A brown bear waits for food at the zoo in Madrid, Spain on July 30, 2016. (Photo by Jorge Sanz/Pacific Press/SIPA Press/Rex Features/Shutterstock)

Praia du Forte, Bahia. “This was the lead picture for a National Geographic story on Bahia, because it was both mysterious as well as a “geography” picture showing where the slaves arrived from Nigeria. Beach pictures seem like they should be easy to take, but for me they are actually quite difficult. Too easy to fall into cliche. When I saw the kid coming on the horse, I quickly ran to see if I could make something with a woman in a bikini that was not a bikini shot”. (Photo by David Alan Harvey/The Guardian)

A scavenger sifts through garbage piled on the bank of Beirut river, Lebanon August 24, 2015. Lebanese protest organisers called for a fresh demonstration against the government on Saturday after two days of rallies that turned violent in central Beirut and wounded scores of people. The “You Stink” campaign has mobilised against the government's failure to solve a garbage disposal crisis, bringing thousands of people onto the streets in protests that have threatened the survival of the cabinet. (Photo by Mohamed Azakir/Reuters)

First Place, Sports Photojournalist Of The Year. One of 24 photos by Patrick Smith, freelance for Getty Images: Sadie Bezzant is crushed by a sheep during the pre-rodeo entertainment of mutton busting during the Strawberry Days Rodeo in Pleasant Grove, Utah. (Photo by Patrick Smith)

Breath at sunset, captures a sea turtle at a dive site called Black Rock. Kāʻanapali, Hawaiʻi, August 2013. (Photo by Christopher Doherty/Smithsonian.com)

“The Independence day”. While on storm chasing expeditions in the Tornado Alley in USA I have encountered many photogenic supercell storms. This photograph was taken while we were approaching the storm near Julesburg, Colorado on My 28th, 2013. The storm was tornado warned for more than one hour, but stayed an LP storm through all its cycles and never produced a tornado, just occasional brief funnels, large hail and some rain. Photo location: Julesburg, Colorado, USA. (Photo and caption by Marko Korošec/National Geographic Photo Contest)

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.

Naki'o, a mixed-breed dog with four prosthetic devices, goes for a run in Colorado Springs April 12, 2013. Naki'o lost all four feet to frostbite when he was abandoned as a puppy in a foreclosed home. (Photo by Rick Wilking/Reuters)