Kevin Frayer / AP

An Indian boy in school uniform waits for a rickshaw driver to make an adjustment on a cool morning in New Delhi, India, early Friday, Dec. 16. The rickshaw is a common mode of transport in many Indian cities.

Kevin Frayer / AP

An Indian sits in a rented quilt after waking up on a cool morning in New Delhi, India, early Friday, Dec. 16.

By Kevin Frayer, Associated Press:

Old Delhi offers a window on India – the contrasts, the smells, the rituals. The wonderful thing about getting lost in its streets in the early morning is that you can watch this big colorful city slowly wake up and come alive. From a busy produce market to the idle conversations of rickshaw wallahs waiting for a fare, to a homeless person peering from under a rented blanket, Delhi is a vibrant and often bewildering place that’s full of extremes. It draws you in and won't let you go.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Homeless people rest wrapped in rented quilts on rented cots near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Dec. 14. India's Supreme Court has directed state governments to build adequate number of night shelters to ensure that no homeless person has to sleep under the open sky this winter, according to news reports. Though India is famous for its brutally hot summers, temperatures fall sharply for a few weeks in December and January. Poor people, particularly those living on the streets, are the worst hit with dozens dying each winter.

Kevin Frayer / AP

An Indian boy washes himself at the Mena Bazar on a cool morning in New Delhi, India, early Dec. 16.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indian laborers warm themselves by a fire on a cool morning in New Delhi, India, early, Dec. 16.

Kevin Frayer / AP

An Indian barber shaves a customer on a cool morning in New Delhi, India, Dec. 16.

Kevin Frayer / AP

An Indian laborer carries a sack of vegetables to market in New Delhi, India, Dec. 15. India's inflation inched down to a one-year low of 9.1 percent in November, government data showed Wednesday. Falling food prices helped lower inflation in November, but a plunging rupee is driving up the cost of fuel and manufactured goods, the government data showed.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indians buy and sell vegetables at a market in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 15.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indians gather at a local tea stall on a cool morning in New Delhi, India, Dec. 16.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indian Muslim youths read the Quran, Islam's holy book, on a cool morning near Jama Masjid in New Delhi, India, Dec. 16.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indian men stand in the sidewalk as a stray dog sits against a closed storefront in New Delhi, India, Thursday, Dec. 15.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Indian students try to push-start a friend's scooter on a street in New Delhi, India, Dec. 16.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Homeless people sit huddled smoking heroin on a cold morning near the Jama Masjid mosque in New Delhi, India, Wednesday, Dec. 14.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Workers in protective suits gather near their lockers inside the emergency operation center at the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima prefecture, Nov. 12. Members of the media were allowed into the plant on Saturday for the first time since the March 11 tsunami and earthquake triggered the world's worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl.

Photographer David Guttenfelder writes:

Today was a very rare chance to see inside the grounds of Fukushima's Dai-ichi nuclear power plant. It was the first time that the media was allowed access to the site since March, when the earthquake and tsunami triggered explosions and the reactors began to melt down.

A group of about 50 or more journalists was allowed to go in Saturday. I was the only non-Japanese photographer. We had to put on white haz-mat protective suits, two pairs of gloves, double layers of thick white plastic booties over our shoes, a head cover and a full respirator mask. Officials covered my cameras with plastic bags. I wasn't going to be able to change the settings on my cameras, change the batteries and memory cards, or switch lenses once the bags were sealed shut.

We boarded two buses and drove past a police checkpoint and into the "exclusion zone"— a 20-kilometer-radius contaminated no-man's land surrounding the destroyed power plant. Everything looks like a ghost town inside the zone. Earthquake rubble still lies in piles. Vending machines sit idle. We saw a pachinko pinball parlor with its front wall caved in. Overgrown weeds and creeping grasses have begun to reclaim abandoned parking lots and sidewalks. Stray cows, dogs and cats still wandered around and crows picked through garbage. The radiation meters showed between 1 and 7 microsieverts here.

Guards in protective suits checked our buses and waved us through the gate of Dai-ichi. Almost immediately I could see the stacks and ravaged exterior of one of the units. From a distance we stopped the bus and photographed the plant. Japanese TV correspondents did their "stand-ups" wearing the full spacesuits from inside the bus. Then we drove remarkably close to the reactors.

The buses moved along a narrow street tightly squeezed between the outer wall of the building units and the sea. We were only about 20 yards from the plant wall. The place is devastated. Walls are sheared away. Overturned vehicles and twisted steel beams lie upside down in huge earthquake craters. Abandoned pump trucks, used in early efforts to cool the site, sit idle. Dozens of hoses snake across the ground and through open doors or ruptures in the walls. Everywhere, there are pools of water. Elsewhere on the grounds there were dozens of busy workers. But next to the reactors, there are no signs of life. The radiation meters showed 300 microsieverts even inside the bus.

