Two of the first six “neighborhood electric vehicles” (NEV) to be leased by the U.S. Army are on display during an introductory ceremony at Fort Myer January 12, 2009 in Arlington, Virginia. The Army has leased 800 of the non-tactical NEVs with a goal of 4,000 vehicles by 2011. These NEVs are manufactured by the Global Electric Motorcars division of Chrysler Corporation. With a full eight-hour charge, the NEVs can traverse 30 miles at a top speed of 25-miles-per-hour. (Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

“Amphilophus citrinellus is a large cichlid fish endemic to the San Juan River and adjacent watersheds in Costa Rica and Nicaragua. In the aquarium trade A. citrinellus is often sold under the trade name of Midas cichlid. A. citrinellus are omnivorous and their diet consists of plant material, molluscs and smaller fish”. – Wikipedia

Photo: Two Midas Cichlid (lat: amphilophus citrinellus) fish are seen in an aquarium at Hellabrunn zoo on December 23, 2009 in Munich, Germany. (Photo by Alexandra Beier/Getty Images)

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.

Pooh, a one-year-old cat, who lost his hind legs in an accident and has been given bionic paws, walks in a vet clinic in Sofia on January 31, 2017. Pooh, who is thought to have lost his legs in a car or train accident last April, is back on the prowl thanks to Bulgarian veterinary surgeon Vladislav Zlatinov. He is the first vet in Europe to successfully apply the pioneering method of Irish neuro-orthopaedic surgeon Noel Fitzpatrick, who shot to fame in 2009 when making Oscar the first bionic cat by fitting him with new hind legs in Britain. (Photo by Nikolay Doychinov/AFP Photo)

This image released by Neon shows Matthew McConaughey in a scene from “The Beach Bum”. (Photo by Atsushi Nishijima/Neon via AP Photo)

To produce the images that convey his fatalistic and ironic approach to life, tinged with hope, he needed the environment and knowledge of Mother Russia, oiled with a bit of bribery to certain circus trainers. Enter the Great Russian Bear, the personification of Russia for the last several centuries, onto center stage and into his studio. The bear is recognized as both brutish and cute – Misha was the mascot for the 1980 Olympic Games – and has remained a symbol of Russia since Tsarist times. In 2009 it is the symbol of the United Russia Party.

“I bought my first dlsr camera in 2009 may. The first part of my life is gone but the other i dedicate to photography. If i try to imagine myself, i saw someone on the road, who walking straight to the light. This kind of light is the photography and the post-processing in my life. My pictures express the feelings, moods what i felt under my trip in the last few years”. – Ildiko Neer

Photo: “Path to the shine”, 2011. (Photo by Ildiko Neer)

British artist, Mark Coreth sits on top of the “Sydney Ice Bear” carved from a 10 tonne block of ice to illustrate how humans affect climate change in the Arctic at Customs House on June 3, 2011 in Sydney, Australia. The public will be welcomed to touch the bear, and leave an imprint which will begin the melting process and act as a metaphor for how humans affect the environment. The ice bear's has visited six cities on it's global tour since 2009; the visit to Sydney coincides with World Environment Day on June 5. (Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)