Photographers Blog

A young Buddhist monk holds a pair of sunglasses during a teaching session by spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, in Tawang, in the northeastern Indian state of Arunchal Pradesh November 10, 2009. The Dalai Lama arrived by helicopter in this remote Buddhist enclave nestled in the icy folds of the eastern Himalayas on Sunday. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

Remains of a swimming pool are seen where a hotel stood before Hurricane Katrina struck at the Gulf Coast in Gulfport, Mississippi November 9, 2009. REUTERS/Carlos Barria

The coffins of six British soldiers killed in Afghanistan are driven though the streets of Wootton Bassett in southwest England November 10, 2009. Six British servicemen were flown home on Tuesday — five of whom were shot by a rogue Afghan policeman. REUTERS/Suzanne Plunkett

A child walks inside a mosque at Teluk Meranti village in Pelalawan, Indonesia’s Riau province,  November 10, 2009. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Police officers escort Tatsuya Ichihashi upon his arrival at Tokyo station November 10, 2009. The Japanese suspect in the death of a young British woman found naked in a sand-filled bathtub has been caught after more than two years on the run during which he had plastic surgery, Japanese media reported on Tuesday. Ichihashi, 30, had been sought in connection with the death of Lindsay Ann Hawker, a 22-year-old English teacher from Brandon, near Coventry, after her body was found on the balcony of his apartment in Ichikawa, east of Tokyo, in March 2007. REUTERS/Kyodo

James Bowers, dressed as Uncle Sam, asks people if they can “spare a trillion”, as they walk past him outside the front of Federal Hall, near the New York Stock Exchange, October 28, 2009. REUTERS/Chip East

Fire fighters extinguish fire while people survey at the site of bomb explosion, in Peshawar located in Pakistan’s restive North West Frontier Province, October 28, 2009. REUTERS/K.Parvez

A migrant worker looks on from behind a glass door as she waits for her documents to be processed after arriving from Malaysia, at a special terminal for migrant workers in the Soekarno-Hatta airport in Jakarta, October 28, 2009. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Click here for the full Editor’s choice slideshow and click here for further showcases of Reuters photography.

Photographer Beawiharta gives us an intimate look at a cremation ceremony for three members of the royal family of Ubud, on Indonesia’s island of Bali.

For most press photographers standing in the rain is an occupational hazard; even so the equipment we use does not operate well when wet. Imagine then the challenges faced by news photographers when torrential rain floods a nations capital city, leaving more than 340,000 people displaced and knocking out transport and communications.

After 24 hours of continual downpour, Reuters Jakarta photographer Beawiharta was shooting pictures of happy children playing in flooded paddy fields. Two days later with the water still rising Chief Photographer Indonesia Enny Nuraheni was literally up to her neck in it, photographing the evacuation of beleaguered residents from lower lying areas of the city.

I was paddling through flood water on a borrowed air mattress which residents usually use to sleep on. Getting access to the areas of deeper water using my temporary raft I was able to shoot the pictures of rescuers putting the boy in a plastic container as they fled, neck deep in flooded streets. We had to continually take care and rely on local knowledge as we couldnt determine what was a flooded river and what was a tunnel which could sweep us under the flood waters.