Not long after Hurricane Sandy had picked up a good part of the East River and dumped it on Greenpoint, Reuters photographer Gary He stood on the Pulaski Bridge, snapping photos of the partially blacked-out skyline of Manhattan. He was on his way back to his car to transmit the pictures when he ended up taking one of the most comically iconic images of the storm’s aftermath: the Brooklyn Snorkelers.

“I saw a few people wading around below,” he told The Observer. ”The water was three or four feet deep, so I figured I’d get what I could from the bridge, since I’m not too keen on swimming in Newton Creek overflow. When I looked through the viewfinder, I saw that one of the guys was wearing a snorkeling mask, so I went down the stairs get a closer shot. I asked them why they were out, and they just responded that they were going to rescue a friend.”  Read More