Michael Dalder / Reuters

Uwe Kiehl of team Germany I dives during a match at the Underwater ice hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria on Feb. 17.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Thomas Jurkschat and Uwe Kiehl of team Germany I concentrate on the surface before a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria on Feb. 16.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Team Germany I plays Austria II during a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria on Feb. 17.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Uwe Kiehl of team Germany I breathes on the surface during a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships.

Michael Dalder / Reuters

Equipment is prepared before a match at the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in lake Weissensee in Austria.

Underwater ice hockey is played upside-down underneath the ice of frozen lakes with a floating puck by teams of two divers in wet suits and flippers. Reuters photographer Michael Dalder made these unique pictures on assignment covering the Underwater Ice Hockey Championships in Austria.

Dalder, also a diver, wrote about his adventures in Reuters' Photographers Blog:

I’ve been diving for almost 15 years, but due to family matters it has fallen off my list lately. So a new picture assignment at Lake Weissensee in mid-February 2013 just came right to my diver’s heart: The Underwater Ice hockey Championships.

Ice diving is, together with cave diving, considered to be the most dangerous diving discipline. For that reason I listened to the security briefing attentively. Continue reading.

John Gress / Reuters

Ronnie Chambers Jr. looks at his mother Tahitah Myles (obscured) as she collapses during the funeral for his father Ronnie Chambers, 33, a victim of gun violence, in Chicago Feb.4. Shirley Chambers of Chicago had four children - three boys and a girl. Now they're all gone. Her son, Ronnie Chambers, was the last of the single mother's children - all victims of gun violence in Chicago over a period of 18 years.

John Gress / Reuters

Ronnie Chambers Jr. puts his head on the shoulder of his mother Tahitah Myles during the funeral for his father Ronnie Chambers, 33, a victim of gun violence, in Chicago Feb. 4.

By John Gress, Reuters

It’s not every day that an assignment teaches you something about your own childhood.

When I was 7 years old my father, who shared my name, passed away and when I looked down today, I saw a boy, Ronnie Chambers Jr., who is about the same age as I was back then, sitting at my feet with RIP carved in the back of his hair. He was there mourning the loss of his father, who also shared his name.

Ronnie Chambers was shot in the head on January 26. His mother, Shirley Chambers, has lost all four of her children to gun violence.

Seeing Ronnie Jr. today caused me to choke up a little, thinking about the parallels between his life and mine. Seeing him move about the church seemingly unaware of the gravity of the situation, explained to me in that moment why all I can recall about my father's funeral was sitting in my uncle's lap during the service, and a photo of my father in his casket which my mother used to keep in the glove box of her car.

John Gress / Reuters

Shirley Chambers cries during the funeral for her son Ronnie Chambers, 33, a victim of gun violence, in Chicago on Feb. 4. Shirley Chambers of Chicago had four children - three boys and a girl. Now they're all gone. Her son, Ronnie Chambers, was the last of the single mother's children - all victims of gun violence in Chicago over a period of 18 years.

John Gress / Reuters

Tahitah Myles raises her hands as she is comforted during the funeral of Ronnie Chambers, 33, the father of her son and a victim of gun violence, in Chicago Feb 4.

John Gress / Reuters

Shirley Chambers collapses during the funeral for her son Ronnie Chambers, 33, a victim of gun violence, in Chicago Feb. 4.

For me, as significant as that day was, to a child it wasn’t much different than many other church experiences we have while navigating through the adult world. The situation was already emotional for me having met Ms. Chambers last week during an interview. Looking her in the eye and saying my goodbyes, I was left speechless, knowing there was nothing I could do to comfort her in her bereavement, other than a long look of solace and my silence.

Read more posts from Reuters photographers on their blog here.

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Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Richa Singh, 24, who works for an online travel portal, says, "women are seen as objects in this city, it doesn't matter what I wear, I still get stared at by men on the streets."

