Salespeople roll out a reproduction of the famous work “Girl with a Pearl Earring” at the artist village on June 11, 2014 in Shenzhen, China. The Dafen Artist Village in Guangdong province, China, is home to thousands of artists who reproduce some of the world's most iconic paintings as well as create their own works. The village, on the outskirts of Shenzhen, is becoming a major center for original Chinese art. (Photo by Palani Mohan/Getty images)

A devotee sits with lighted oil lamps while offering prayers during the “Dashain”, Hinduism's biggest religious festival in Bhaktapur October 3, 2014. Hindus in Nepal celebrate victory over evil during the festival by flying kites, feasting, playing swings, sacrificing animals and worshipping the Goddess Durga as well as other gods and goddess as part of celebrations held throughout the country. (Photo by Navesh Chitrakar/Reuters)

“Weapons Instructor”, 2012. It’s a well known fact that the IDF trains some of the best soldiers in the world, but at the source of every good soldier lies an exceptional instructor – and that’s where Cpl. Daniella Stepanoe steps in. She travels from base to base training everyone from paratroopers to elite special forces units in the use of their weapons. (Photo by Israel Defense Forces)

Images of Europes most spooky abandoned hospitals show just how frightening these once sparkling medical facilities can be. The haunting shots show the beds patients would have recovered on as well as the tables and instruments that would have been used during grim operations. Peeling, flaking paint and crumbling walls are prevalent in some of the hospitals while others look almost untouched by time. The spooky pictures were taken by Austrian photographer Stefan Baumann (35) from Vienna as he travelled across Europe. (Photo by Stefan Baumann/Caters News)

An anti-government protester, dressed as Barbie holding a fake gun, takes part in a demonstration demanding that Peruvian President Dina Boluarte call for immediate presidential elections as well as justice for those who were killed during protests earlier this year after the ouster of her predecessor, in Lima, Peru, Saturday, July 22, 2023. (Photo by Martin Mejia/AP Photo)

With temperatures soaring and summer well underway, countless Americans will be spending their Independence Day weekend at the beach. Here we revisit some classic images from the turn-of-the-century to the 1930's of vacations by the sea, from Coney Island to Santa Monica.

Artist Amber Wheeler of Minneapolis, Minn., has given her 2-month-old boy just that. All she used was some Photoshop and well-timed photos. Using simple black lines – much like the ones in this series of cat Instagram portraits – Wheeler transformed her son into an astronaut, a superhero, and a cowboy without spending one dollar on costumes.

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.