IT'S a relatively simple idea – set up a mirror so you can capture the reflection of a dramatic landscape in a single photograph. Photographer Daniel Kukla, from New York, created a spectacular series of artworks called The Edge Effect using the technique. He clamped the mirror onto an easel and placed it in various settings in the Joshua Tree National Park, California.

Agueda in Portugal is the setting for this wonderful installation by Sextafeira called Floating Umbrellas. This colorful creation is a part of the Agitagueda art festival. Due to the fact that the same idea was used last year this is the second time the streets of this town have been covered with loads of vivid umbrellas, providing shade, as well as a wonderful sight. The people loved it so much that the repetitive nature of the installation does not carry the risk of becoming boring, but rather turning into a wonderful tradition.

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.

In this photo taken on February 21, 2017, shooting instructor Kim Su- Ryon poses for a portrait at the Meari Shooting Range in Pyongyang Kim is holding a “Paektusan” target pistol, gifted by late North Korean leader Kim Il- Sung. Visitors to the range can pay 10 USD to shoot ten rounds. (Photo by Ed Jones/AFP Photo)

An elephant dressed in a Santa Claus costume gives out gifts to students to mark the Christmas season at a school in Ayutthaya province on December 24, 2010. The event was held as part of a campaign to promote Christmas in Thailand. (Photo by Pornchai Kittiwongsakul/AFP Photo)

Children run next to a paraglider wearing Santa Claus costume landing to deliver gifts to refugee children from Karabakh region, near the village of Akunk, outside Yerevan, on December 26, 2023, as part of “ParaSanta”, an event organised by the Armenian Paragliding Club. (Photo by Karen Minasyan/AFP Photo)

A performer wearing a lion mask performs the Ise Daikagura lion dance at the remote village of Yamanawa on February 08, 2021 in Ryuo, Japan. Ise Daikagura is a group of traditional Lion Dance performers who pray in front of farmers houses and businesses for good grain harvests and disease-free lives. (Photo by Buddhika Weerasinghe/Getty Images)

Harris & Ewing Inc. photographed people, events, and architecture, particularly in Washington, D.C., during the period 1905-1945. Photo: Tests of Curtiss Palne for Army, Single Control. Created by Harris & Ewing. Published in 1912.