It wasn't that easy to photogaph. We were not allowed to get out of the bus which kept moving. We probably had about 3 minutes in total to shoot while the bus rolled past, close to the plant. In fact, we were so close to the plant that my widest lens could only make a full frame of nothing but twisted debris.

We also visited an emergency operation center near the reactors. I think this place was actually more interesting than seeing the damaged reactor itself because it was here that I found the people. Inside was a giant planning room. On the walls were monitors showing live video feeds on flat screen TVs. Men in white suits and masks typed on computers and added figures on desk calculators. Workers rested on the floor against their lockers. Everyone looked a bit weary to me. 

I think everyone is wondering, "Who are these people who go to the plant each day to make a living and, on behalf of the country, to battle the worst nuclear disaster since Chernobyl?"  

Read more here.

David Guttenfelder / AP

The crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station is seen through a bus window in Okuma on Nov. 12. Japan took a group of journalists inside the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant for the first time, stepping up its efforts to prove to the world it is on top of the disaster.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Officials from the Tokyo Electric Power Co. and Japanese journalists pass by a newly built sea barricade next to the crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station in Okuma, Japan, Nov. 12. Media allowed into Japan's tsunami-damaged nuclear power plant for the first time Saturday saw a striking scene of devastation: twisted and overturned vehicles, crumbling reactor buildings and piles of rubble virtually untouched since the wave struck more than eight months ago.

David Guttenfelder / AP

The crippled Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power station is seen through a bus window in Okuma, Japan, Nov. 12.

David Guttenfelder / AP

A deserted street inside the contaminated exclusion zone around the crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant is seen from bus windows in Fukushima prefecture, Nov. 12. Conditions at Japan's wrecked Fukushima nuclear power plant, devastated by a tsunami in March, were slowly improving to the point where a "cold shutdown" would be possible as planned, officials said on Saturday during a tour of the facility.

David Guttenfelder / AP

A worker carries his belongings as he walks among the temporary housing structures erected for workers at J-Village, a soccer training complex now serving as an operation base for those battling Japan's nuclear disaster, near Tokyo Electric Power Co. (TEPCO)'s tsunami-crippled Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant in Fukushima prefecture Nov. 11, eight months after the disaster.

David Guttenfelder / AP

A man dresses in a room where workers leave their clothing before putting on protective suits at J-Village, Nov. 11. Japan's lower house approved a 156 billion USD draft budget to finance post quake reconstruction and boost an economy hit by slow global growth and a strong yen.

David Guttenfelder / AP

A worker, left, steps from a radiation screening machine after removing and discarding his protective suit as he arrives at J-Village, Nov. 11.

David Guttenfelder / AP

Men sort and clean protective masks at J-Village, Nov. 11.

David Guttenfelder / AP

An employee of Tokyo Electric Power Co. looks at piles of used protective clothing that was worn by workers inside the contaminated "exclusion zone," and later will be placed inside containers at J-Village.

Rodrigo Abd, Associated Press writes:
When I was taking pictures for AP in Afghanistan in 2006, I noticed a lot of street photographers shooting with vintage box cameras of a style that was used in the 19^th century. At the time, modern cameras were expensive and difficult to find in Kabul, so many people stuck with century-old technology.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Left: Mayan Queen Matilde Evelyn Ivonne Tzunec Bixcul, 19, representing Solola, in Guatemala's Solola state.

Right: Mayan Queen Maria Magdalena Lucas Lopez, 21, representing San Pedro Soloma, Huehuetenango.

I decided to buy one and the locals showed me how to use it, producing an unmistakably old-timey image — think Hipstamatic, but maybe not so hip, and far from automatic.

Ever since, I’ve been looking for a chance to use the camera on an AP assignment. The opportunity arose last month when I covered the National Indigenous Queen of Guatemala contest in Coban, Guatemala.

Women in the contest wore traditional dress and competed to best represent Mayan culture. One by one, the women sat in front of a black backdrop while I took their portraits, making exposures directly on photo paper inside the box camera. Each had to sit for two minutes while I made the picture.

Rodrigo Abd / AP

Left: Mayan Queen Veronica Leticia Mejia Baten, 15, representing San Pedro Jocopilas, in Guatemala's Quiche state.

