A man enjoys a walk on top of the Mount Saentis (8209 feet above sea level) near Schwaegalp in the eastern Swiss Alps, October 15, 2009. REUTERS/Christian Hartmann

The statue of Nefertiti is pictured during a press preview at the ‘Neues Museum’ (New Museum) building in Berlin, October 15, 2009. REUTERS/Fabrizio Bensch

Dorothy De Low, 99, from Australia participates in table tennis practice at the World Masters Games at Sydney Olympic Park, October 15, 2009. REUTERS/World Masters Games/Craig Golding/Handout

Students use their notebooks and hands to cover their heads during nationwide earthquake drills at Paranaque National High School in Baclaran, Paranaque city, metro Manila October 14, 2009. REUTERS/Romeo Ranoco

Yang Yilin of China performs her routine on the beam during the qualifying round of the Gymnastics World Championships at the O2 Arena in London October 14, 2009. REUTERS/Jerry Lampen

Veterinarian Tzahi Eisenberg administers anesthetic shots to Ketty and Mizrahi, two adult chimpanzees, at a zoo in Petah Tikva near Tel Aviv October 14, 2009. REUTERS/Gil Cohen Magen

Fishermen use lanterns to attract fish in the evening in the town of Batticaloa, 320 km (199 miles) east of Colombo, October 14, 2009. REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

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A dairy cow sticks out its tongue in a cowshed in Hergolding near Munich October 13, 2009. EU agriculture ministers concluded an extraordinary meeting on the crisis in the dairy sector on October 5 but did not come out with any short-term decisions to help struggling milk farmers, leaving them disappointed. REUTERS/Michael Dalder

Feng Zhe of China competes on the parallel bars during the qualification round of the Gymnastics World Championships in London October 13, 2009. REUTERS/Toby Melville

A woman collects small pieces of granite in a quarry in the remote village of Thumbalai, 300km (186 miles) east of Colombo, October 13, 2009. REUTERS/Andrew Caballero-Reynolds

A woman carries a child as she walks past police involved in a firefight with gang members on the streets of Karachi’s Dalmia area October 13, 2009. Police raided the area after reports that criminals and gangsters were busy looting shops in the shanty neighborhood in Karachi, a Reuters journalist at the scene said.  REUTERS/Athar Hussain

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Military brass salute the Greek flag in front of the Parthenon temple during the ceremony for the annual anniversary of the liberation of Athens from Nazi occupation at the Acropolis hill in Athens October 12, 2009. REUTERS/John Kolesidis

Fans of singer Justin Bieber scream as he performs on NBC’s Today Show in New York, October 12, 2009. REUTERS/Shannon Stapleton

A Hamas supporter, playing the role of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, stands behind mock bars during a mock trial for Abbas in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip October 12, 2009, following his decision to postpone action on a U.N. report that criticized Israel’s offensive in Gaza. Abbas on Sunday defended his decision to back the deferral of a vote on a U.N. war crimes report, saying he wanted to secure broad support for the document. REUTERS/Ibraheem Abu Mustafa

Residents walk past a house toppled by a landslide on a road in Burgos, La Union, northern Philippines October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Frederick Lee

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Sailing boats gather at the start of the Barcolana regatta in front of Trieste harbour October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Stefano Rellandini

A child casts a shadow on an umbrella while playing in the centre of Russia’s Siberian city of Krasnoyarsk October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Ilya Naymushin

Los Angeles Angels Torii Hunter is jeered by Boston Red Sox fans as he strikes out during the eighth inning of their MLB American League Division Series playoff game in Boston October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Brian Snyder

A visitor attends the 50th annual October Art Salon in Belgrade October 11, 2009. REUTERS/Djordje Kojadinovic

A model presents a creation by Portuguese designer Lara Torres during the Lisbon Fashion Week in Cascais October 11, 2009. Reuters/Hugo Correia

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Palestinians take part in a Fatah rally in support of President Mahmoud Abbas in the West Bank city of Ramallah October 8, 2009.  REUTERS/Fadi Arouri

A man gets a haircut inside a barber shop hit by floods caused by Typhoon Ketsana, locally known as Ondoy, in the town of Taytay, in Rizal, east of Metro Manila October 8, 2009.  REUTERS/John Javellana

