An Indian Hindu widow smeared with colors sits and watches others playing during Holi celebrations at the Gopinath temple, 180 kilometres (112 miles) south-east of New Delhi, India Monday, March 21, 2016. A few years ago this joyful celebration was forbidden for Hindu widows. Like hundreds of thousands of observant Hindu women they would have been expected to live out their days in quiet worship, dressed only in white, their very presence being considered inauspicious for all religious festivities. (Photo by Manish Swarup/AP Photo)

The galactic core of the milky way occupied by two small wooden boats on July 2, 2014, in Isle of Wight, UK. The Milky Way shines in mesmerizing colourful patterns above the Isle of Wight in stunning photographs. Chad Powell used a DSLR camera to capture images of the spectacular constellation above the familiar beach scenes of England's largest island. The 22-year-old, who shot the pictures over a year of stargazing on the island, often stayed up until dawn to catch the most dramatic sky-scapes. Chad, a graphic designer from Ventnor, Isle of Wight, used foregrounds of abandoned theme parks, harbors and lighthouses against the illuminated sky. Minor adjustments were made to bring out the contrast and whites in the images. (Photo by Chad Powell/Barcroft Media)

A three month old white Bengal female tiger cub looks around her enclosure at the Buenos Aires Zoo, Argentina, Wednesday, April 16, 2014. Cleo, a captive Bengal white tiger at the zoo, gave birth to two females and one male white tiger cubs on January 16, 2014. (Photo by Natacha Pisarenko/AP 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.

Picture of a float taking part in the “White Day” parade during the Carnival of Blacks and Whites in Pasto, Colombia on January 6, 2024. The Blacks and Whites carnival has its origins in a mix of Andean, Amazonian and Pacific cultural expressions, and it celebrates the ethnic diversity in the region and was proclaimed by UNESCO as intangible cultural heritage in 2009. (Photo by Joaquín Sarmiento/AFP Photo)

White lioness Azira lies in the cage with her three white cubs, on February 4, 2014. Zoo owner Andrzej Pabich says white lions often have defects that prevent giving birth, or the mother rejects her cubs, but Azira has been patiently feeding and caring for her little ones. (Photo by Czarek Sokolowski/Associated Press)

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt takes questions during her first daily briefing at the White House in Washington on January 28, 2025. (Photo by Carlos Barria/Reuters)

Reflected in an ornament, a reporter takes a photo of the White House Christmas Tree in the Blue Room during a media preview of the holiday decor at the White House in Washington, U.S., November 29, 2016. (Photo by Kevin Lamarque/Reuters)