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.

There isn’t exactly a college out there for face painting so Elsa Rhae Pageler‘s talent is as raw as it comes. Perhaps what’s even more amazing is that the video editor and producer from Kansas City graduated with a degree in Film and Media Studies and only does face painting and airbrushing as a side job. An application may take anywhere from 1 to 3 hours and apart from outside gigs, she features video tutorials on her YouTube channel showing how she paints herself to recreate video game and fictional characters. Photo: “Face Palm”. (Photo by Elsa Rhae Pageler)

Yuccas catch fire as the Powerhouse fire makes a fast run toward Lake Hughes, south of Lake Hughes, California, on June 1, 2013. The 19,500-acre wildfire destroyed numerous homes overnight. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images)

Bela Bordosi is not the first person to arrange various household objects into the shape of the letters and making photos, and he’s definitely not the last. However, the way he does it is definitely very distinct and original. Sure, some photos are most definitely staged. However, some letters just pop out of the picture that doesn’t look staged at all. As if by chance, the items create a vivid “A” in your mind, so vivid that it’s very hard to notice the individual items that were used in the making of this composition. The reason behind it is probably because Bela Bordosi’s other photos are optical illusions created using a similar method. (Photo by Bela Borsodi)

Summit, an Australian shepherd, makes a leaping catch of a frisbee at the pet trade fair (Heimtiermesse) at Velodrom on November 2, 2012 in Berlin, Germany. Exhibitors are showing the latest trends in collars, snacks and other accessories for cats, dogs and other household pets. (Photo by Sean Gallup)

Brush fires in Everglades National Park, Florida make for a dramatic Milky Way in this panorama. A photographer set out to inspire awe in nature's wonders through the tropical wetlands of Florida. (Photo by Mark Andrew Thomas/Rex Feature/Shutterstock)

His own space suit, with oxygen tank, doesn't make Barney the monkey any happier as he and actor Adam West view the situation in their space capsule in Hollywood on January 24, 1964. Barney, a South American woolly monkey, is blasted into space with West, as an astronaut, in a new movie, “Robinson Crusoe on Mars”. (Photo by AP Photo)