Colorado Rockies second baseman Clint Barmes (R) lands on the Philadelphia Phillies Pedro Feliz as he watches the completion of the double play at first base in the sixth inning of their MLB National League Division Series playoff game in Philadelphia, October 8, 2009.  REUTERS/Tim Shaffer

Two dyed donkeys stand at Marah Land zoo in Gaza City October 8, 2009. Two white donkeys dyed with black stripes delighted Palestinian kids at a small Gaza zoo on Thursday who had never seen a zebra in the flesh. A genuine zebra would have been too expensive to bring into Israel-blockaded Gaza via the smuggling tunnels under the border with Egypt, said zoo owner Mohammed Bargouthi.  REUTERS/Mohammed Salem

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A clown performs during “Slava’s Snowshow”, a stage show created and staged by Russian clown Slava Polunin, in Madrid October 7, 2009.  REUTERS/Juan Medina

A general view of the new PS20 solar plant which was inaugurated last month at “Solucar” solar park in Sanlucar La Mayor, near Seville, October 7, 2009. The solar thermal power plant uses mirrors to concentrate the sun’s rays onto towers where they produce steam to drive a turbine, producing electricity.   REUTERS/Marcelo del Pozo

A man points to a wall torn down by high winds from the third floor of a house in Tsuchiura City, Ibaraki Prefecture north of Tokyo October 8, 2009. Typhoon Melor barrelled into Japan’s main island on Thursday, disrupting flights and trains, closing some factories and tearing roofs off houses, but damage was much less than had been feared.  REUTERS/Kyodo

Women pray during the Hindu festival of Karva Chauth inside a temple in the northern Indian city of Chandigarh October 7, 2009.    REUTERS/Ajay Verma

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Japan's voters may have overwhelmingly rejected Prime Minister Taro Aso at the polls last week, but he and my camera got along just fine.

The 68-year-old makes vigorous gestures with his hands and strong facial expressions. His crooked smirk and his eyes that sometimes seem to be  popping out of his head always gave me a lot of interesting photo choices.

Now the photogenic Aso must pack his bags and hand over the prime ministerial house keys to Yukio  Hatoyama , the leader of the new ruling Democratic Party of Japan.

Hatoyama, once nicknamed "the alien" for his prominent eyes,  is -- visually at least -- less interesting except for his unruly locks that sometimes blow about in the wind.

The problem for me behind the viewfinder was that Hatoyama was expected  to win by a landslide while Aso was the visual winner.

Surrounded by fluttering Japanese national flags, Aso in shirtsleeves looked vigorous when campaigning and his smile was that of a  winner and his strong hand gestures displayed an eloquence which did not exist in his words.

But Hatoyama, who mostly wore dark suits, hid behind microphones and covered his mouth when speaking and  on the rare occasion he tried to convey strength and determination through his body language, he came off looking awkward and unnatural.

On election night, Hatoyama won a landslide but just smiled. The jubilation that might be expected from such a massive victory was hidden from sight. By contrast, the defeated Aso stepping into shadown after making a speech acknowledging defeat looks like the fallen hero in a movie.

I hope Aso gives Hatoyama some advice when he hands over those keys. Something like “Try using your hands when you give a speech” should do the trick.

Photo credits: REUTERS/Kim Kyung-Hoon (top), Issei Kato (middle), Toru Hanai (bottom)

Rick Wilking is a Reuters contract photojournalist based in Denver, Colorado who has been shooting for Reuters for almost 25 years based in Europe, Washington, D.C. and now in Colorado. Rick recently developed the idea of spending time documenting the lives of a Christian “Quiverfull” family who have 15 children due to their belief that all family planning is best left in the hands of God. Rick produced the following piece of multimedia video from his time spent with the Jeub family in Colorado and tells us about the experience below. -  Jim Bourg

I am convinced that the easiest part of my job is taking pictures. Coming up with story ideas, getting access and then producing the final results are MUCH tougher! That was very true with this story. I read about Christian Quiverfull-minded folks who closely follow and live by Christian scripture and biblical verses and decided to try to find one of these families to document. I begged my way into a Quiverfull forum on the web and was met there with much skepticism about letting me in. One family in Kansas said maybe and another back east said I could come by. But neither were enthused and I knew the travel budget was too tight for a trip that distant and long.