Since the death of a medical student who was gang raped on a bus in New Delhi the issue of women's security has been under the spotlight as never before in India. Mansi Thapliyal, a female Indian photographer working for Reuters, interviewed a variety of women in New Delhi to find out how they feel about their safety since the rape.

Reactions were strong and wide ranging, from women who now feel they need to arm themselves or take self-defense classes, to others who are scared to go out alone at night.

"My city is known as the so-called rape capital of the country," Thapliyal wrote in a blog post on Reuters.com. "They say it’s unsafe, it’s dangerous, and it’s full of wolves looking to hunt you down." Read her entire blog post on Reuters.com.

Thapliyal decided to focus her camera on the city’s women to find what they think about their security, and how they are protecting themselves. Below is a collection of her photos shot earlier this month, and made available to NBC News today. 

Aanchal Sukhija, 19, studying fashion media communication, said that whenever she hires an auto rickshaw she has to send a short message to her father giving details of the auto in order to feel secure.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Aanchal Sukhija waits for an auto rickshaw outside a metro station in Gurgaon on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Nalini Bharatwaj, 37, chairperson of a management institute, says "Half of the time I am alone with my children and sometimes I have to travel late at night from work. It's enough to shut up anyone trying to molest me or even pass a comment if I flaunt my gun." 

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Nalini Bharatwaj, holds a gun while posing in her office in New Delhi.

Deepshikha Bharadwaj, 24, who works for an advertising agency, has posted the notice that reads, 'Sorry I am not staying late now,' on her desk and said she wanted to send a message to her colleagues that she is not going to work late in the office anymore.

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Deepshikha Bharadwaj stands inside an elevator in her office on the outskirts of New Delhi.

Sweety, 22,a student, travels four hours every day from her village to the city to learn karate and taekwondo. She said, "boys in my village are scared to tease me after I beat up one boy who was passing lewd comments on me."

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Sweety, takes a self defense class in New Delhi.

Simrat, 24, who works for a non-profit arts organization, said, “I made the decision to use public transport as my primary way of moving through the city because I really believe that it is my right to be able to use public space, just as much as it is of any man."

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Simrat travels in the women's compartment of a metro in New Delhi.

Chandani, 22, who works as a cab driver for a social enterprise which claims to provide safe and secure cab services for women driven by women, said demand for their cabs has increased.

 "I am doing a very unconventional job for women,” she said. “Given that I do night shifts, I carry pepper spray bottle and I'm trained in self-defense. Initially I faced a lot of problems but driving cabs at night has helped me to overcome my fears.”

Mansi Thapliyal / Reuters

Chandani sits inside her car on a street in New Delhi.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Ayman al-Sahili, a Reuters cameraman, receives first aid after he was shot in the leg by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad while filming on the front line in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

By Reuters

A Reuters television cameraman was shot in the leg and wounded while filming on the front line in Syria's northern city of Aleppo on Monday.

Ayman al-Sahili, a Libyan citizen working as part of a Reuters multi-media reporting team, was hit by a rifle bullet fired from a distance. He was treated in Syria and then driven across the border to Turkey. His injury was not life-threatening.

The ambulance transporting Sahili to Turkey encountered an air strike in Aleppo and maneuvered into an alley until it was safe to continue the journey.

Syria was by far the most dangerous country for journalists in 2012, with 28 killed there during the year according to the Committee to Protect Journalists, a watchdog group. Read the full story.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Ayman al-Sahili is carried on a stretcher after he was wounded by a sniper loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

Ayman al-Sahili is carried away in Syria's north city of Aleppo on Dec. 31.

Ahmed Jadallah / Reuters

A Free Syrian Army fighter pulls a boy off the street as a sniper fires during fighting with forces loyal to Syrian President Bashar el-Assad in Aleppo city on Dec. 31.

