Nopparat (R), a 24-year-old transgender, and a Buddhist monk (L) wait to speak to officers during an army draft held at a school in Bang Na in Bangkok April 3, 2015. Thai men over 21 must serve in the army. Those who volunteer serve six months, but others choose the annual lottery, which goes on for 10 days in recruitment centres around Thailand. Only those not considered physically capable of service, the mentally ill and those who have significantly altered their physical appearance, such as transgenders, are exempt. Picture taken April 3, 2015. (Photo by Athit Perawongmetha/Reuters)

March 28, 1967. Egg Roll; A large bunny attracted the attention of children and their parents during the annual Easter egg roll Monday on the south lawn of the White House. The bunny was made by Fred Johansen, Silver Spring, Md. Nearly 17,000 youngsters and adults took part in the egg rolling. The President and Mrs. John-son were not at the festivities because they were in Camp David, Md. The tradition of egg rolling was begun in 1878 during the administration of Rutherford B. Hayes. (Photo by Minneapolis Star Tribune)

This breathtaking natural light show illuminating waters off the British coast looks like something out of hit film “Close Encounters of the Third Kind”. Photographer Adrian Campfield was out having dinner at a restaurant at Beachy Head, East Sussex, when the rays suddenly appeared. The 59-year-old and his wife Louise rushed outside onto the 535ft high cliffs to watch the spectacle. Mr Campfield, a former graphic designer, from Bexley, Kent, said the light was “changing all the time” for more than 15 minutes. (Photo by Adrian Campfield/Solent/Visual Press Agency)

A David Cameron look-alike poses with a polar bear model outside the Houses of Parliament as part of a Greenpeace protest on May 13, 2011 in London, England. The environmental charity Greenpeace arranged the protest to highlight the first anniversary of David Cameron’s speech when he pledged to make his new government the greenest ever. In April 2006 Mr Cameron traveled by huskie-drawn sledge when he visited the island of Svalbard in Norway to witness the effects of climate change. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

Playboy founder Hugh Hefner (not pictured) arrives at Stansted Airport on June 2, 2011 in Stansted, England. The photograph is a recreation of a picture originally taken in the 1960's, with ten of the new London Bunnies. Mr Hefner is back in the UK to mark the launch of the new Playboy Club in Mayfair, which opens on June 4. The clubs opening will welcome back the iconic Playboy Bunny to Londonafter a 30 year absence. Famous Bunnies have included Debbie Harry and Lauren Hutton. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

A Tibetan artists wearing a traditional costume waits before their performance during the 82nd pre-birthday celebration of Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama at a Monastery in Kathmandu, Nepal, 05 July 2017. More than 1,000 monks and other Tibetans gathered at the Monastery compound to celebrate their spiritual leader's birthday. The Nepalese government has banned all kinds of Tibetan activities against the Chinese rule in Tibet so Tibetans have been changing the venue of the Dalai Lama's birthday celebration. The Dalai Lama will turn 82 on 06 July 2017. (Photo by Narendra Shrestha/EPA)

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.

From Tibetan monks playing basket ball with ice thawing high up in the Himalayas, to the pollution that hides behind the Taj Mahal, here’s pick from 60 exceptional environmental photographs, by photographers and filmmakers from 70 countries, that will go on show at the Royal Geographical Society in London from 29 June to 21 August. The winners will be announced on 28 June. Here: Gravel Workmen of Chittagong, Bangladesh, by Faisal Azim. Gravel workmen look through a glass window at a gravel-crushing yard in Chittagong. Full of dust and sand, it is an extremely unhealthy environment for working, but still hundreds of people work here for their livelihoods. (Photo by Faisal Azim/2016 Atkins CIWEM Environmental Photographer of the Year)