Then I found the Jeub family, only a 90 minute drive away from my home in Colorado. They too were tentative at first but let me in after seeing stories I had done recently in their area. My work documenting the headquarters of the “Focus on the Family” organization, portraying troops returning from Iraq at a nearby military base and covering “The Purity Ball”, a Christian father-daughter event all convinced them of my fairness and the integrity of my photojournalism. They said they prayed on it hard and were led to let me into their home to tell their story through pictures and sound.

Quiverfull, like any other belief system or philosophy, takes different forms. Believers generally view children as a gift from God and avoid all forms of birth control. To many, including the Jeubs, the movement means trusting God entirely to decide your family size by surrendering your life to God.

The Jeubs say that goes for their reproductive life too. “Wendy and I believe God wants us to trust Him in our family planning. The results are his to deal out. We’re more than fine by that. We are amazed (italics theirs) at how incredible the blessings have been…..We have 15 children, but why would we say that #16 wasn’t a blessing? Or #17? Or #18?”

Once I met the Jeubs it was really just about being a fly on the wall witnessing what goes on normally in their lives and their home. Chris told the attendees during a church service held in their home that one of the best things about a photographer is that they are invisible. He then proceeded to introduce me.

Producing the video after the fact took almost as much time as shooting the pictures and video did. I think it is worth it though because the power of the images is just enhanced with motion, music and narration by the people involved. This old dog just decided to learn some new tricks and record audio and embrace video technology in addition to shooting still photos late last year. I’ve been working for Reuters for almost 25 years but this is my first video project.

For photographers the saying used to be that you can’t go wrong with kids or dogs. The Jeubs had recently lost the family dog but kids they had in abundance. Thirteen kids are living at home; six are under the age of 6, there’s a set of twins, a 4 month old baby and a 17-year-old celebrating her birthday. We in the business say this is a “target-rich environment” for making photos. Everywhere you looked there was something happening. The trick was to pick and choose the moments to focus on, the same as with any other story. It’s the little fleeting moments that make the best pictures, every time. Seeing them when others don’t and then capturing them in a creative way is the secret to success as a documentary photographer.

Thanks to the Jeub family: Zechariah, Priscilla, Havilah, Joshua, Josiah, Hannah, Keilah, Tabitha, Noah, Micah, Isaiah, Lydia, Cynthia, father Chris and mother Wendy for letting me into their life briefly and ignoring me as much as possible while I was there!

Here’s my favorite still image from the 50 some pictures that went into the video project and the two long days I spent with the Jeub family. The action of three-year-old Havilah seemingly floating around on the trampoline, the light, the way her dress twirled up - all combine to tell a story. If only her sister hadn’t appeared dressed in red in the background of the picture it would have been perfect. I guess you just can’t have it all!

Reuters Boston Photographer Brian Snyder spent a very long and claustrophobic day in the tiny dark hotel suite where a homeless nurse, Tarya Seagraves-Quee, and three of her four children have been living in Massachusetts for nearly two months.

A record number of families are now being put up in motels due to high unemployment and the rising number of homes going into foreclosure, costing taxpayers $2 million per month but providing a lifeline for desperate families.

Seagraves-Quee has found refuge in a motel after losing her job in Georgia more than a year ago and going without health-care for about 10 months. She suffers from multiple sclerosis, Aspergers syndrome, anemia and lupus, and now is scared she may have cancer. Two of her children, aged 16 and 6, are autistic. After losing her job, and facing repeated physical abuse from a boyfriend, she spent $700 - almost all her savings — on airline tickets for her family to stay with relatives in Boston.

Being homeless has actually helped Seagraves-Quee get the healthcare she needs.  Everyday she makes phone calls for and fills out applications for public housing in an effort to get out of the shelter/motel.  Some of the towns in the area she contacted are simply not taking any new applicants; in others, the ”wait list” for housing is 10 or even 40 years.

Brian’s audio slideshow on the life of the Tarya Seagraves-Quee and her family follows. It is narrated by Seagraves-Quee, who is also a gospel singer: