1994 genocide,
in the capital Kigali, Rwanda Sunday, April 6, 2014.

27. A baby orphaned elephant,in Nairobi, Kenya, June 5, 2013.

28. A baby orphaned elephant,in Nairobi, Kenya, June 5, 2013.

29. Young demonstrators sit with a placard as they prepare to take part in the “Global March for Elephants and Rhinos” in Nairobi, Kenya Saturday, Oct. 4, 2014.

30. A Maasai warrior wears his hair in the traditional style.

31. A Maasai girl leans against a kiosk in her village near Kajiado, in southern Kenya.

32. A Maasai warrior holds up his stick to line his sight, right, as he prepares to throw a Rungu, a type of wooden throwing club also known as a knobkerry, left, in
a throwing competition at the annual Maasai Olympics in the Sidai Oleng Wildlife Sanctuary near to Mt Kilimanjaro, in southernKenya I,2014.

33. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis)

34. Children attend a school class at the Nyumbani Children's Home for children with HIV, in Karen on the outskirts of Nairobi, Kenya, Wednesday, Nov. 30, 2011

35. Kenyan army soldier Nicholas Munyanya, wearing a helmet on which is written in Kiswahili "Tea in Kismayo", referring to a key strategic Somali town under
the control of al-Shabab, checks his ammunition belt near the town of Dhobley, currently under control by Kenyan military and Somali government forces, in
Somalia Tuesday, Feb. 21, 2012.

36. A commuter, seen reflected in the glass of a pub window covered in British flags, walks to work ahead of the 2012 Summer Olympics, Monday, July 23, 2012,
in London.

38. Maria Sharapova of Russia serves to Angelique Kerber of Germany during their women's singles match at the All England Lawn Tennis Championships in
Wimbledon, London, Tuesday, July 1, 2014

39. A troupe of traditional dancers in the street entertain mourners who have come to pay their respects at Nelson Mandela's old house, in Soweto,
Johannesburg, South Africa Saturday, Dec. 7, 2013.

40. A mourner wearing a banner as a skirt showing the face of South African President Jacob Zuma observes the scene from a hilltop overlooking the burial site of
Nelson Mandela in Qunu, South Africa Sunday, Dec. 15, 2013.

41. In this photo taken Tuesday, Dec. 2, 2014, female northern white rhino Fatu grazes in the Ol Pejeta Conservancy in Kenya. The keepers of three of the last six
northern white rhinos on Earth said Wednesday, Dec. 10, 2014 that it is highly unlikely the three will ever reproduce naturally, with recent medical
examinations of them showing the species is doomed to extinction, unless science can help

42. A local Maasai tribesman places his hand on the tusk of a tranquilized wild elephant during an anti-poaching elephant-collaring operation near Kajiado, in
southern Kenya, Tuesday, Dec. 3, 2013.

43. A pirogue packed with passengers arrives at a dock after crossing a waterway near the town of Malakal, the capital of Upper Nile State, seen from an airplane
over South Sudan.

44. A young schoolboy makes handstands during break in the yard of the Hot Courses Primary School, in the village of Nyumbani which caters to children who lost
their parents to HIV, and grandparents who lost their children to HIV, with the bookend generations taking care of one another, in Kenya, Wednesday, Nov.
21, 2012

45. A supporter wearing a hat covered with stickers cheers at a final African National Congress (ANC) election rally in the Soweto township of Johannesburg,
South Africa Sunday May 4, 2014.

47. South Africans protest in solidarity against the abduction three weeks ago of hundreds of schoolgirls in Nigeria by the Muslim extremist group Boko Haram
and what protesters said was the failure of the Nigerian government and international community to rescue them, during a march to the Nigerian Consulate
in Johannesburg, South Africa Thursday, May 8, 2014.

48. Remember the social media campaign #BringBackOurGirls? It was meant to draw attention to the kidnapping of 276 Nigerian girls, who were taken from their
school in April by Boko Haram, an Islamic militant group based in northern Nigeria.

50. Recycled rubber sandals and turned into toys

52. Young Girl Honors Father Killed in Nairobi Mall Attack on Anniversary

53. Rwandan children wait for a torch ceremony where hundreds gathered for the arrival of a small flame of remembrance and to hear genocide memories, at
the Petit Seminaire school in Ndera, east of the capital Kigali, in Rwanda Thursday, April 3, 2014

54. Family photographs of some of those who died hang in a display in the Kigali Genocide Memorial Centre in Kigali, Rwanda Saturday, April 5, 2014. The country
will commemorate on April 7, 2014 the 20th anniversary of the genocide when ethnic Hutu extremists killed neighbors, friends and family during a three-
month rampage of violence aimed at ethnic Tutsis and some moderate Hutus, leaving a death toll that Rwanda puts at 1,000,050.

56. Miriam, 6, is helped by a relative as she prepares to lay a bouquet of flowers for Christopher Chewa who was killed in the Westgate Mall attack, the father of
her cousin Gloria, 4, as she and other families of the victims lay flowers and remember at the Amani Garden memorial site in the Karura Forest in Nairobi,
Kenya Sunday, Sept. 21, 2014.

57. Mourning Mandela