Previously on PhotoBlog:

• Israeli airstrike hits media building in Gaza, killing leading militant
• Photographers join together to raise money for a fallen colleague
• Three photojournalists killed as Mexico drug cartels target media
• Colleagues mourn TV cameraman shot dead on Lebanon-Syria border
• The work of photographer Remi Ochlik, killed in Syria
• Attacks in Syria kill several, including French journalist

Slideshow: Syria uprising

Muhammed Muheisen / AP

A look back at the violence that has overtaken the country

Launch slideshow

Mike Blake / Reuters

Marcel Nguyen of Germany competes in the horizontal bar during the men's individual all-around gymnastics final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games August 1. This picture was taken using multiple exposures.

Mike Blake / Reuters

Marcel Nguyen of Germany competes in the horizontal bar during the men's individual all-around gymnastics final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games on August 1. This picture was taken using multiple exposures.

Mike Blake / Reuters

Kazuhito Tanaka of Japan competes in the horizontal bar during the men's gymnastics team final in the North Greenwich Arena during the London 2012 Olympic Games July 30. This picture was taken using multiple exposures.

 Reuters photographer Mike Blake has been experimenting with high-speed multiple exposure images of athletes at the 2012 London Olympics gymnastics events. To read more about his process follow this link to the Reuters Photographers blog.

See more images from the 2012 Olympics in the NBCNews.com PhotoBlog here.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Angelica Cervantes, 36, sits on a rock in the campground where she has been staying with her aunt Benita Guzman, 40, and their children, in Santa Paula, some 65 miles northwest of Los Angeles, California. Guzman and Cervantes are homeless but stick together in an effort to keep their children together as a family, and not taken away and separated in foster homes.

Reuters photographer Lucy Nicholson followed a homeless family in southern California, reporting on how they survive in a campground:

“It’s scary, especially at night,” says Guzman. “I’ve always been spoiled. I have a large family and when we went on camping trips, I was the princess.”

At first they slept in a rental van. Then they picked up a couple of tents at a thrift store.

Now, after three weeks of sleeping at a campsite in Santa Paula, the family can no longer afford the rental van to ferry the kids to school in Port Hueneme.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Angelica Cervantes, 36, packs up tents in the campground where she has been staying with her aunt Benita Guzman, 40, and their children, in Santa Paula.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Benita washes her hair in the sink of a public restroom after dropping her children at school.

"I’m living moment by moment, day by day," says Guzman.

"I’m holding it all together. There are times I break down. I try not to let the kids see me. They tell me, ‘If you crack, we all crack. If you break Mom, we all break, because you’re the one who holds us together.’ So that’s what keeps me going."

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Benita takes her belongings into a motel room in Port Hueneme. After three weeks of sleeping at a campsite, the family could no longer afford a rental van to ferry the kids to school and had to find a cheap motel room for the night, so the children could walk to school.

Lucy Nicholson / Reuters

Angelica Cervantes' children Alma Cervantes, 4, Preciosa Cervantes, 9, and Veronica Cervantes, 9, sleep in a motel room in Port Hueneme.

See more pictures and read more about the story at Reuters' Photographers Blog.

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Eric Thayer / Reuters

An art installation called "Salvation Mountain" is seen in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 15. A former military base that was closed after World War II, Slab City is a place on the fringe both geographically and philosophically and attracts a variety of people, including jobless and financially struggling recession refugees who can no longer pay for food and housing.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Rob Walker kisses Dayna Lambert as Walker's son Andy walks toward their campsite in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 16. Walker said he retired and bought a motor home, and has mixed Slab City into his traveling destinations.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

An art installation is seen in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 15.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

A man shaves in a hot spring in Slab City on Feb. 16.

Reuters photographer Eric Thayer recently spent some time with the fringe community living off-the-grid in Slab City. The former military base located in southern California was closed after World War II, and is on the fringe both geographically and philosophically. It attracts a variety of people, including jobless and financially struggling recession refugees who can no longer pay for food and housing. There is no water, no electricity, the landscape is dotted with expensive rv's, beat-up trailers, tents and art installations.

