Weighing 1,500lb, Brutus the great white shark lunges at some bait off Guadalupe Island, Mexico in July 2022. (Photo by Euan Rannachan/Media Drum Images/The Times)

A Pakistani Hindu bride attends a mass marriage ceremony in Karachi, Pakistan, 07 January 2024. The Pakistan Hindu Council organized the mass wedding ceremony for 122 Hindu couples belonging to poorer classes. (Photo by Shahzaib Akber/EPA/EFE)

Photographer Howard Schatz had an idea: place actors in a series of roles and dramatic situations to reveal the essence of their characters. Such was the premise behind his book, In Character: Actors Acting, which captures some of Hollywood’s most emotive stars in the act of, well, making faces. Luckily for us, he continued the tradition for Vanity Fair. Here are some of the best.

An artist has discovered a bizarre way to create his work – by coating the feet of insects with paint who then crawl across the canvas creating intricate pieces of art. (Photo by Caters News)

A Barbie cosplayer arrives for San Diego Comic-Con International in San Diego, California, on July 20, 2023. (Photo by Chris Delmas/AFP Photo)

A giraffe quenches its thirst at a watering hole at Zimanga Private Game Reserve, South Africa in the second decade of December 2023. (Photo by Janette Hill/Animal News Agency)

Nice's Youcef Atal, left, and PSG's Juan Bernat challenge for the ball during the French League One soccer match between Paris Saint-Germain and Nice at the Parc des Princes stadium in Paris, France, Saturday, May 4, 2019. (Photo by Christophe Ena/AP Photo)

Worker Shi Shenwei pulls a wheelbarrow at the construction site of a Buddhist temple in the village of Huangshan, near Quanzhou, Fujian Province, China, September 28, 2016. For most construction workers, lunch is a welcome break to rest and refuel. Not for Shi Shenwei. the 23-year-old spends his midday break jumping and swinging through a maze of scaffolding poles, performing a fitness routine that has made him China's latest social media sensation. (Photo by Thomas Peter/Reuters)