Right: Mayan Queen Heidi Sofia Chitop Grave, 15, representing San Miguel Uspantan, in Guatemala's Quiche state.

When I talked to these women, they said they’re competing in this contest to show that Mayan women have a voice and can represent their communities, while also preserving the traditional values of their culture.

I guess I was also preserving something, in a way, with my choice of equipment — which was suddenly hard to find on Kabul’s streets when I returned last year, thanks to the arrival of cheap, point-and-shoot cameras.

Jesus Cuque Lopez / AP

Associated Press photographer Rodrigo Abd manipulates a 19th-century style wooden box camera as he photographs a participant of the Rabin Ajau National Folkloric Festival in Guatemala City.

Musadeq Sadeq / AP

A file image of an Afghan street photographer taking a portrait of a customer with a wooden box camera in Kabul, Afghanistan, on March 24, 2010.

More coverage of this technique

Veteran photojournalist Spencer Platt just returned from Iraq and took time to share images and his perspectives with us. Platt has been covering Iraq since the American-led invasion in 2003. His understanding and compassion for the people he photographs is apparent by looking at his work.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Samera Kamal, 10, participates in a class with other young victims of Iraq violence at a program operated by Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) on July 28, in Amman, Jordan. Samera, who is from the Iraqi city of Fallujah, was severely burned following a car bomb when she was walking to the market. MSF has been running a reconstructive-surgery program for war-wounded Iraqis since August 2006. The program, which helps Iraqis irrespective of age or ethnic/religious background, has thus far attended to roughly 1,500 cases. MSF was forced to pull out of Iraq in 2004 due to the escalating violence in the country. Following the years of violence in the country, the state of medical care in Iraq is poor. There is a chronic shortage of doctors and nurses and much of the country's hospitals are using outdated and damaged equipment.

JW: What significance does photographing a story like this have for you as someone who has seen firsthand the events play out in Iraq over time?

SP: I have been covering Iraq since the American led invasion in 2003 so there are many memories and strong feelings associated with the country for me. I tend to see Iraq through the kaleidoscope of sadness and violence that I have witnessed over the years and it is sometimes hard for me to see the beauty that is present if you only look for it. It is a difficult and complex country and as a photojournalist,  you need to be brutally honest about what you are seeing. And with all you are witnessing, the photographer must recognize what [story] demands to be covered and viewed by a Western media audience that has preconceived ideas about Iraq.

In many ways the photojournalist is a window into Iraq for millions of news consumers who will never set foot in the country; for me that is a huge responsibility to get the story right and to keep it balanced. My primary concern is to keep Iraq in the news, to not let the world forget about it or the millions of Iraqis whose lives have been altered by American foreign policy.

I think we as Americans have a responsibility to keep informed about the country and start on the path of a new relationship, a post-war relationship with the Iraqi people. What I can say from my experience on this last trip is that Iraqis have a general fondness for America and Americans. While it would be naive to say they have gotten over the war I can say that many are ready to forge ahead and open a new chapter in their country`s history.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Makki Ali, 58, participates in physical therapy at a program for victims of Iraq violence, on July 28. Ali was injured in Baghdad in a truck bombing near an American base.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Khaled Hashem, 35, participates in physical therapy at the Red Crescent Hospital for victims of Iraq violence, on July 28, in Amman, Jordan. Hashem was shot in the thigh after American soldiers fired randomly in a street during an attack in 2007.

JW: How did you find the story?

SP: I have had a good relationship with the NGO, Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), for over a decade now. It is a relationship that is unique in the sense that they appreciate the exposure that a media organization like Getty Images can bring to an issue and I profit from the access they provide me on some of their projects.

My friend, Michael Goldfarb, who works in the MSF New York office, knew that I was in Iraq and suggested I visit their reconstructive surgery project on my way out of Iraq. It had been something we had discussed years ago, so I was happy that it could finally work out. I think it was a good counterbalance to some of the other issues I covered in Iraq in that it gave a personal narrative to the violence and emphasized that. With all the talk of a military draw down, for many Iraqis the legacy of the war will be forever present.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Falah Hindi participates in physical therapy at a program for victims of Iraq violence, where Doctors Without Borders/Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) operates a reconstructive-surgery clinic, on July 28. Hindi injured his leg in a car bombing in Baghdad.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

The hands of Khitam Hamad, 12, bear scars as she participates in a class with other young victims of Iraq violence on July 28. Khitam, who is from the Iraqi city of Fallujah, was severally burned following a car bomb when she was walking with her sister.

JW: Out of the images you took, which stands out or resonates with you above the others?

