Vanity Fair’s White House portraits spark online mockery

Ariana Baio, The Independent

“Jump scare.” The words appeared over and over again on Vanity Fair’s Instagram page after the publication posted close-up photos of prominent White House figures as part of a series about the first year of the second Trump administration. The striking photos depict every freckle, line, strand of hair and makeup smudge on White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt, Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller, Director of Presidential Personnel Office Dan Scavino, and Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs James Blair.

For many, seeing every imperfection on the faces of the typically polished political figures was jaw-dropping. “Diabolical,” “done dirty,” “crazy,” Instagram users commented. “Jump scare” — a reference to viewers being unexpectedly scared — appeared on photographs, multiple times.

But despite the public reaction, the photos were not taken to deliberately show the Trump officials’ bad sides. For photographer Christopher Anderson, the images are consistent with his style of close-up portraiture. Anderson is an award-winning photographer who has contributed to the New York Times, New York Times Magazine, Esquire, and the Wall Street Journal. He won a Robert Capa Gold Medal for his photographs of Haitian immigrants sailing to the US.

“Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the years,” Anderson told The Independent. “Particularly, political portraits that I’ve done over the years. I like the idea of penetrating the theater of politics.” Anderson and his team spent the day at the White House for the feature on November 13. They met with each profiled member in their office for the Vanity Fair portraits. Using a medium-format camera and specific lighting, Anderson sought to capture them in his signature style.

“I know there’s a lot to be made with, ‘Oh, he intentionally is trying to make people look bad’ and that kind of thing — that’s not the case,” Anderson said. “If you look at my photograph work, I’ve done a lot of close-ups in the same style with people of all political stripes.” In theory, Anderson’s creative vision aligns closely with the repeated sentiments of Trump officials — that this is “the most transparent administration in history.”

Perhaps too transparent for some, though. “Jesus Christ a warning next time please,” comedian Kelsey Darragh wrote on a post that featured a very close-up photo of Leavitt’s face. The photo of Leavitt, 28, the administration’s “mouthpiece,” as Vanity Fair describes her, became the more standout image for displaying every facial imperfection – including what some believe to be injection site marks on the press secretary’s lips. Leavitt’s portrait captured significantly more attention than any of the other portraits posted on Vanity Fair’s Instagram, with more than 20,000 views and 2,000 comments in roughly eight hours.

Leavitt has not publicly commented on the photo. The Independent has asked the White House for comment on the photographs. Anderson said he photographed each member of the administration the same way, but “found it interesting to be even closer” to Leavitt.

“Above all else, try to cut through the image that politics want to project and get at something that is more truthful,” Anderson said. On a particularly detailed photo of Secretary Rubio looking pensive, one person quipped: “Did VF use the camera from the dermatologist that shows sun damage??” Anderson said photos were chosen based on what looked best for each person. For Rubio, in addition to a portrait, they chose a candid photo of the secretary looking out of the window to best depict him. The magazine’s story featured various key members of Trump’s inner circle but mainly focused on Wiles, the first woman to hold White House chief of staff position, whom Trump has nicknamed “Ice Maiden.” In a series of particularly candid interviews, Wiles gave a brutally honest recount of the president’s second stint in the White House. She referred to her boss as having “an alcoholic’s personality” and claimed Vance had been a “conspiracy theorist for a decade.”

Up-close photos of Wiles depict her wide eyes and curled silver locks. “Mugshot,” an Instagram user posted. “Are the close-ups bad on purpose for all of them?” another post read. Upon publication, Wiles pushed back on the accuracy of the article, claiming it was “disingenuously false” and that Vanity Fair had taken quotes out of context. She did not comment on the photos taken by Anderson. “I see my job doing that as a responsibility to portray what I encounter,” Anderson said of his portraiture. He maintains that responsibility, even in awkward moments — such as when Stephen Miller approached him after their photoshoot to give him a gentle reminder about how he portrays his subjects.

“When we were finished, (Miller) came up to me and he said, ‘You know you have a lot of power in the discretion you use to be kind to someone in your photographs,’” Anderson recalled. “And I look at him and I said, ‘You know, you do too.’ “I don’t know how much he related to that,” Anderson added.