This is a place people go to get away from society, to escape, to go into self-proclaimed exile from the mainstream, into a society of travelers, hippies, snowbirds, artists, outcasts, the down on their luck, the slightly unhinged and the downright crazy.

On Reuters' Photographers Blog, Eric Thayer describes:

Along the road Salvation Mountain rises up, a hill that was covered in what looks like concrete, in its shadow a small society goes on. A checkpoint, most likely from the military base that this place once was, is painted with a welcome message to Slab City, named after the slabs of concrete leftover from its days as a military base that served as foundations for the buildings.

I drive past newer looking recreational vehicles, along dirt roads, some camps have signs, addresses, or are decorated, while others are unmarked. Painted signs mark roads like Edge, The Low Road, among others, stopping at a colorfully painted trailer on the northern edge.

For a place that people go to get away from society, the people of the Slabs still have a need to stick together, there is still a sense of belonging here, even in a place for those few who don’t really belong anywhere. The Slabs welcome just about everyone; whether or not they stay is based on their own ability to endure the elements and the primitive living conditions out in the desert.

Read Thayer's complete post.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Timothy, Zack and Casey Spyder are seen in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 17.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

Jack "Two Horses" stands at his campfire in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 15.

Eric Thayer / Reuters

People eat lunch in Slab City just outside Niland, Calif., on Feb. 16.

Reuters photographer Yusuf Ahmad describes his trip through Indonesia to photograph Pasola: The atmosphere is very lively and aggressive, full of the noise of shouting men, the thumps of running horses, and spears splitting the air. The crowd cheers whenever somebody is hurt from the spears.

Yusuf Ahmad / Reuters

A man riding a horse prepares to throw his wooden spears at his rival during the two-day Pasola War Festival in the remote Kodi Pangedo village, in Indonesia's West Sumba province on Friday. Held on February 16 and 17, Pasola is a ritual of the West Sumba people, a part of the local Sumba belief called Marapu in which the participants, whose livelihoods are dependent on their corn and rice crops, ask for the blessings of the gods for a good harvest.

The Pasola ritual is a war game between two groups of 100 men from the Hill village and the lowland village, forcing the horses which they ride on bareback with no saddle to run faster, and how they strategize to win the war, with the rest of the villages as the judges.

To get there I caught a small plane from Bali, and arrived at Tambulaka airport, which is small and surrounded by green hills. From there, I rented a car and drove on small paved roads that cut through villages and little wooden houses. During the journey, I discovered a strong presence of animism, in the form of respects to ancestors. At every corner of the towns and villages, the houses have a traditional worship place and the graveyards of their ancestors, and at this time of year, when it is high time to prepare for blessings from the Gods, the graveyards are adorned with offerings of beetle fruits.

Yusuf Ahmad / Reuters

A man and his son smile before they take part in the two-day Pasola War Festival in remote Kodi Pangedo village.

Yusuf Ahmad / Reuters

Tribal elders walk during a ritual procession amidst the two-day Pasola War Festival in the remote Kodi Pangedo village, in Indonesia's the West Sumba province.

After a two hour drive, I arrived at the remote Kodi Pangedo village, a place where the Pasola festivity is held each year in February and stayed for four days there without electricity and very little water for the shower. In fact, I only showered once for three days in the village.

Yusuf Ahmad / Reuters

A woman and several children gather in front of a house during a ritual procession amidst the two-day Pasola War Festival.

Usually there are minor injuries to the arms and legs of the fighting men. Each drop of blood spilled on the earth is considered a salvation of sins or violation of rituals in the past year, and hence a seal of guarantee that the harvest in the months to come will be abundant.

Yusuf Ahmad / Reuters

Villagers walk along a beach near the remote Kodi Pangedo village in Indonesia's West Sumba province.

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