While it was emotionally difficult to shoot some of the pictures, I would continually remind myself that this doesn’t need to be a depressing story. As a photojournalist, I think we have to always offer our viewers a little bit of hope, a ray of light. The image of the young girl Sonor Darweesh encapsulates this idea for me. While her face is severely disfigured due to a car bomb, she seems to have transcended these wounds in that her personality is that of a curious and shy seven year old girl. She looked right at me and gave me a smile, a smile that serves as a rejection of the values and ideas that fuel the hatred of extremists.

Spencer Platt / Getty Images

Sonor Darweesh, 7, of Kirkuk, Iraq smiles while participating in a class with other young victims of Iraq violence, on July 28. Darweesh was injured in an explosion which killed her sister.

Check back for more of Platt's and other photographers' dispatches from around the globe, or get a feel for what it's like to be behind the lens here.

The AP reports from BELFAST, Northern Ireland:

A British news photographer was shot in the leg as hundreds of masked youths hurled bricks, bottles and gasoline bombs during a second night of sectarian violence at a Catholic-Protestant flashpoint in Belfast.

The Press Association agency said Wednesday that the photographer suffered a leg injury and was in stable condition at Royal Victoria Hospital. The agency did not release the name of the photographer. Continue reading.

Peter Morrison / AP

Loyalist rioters attack a police vehicle in East Belfast, Northern Ireland, on June 21. Northern Ireland police faced a second night of attacks from rioters in east Belfast Tuesday, where sectarian rioting saw two people shot and homes attacked with gasoline bombs the previous night.

Peter Morrison / AP

Loyalist rioters throw molotov cocktails towards the mainly Catholic Short Strand area of East Belfast on June 21.

Peter Morrison / AP

A police officer looks on as a molotov cocktail lands in East Belfast in the early hours of June 22.

Peter Morrison / AP

A police officer puts a bandage on a press photographer's leg after he was shot by a rioter in East Belfast in the early hours of June 22.

Update, 12.10 PM ET: AP photographer Peter Morrison describes the events of Tuesday night:

It was a chaotic scene last night in east Belfast, where Catholics and Protestants were throwing stones and fire bombs and police were trying to separate them. Police warned me and fellow journalists to be careful — they heard there was a gunman around. A little later, I heard a rustling at the “peace wall” that separates the neighborhood’s two communities, and I saw a hand with a surgical glove fire four shots directly at us. One photographer was hit in the back of the leg. (He’s in stable condition at a hospital now.)

I was worried about my safety during all this, of course — but more afterward than when I was in the thick of it. I was born and raised in Belfast, and as a photographer, I cover this sort of thing quite a lot. The violence tends to spill over in the weeks leading up to July 12, a divisive holiday when tens of thousands of Protestants from the Orange Order brotherhood march across Northern Ireland. That’s what happened last night, and it was pretty intense, and also noisy — a lot of fireworks, dozens of fire bombs, dozens of bricks, bottles and paint bombs. Of course, that’s normally what happens in a riot here.

Vadim Ghirda / AP

A Syrian refugee boy peers from a tent, in a camp in Boynuyogun, Turkey, on June 14. According to the Turkish Prime Minister's office the number of Syrian refugees in Turkey stands at more than 8,500.

Associated Press photographer Vadim Ghirda writes:

I had to climb on top of an irrigation well to get this image of a Syrian boy at the Boynuyogun, Turkey, refugee camp, where the fences have been wrapped in plastic to obscure the view.

People aren't always happy to be photographed in this situation, and it’s hard for me to keep shooting — it feels like I'm mistreating someone already hit hard by fate. I have to remind myself that enough people might react to my work and the work of others here — like AP reporter Selcan Hacaoglu, whose local knowledge made these images possible — to bring a change for the better in these people’s lives.

I shot this particular photo this way to illustrate the palpable feeling of isolation or loss that can overtake you even when you are surrounded by people. That was the most tangible feeling I sensed from the refugees, especially the very young ones.

I hope people who see these pictures will try, for a moment, to imagine themselves in the refugees' predicament — suddenly losing your familiar environment and not knowing when, or even if, you will get it back.

More photos from Syria and the refugees on PhotoBlog

Anja Niedringhaus / AP

Persia, 7, looks up as she flies onboard a Medevac helicopter from the US Army's Task Force Lift "Dust Off," Charlie Company 1-214 Aviation Regiment to the next military hospital outside Sangin, in the Helmand Province of southern Afghanistan, Tuesday, June 7. Persia received head injuries after falling off a truck and was taken by her father to the next ISAF outpost seeking medical help.

