Mary Ellen Mark was an American photographer known for her photojournalism / documentary photography, portraiture, and advertising photography. She photographed people who were "away from mainstream society and toward its more interesting, often troubled fringes". Here: Amanda and her cousin Amy, Valdese, North Carolina, 1990. (Photo by Mary Ellen Mark)

Vintage Newton, a pop-up exhibition of Helmut Newton prints from 1974-1984, opens in west London at the ONGallery. These prints, which feature Charlotte Rampling and Elsa Peretti, were produced from a series of transparencies that he considered his most provocative and important. Here: Saddle II. (Photo by Helmut Newton)

These poignant portraits look to shine awareness on the plight of some of the world’s most endangered ecosystems and species of wildlife. The images combine animals, art and celebrity, with Asia's top models posing with the likes of rhinos, giraffes, leopards and marine life. Here: Mikki Yao with an Asian Elephant. (Photo by Sean Lee-Davies/Caters News)

Visitors walk through a tulip display in Chaya Mountain, Suiping County in Zhumadian, Henan Province of China on March 31, 2016. There are more than ten varieties of tulips here. (Photo by VCG/VCG via Getty Images)

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.

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.

Zaria Forman is a Brooklyn-based artist who creates life-like works of art by using pastel colors to draw. The representations you see here are all created delicately by finger. Photo: “Greenland #63” 50x75, soft pastel on paper. (Photo by Zaria Forman)

These adorable images of new born polar bears are bound to warm the hearts of even the biggest Ba-humbugs this Christmas. The stunning collection of photographs, taken over the space of ten years, manage to capture the tender bond between both mother and child as they emerge from their den for the very first time. Here: a Polar bear with its cub. (Photo by David Jenkins/Caters News)