Two men help each other cross a street covered in deep mud in Copiapo, Chile, Thursday, March 26, 2015. Unusually heavy thunder storms and torrential rains that began on Tuesday have blocked roads, caused power outages and affected some 600 people on this normally dry region. (Photo by Aton Chile/Marcelo Hernandez/AP Photo)

Pakistani youths cool off in a stream during hot weather on the outskirts of Islamabad on April 29, 2016. Pakistan's Meteorological Department has forecast hot and dry weather in most parts of the country with the highest temperatures recorded at 41 celsius in the southern Sindh province. (Photo by Aamir Qureshi/AFP Photo)

“These are the mind-bending sculptures that take up to 40 hours to create – as they're made entirely from pipe cleaners. The fuzzy flexible figures are made entirely from the tobacco cleaning tools – which are now more commonly found strewn across nurseries and art classrooms – to construct the incredible life-like animals”. – Caters News. Photo: New Pipe Cleaner Wolf. (Photo by Lauren Ryan)

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.

Festival goers splash through a muddy puddle at Worthy Farm in Somerset, on the third day of the Glastonbury music festival June 27, 2014. (Photo by Cathal McNaughton/Reuters)

This latest photo series by Anelia Loubser, a photographer in Cape Town, reminds us that even the simplest change in perspective can change how things look drastically. By selectively cropping and flipping the dark portraits in her “Alienation” series, Loubser makes basic human portraits look like creepy alien close-ups.

In this Friday, February 6, 2015 photo, sandhill cranes begin to stir after resting for the night at a roosting location along their winter migration route in Cecilia, Ky. According to counts made by biologists with the Kentucky Fish and Wildlife Resources, about 12,000 of the birds have stopped in Cecilia this week during their winter northward migration on their way to their nesting grounds in the Great Lakes region. (Photo by David Stephenson/AP Photo)

The shoemaker in Turkey, the potato seller in Vietnam, and the weaver in Bolivia are among the billions of low-income entrepreneurs who make the world go round. They are also the type of people who can benefit significantly from microfinance. Every year, the Consultative Group To Assist The Poor (or CGAP) hosts a photo contest asking entrants to submit photos based around the idea of microfinance.The purpose of the contest is to give amateur and professional photographers a chance to show the different ways that poor households manage their financial lives and make their lives better through financial inclusion. Photo: South Asia Regional Winner – “Bricks Worker”, Bangladesh. A private enterprise worker is working at a brick field. These small businesses are creating new job opportunities for many poor people. (Photo by Moksumul Haque)