From Associated Press photographer Anja Niedringhaus:

It was noon when the call came in to the Army medevac unit I’m embedded with in Helmand Province, Afghanistan. And this time, it wasn’t about a wounded soldier. The Marines were calling about a 7-year old Afghan girl named Persia who had fallen off a truck.The medevac unit, Charlie Company 1-214, sprang into action — in less than five minutes they were airborne. Within a minute of landing, Persia and her father were on our helicopter and heading to Camp Bastion, where her head could be scanned.For Persia, the flight was unreal — she could have been on the moon. She stared at me as if to ask, ”Where are we?” Her father’s face was lined with worry. At one point during our 15-minute flight, Army Chief Spc. Jenny Martinez reached out and put a small, white teddy bear on Persia’s chest. Persia seemed to recognize the toy, but I think she was still in shock and confused about where she was.When we arrived at Camp Bastion, a British army ambulance was waiting at the landing strip, and Persia and her father were taken to the hospital.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins, top, collides with San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey on a fly ball from Emilio Bonifacio during the 12th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 25, 2011. Cousins was safe for the go ahead run and Florida won 7-6.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins, top, collides with San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey on a fly ball from Emilio Bonifacio during the 12th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 25, 2011.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey is tended by trainers after a collision with Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins on a fly ball from Emilio Bonifacio during the 12th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 25, 2011.

Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP

San Francisco Giants catcher Buster Posey is carried off the field after a collision with Florida Marlins' Scott Cousins during the 12th inning of a baseball game in San Francisco, Wednesday, May 25, 2011.

Marcio Jose Sanchez, Associated Press, writes:

When last night’s Marlins-Giants game went into extra innings, I positioned myself in the first base photo bay with the hope I’d catch a game-winning hit or a play at home. In the 12th inning, Emilio Bonifacio of the Marlins hit a shallow pop fly to Giants right fielder Nate Schierholtz, who’s known for having a strong arm. As soon as Schierholtz made the catch, Marlin Scott Cousins, who had tagged up at third, starting sprinting toward home — I saw him in the corner of my eye. Normally I’d focus on the catcher in this situation, but I was instantly impressed by the runner’s speed, so I made a split-second decision to follow him with my camera. There was a violent collision at the plate, and I pressed the motor drive for a four- or five-frame burst. With the shuttering of the camera, I never saw the collision — normally, when you don’t see the big play through your viewfinder, It’s a good indication you got the shot. When I previewed the images on the back of my camera, I noticed a frame where it seemed like Posey’s leg was breaking, and I instantly realized he was badly hurt. That was one of the first frames of the sequence I sent to the AP photo desk in New York.

Charlie Riedel / AP

Ashley Stephens holds a ferret she rescued from the home of a missing woman while helping a friend collect belongings Monday, May 23 in Joplin, Mo. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses and killing at least 89 people.

This is a touching moment. Here's the full story.

Update: AP photographer Charlie Riedel, who also took the pictures below, shares his thoughts about photographing people after this disaster:

In all the years that I have covered disasters, from fires to hurricanes to tornados to the oil spill, I don’t think I have ever run into anyone who doesn’t feel a little bit happy that someone is taking an interest in their life and story. A lot of the time I will approach someone who is sorting through what is left of their house, and they are very talkative, very appreciative of my taking an interest in them. Part of that may come from the fact that a victim may feel like an insignificant speck amongst a huge disaster -- and this disaster is immense. So when someone takes an interest in them, they respond. I did a lot of work on the 2007 Greensburg, Kan., tornado, rated an EF5. Last night’s tornado strikes me as Greensburg on steroids. The sheer immensity of it all is what struck me. You can look anywhere and see total and utter devastation.

Charlie Riedel / AP

Storm clouds dwarf a farm near Lamar, Mo. as the sun sets Sunday, May 22, 2011. The storm earlier produced a large tornado moved through much of Joplin, Mo., damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Charlie Riedel / AP

Anita Stokes salvages meat from a freezer at her home that was destroyed by a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 23, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses and killing at least 89 people. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Charlie Riedel / AP

A shelf cloud containing a thunderstorm approaches a tornado-ravaged neighborhood in Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 23, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital, hundreds of homes and businesses and killing at least 89 people. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Charlie Riedel / AP

An emergency worker searches a Walmart store that was severely damaged by a tornado in Joplin, Mo., Monday, May 22, 2011. A large tornado moved through much of the city Sunday, damaging a hospital and hundreds of homes and businesses. (AP Photo/Charlie Riedel)

Continuing coverage in our slideshow.

Earlier PhotoBlog posts on the Joplin tornado.