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.

The photo project was done for the organization Fishlove and included some other U.K.-based celebrities posing in the buff with critters ranging from bass fish to sharks. Its goal is to raise awareness of how overfishing is destroying the oceans. The release of Gillian's nearly nude pic, which was snapped by French portrait photographer Denis Rouvre, is timed with a European Parliament vote on banning destructive forms of deep-sea fishing in the Northeast Atlantic. The Fishlove organization is trying to rally voters to sign a petition ending deep-sea trawling – which, according to scientists, is negatively impacting the fish population and their habits – and Gillian solicited signatures in a Twitter post. Photo: “Fish Love” Project by Photographer Denis Rouvre. Gillian Anderson. (Photo by Denis Rouvre)

Palestinian members of Gaza's Bar Woolf sports team perform with fire above the ruins of a building destroyed in recent Israeli air strikes, in Beit Lahia, on May 26, 2021. A ceasefire was reached late last week after 11 days of deadly violence between Israel and the Hamas movement which runs Gaza, stopping Israel's devastating bombardment on the overcrowded Palestinian coastal enclave which, according to the Gaza health ministry, killed 248 Palestinians, including 66 children, and wounded more than 1,900 people. Meanwhile, rockets from Gaza claimed 12 lives in Israel, including one child and an Israeli soldier. (Photo by Mahmud Hams/AFP Photo)

A Palestinian father evacuates his wounded daughter from the rubble of a destroyed house after an Israeli air strike in Gaza City, 16 May 2021. A total of 174 people have been killed in Israeli raids on Gaza, including 47 children and 29 women, the Palestinian Ministry of Health said on Sunday. In response violent confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem, various Palestinian militant factions in Gaza launched rocket attacks on Israel since 10 May, resulting in retaliatory strikes by Israel on Gaza. (Photo by Haitham Imad/EPA/EFE)

Palestinians inspect a destroyed street after an Israeli strike in Gaza City, 13 May 2021. In response to days of violent confrontations between Israeli security forces and Palestinians in Jerusalem, various Palestinian militants factions in Gaza launched rocket attacks since 10 May that killed at least six Israelis to date. Gaza Strip's health ministry said that at least 65 Palestinians, including 13 children, were killed in the recent retaliatory Israeli airstrikes. Hamas confirmed the death of Bassem Issa, its Gaza City commander, during an airstrike. (Photo by Mohammed Saber/EPA/EFE)

“Horst Faas (28 April 1933 – 10 May 2012) was a German photo-journalist and two-time Pulitzer Prize winner. He is best-known for his images of the Vietnam War”. – Wikipedia

Photo: A U.S. crewman runs from a crashed CH-21 Shawnee troop helicopter near the village of Ca Mau in the southern tip of South Vietnam, December 11, 1962. Two helicopters crashed without serious injuries during a government raid on the Viet Cong-infiltrated area. Both helicopters were destroyed to keep them out of enemy hands. (Photo by AP Photo/Horst Faas)

In this photo taken on Monday, October 27, 2014, a cactus stands at a broken window in a damaged house after shelling not far from Donetsk airport in the town of Donetsk, eastern Ukraine. Donetsk, which has lost about 400,000 of its 1 million pre-war population, is bracing to a winter ahead. In a climate like eastern Ukraine's, where temperatures typically stay below zero all winter, the damage to the critical infrastructure and lack of effort to provide adequate shelter to people whose homes were destroyed could literally mean a death from the cold. (Photo by Dmitry Lovetsky/AP Photo)

Indian Runner ducks march past farm buildings at the Vergenoegd wine estate near Cape Town, South Africa, May 16, 2016. Each day, a quack squad of killer ducks are released for the first of two sorties at South Africa's Vergenoegd wine farm in Stellenbosch. Their mission – seek and destroy thousands of pests out to ruin the season's harvest. Fanning out across the vineyards, some 1,000 Indian Runner ducks hone in on their hidden targets with uncanny precision, locating the tiny white dune snails feasting on budding vines. (Photo by Mike Hutchings/Reuters)