A competitor takes part in the World Bog Snorkelling Championships held at the Waen Rhydd peat bog, Llanwrtyd Wells, Mid Wales, on August 27, 2023. The race is held along a 55-metre bog trench, in which the contestants must complete two lengths. Conventional swimming strokes are not allowed, though snorkels and flippers are mandatory. (Photo by Geoff Caddick/AFP Photo)

While communism, collectivism, worms, dry rot and casual looting failed to destroy the majestic wooden churches of Russia, it may be ordinary neglect that finally does them in. Dwindled now to several hundred remaining examples, these glories of vernacular architecture lie scattered amid the vastness of the world’s largest country. Just over a decade ago, Richard Davies, a British architectural photographer, struck out on a mission to record the fragile and poetic structures. Austerely beautiful and haunting, “Wooden Churches: Traveling in the Russian North” (White Sea Publishing; $132) is the result. Covering thousands of miles, Mr. Davies described how he and the writer Matilda Moreton tracked down the survivors from among the thousands of onion-domed structures built after Prince Vladimir converted to Christianity in 988.

French artist Thomas Lamadieu, also know as Roots Art, must really love looking at the sky. Every time he looks up, Thomas sees a potential canvas where the building rooftops frame the sky. He photographs it and uses the odd sky shapes to create whimsical line drawings. “My artistic aim is to show a different perception of urban architecture and the everyday environment around us, what we can construct with a boundless imagination,” says Thomas. (Photo by Thomas Lamadieu)

Employees wear "No-Face" masks during working hours at a service company in Handan, Hebei Province of China. As a service company, staff must smile to customers every day. On “No-Face Day”, staff wore masks to hide their facial expressions and allow them to relax. No-Face is a character in the 2001 animated movie “Spirited Away”, a silent masked creature who has no facial expressions.

Yoga instructor Sarah Henry leads a class during a paddleboard yoga session at Adventure Sports Miami on July 10, 2011 in Miami, Florida. The paddle board is said to give the body's core more of a workout then in a gym since the platform is unstable and one must use the muscles to remain balanced on the board. (Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)