Edinburgh mask maker Lorraine Pritchard on Sunday, January 28, 2024 alongside some of her Venetian masks which will be worn and displayed at the Venice Carnival, which starts on Saturday February 3. Lorraine studied model making at Glasgow College of Building and Printing and Venetian mask making in Florence, Italy. She travels to Venice each year to be a “mask” herself, wearing different masks she has designed as a live exhibit of her work. (Photo by Jane Barlow/PA Images via Getty Images)

A woman poses for a photo in front of an installation to promote the film “Godzilla Minus One”, which won the Oscar for best visual effects at the Academy Awards in Los Angeles, outside a popular shopping centre and official development in the Hibiya area of Tokyo on March 11, 2024. (Photo by Richard A. Brooks/AFP Photo)

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 June 8, 2015 photo, Omkarnath, who goes by the name “Medicine Baba”, pays his reverence at a neighborhood temple as he begins his day in New Delhi, India. The chatty, 79-year-old retired blood-bank technician has been collecting unused prescription drugs from the affluent for the past eight years, and distributing whatever hasn't expired to patients who need medicines they cannot afford. (Photo by Saurabh Das/AP Photo)

A woman buys bread at a bakery in Cairo, January 8, 2015. The successful roll-out so far of a new “smart card” system to distribute subsidised bread has been a major achievement for Egypt's government, saving money while earning praise from families who no longer have to wake early to fight for loaves. (Photo by Mohamed Abd El Ghany/Reuters)

An astonishing set of snaps of a thrill-seeker's sky-high catwalk show on the edge of some of the world's tallest buildings has turned her into a social media sensation. Daredevil Angelina Nikolau, 23, from Russia, has spent weeks travelling around China and Hong Kong posing for jaw-dropping skyscraper selfies hundreds of feet above the ground. Her vertigo inducing results – uploaded to Instagram – have made her an instant star on the internet. (Photo by Kirill Oreshkin/CEN)

The 26th annual National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest is now accepting submissions. Official categories include: “Travel Portraits”, “Outdoor Scenes”, “Sense of Place” and “Spontaneous Moments”. The contest is accepting entries until June 30. Photo: “Forest lights”. Aurora Borealis over the forest of the Pyhae Luosto National Park, Finland. (Photo and caption by Nicholas Roemmelt/National Geographic Traveler Photo Contest)

“Maya” girl Ines de la Paloma, 9, (L), sits with her friend Nuria Sanchez Caballero, 6, at an altar during “Las Mayas” festivity in Madrid, Spain, May 8, 2016. “Las Mayas” festival is held annually at the beginning of May to celebrate the awakening of nature in Spring. Young girls are chosen to become “Mayas” and sit at altars decorated with flowers so that people can admire them. (Photo by Susana Vera/Reuters)