Vanity Fair
Vanity Fair photographer Christopher Anderson has defended his close-up photographs of President Donald Trump’s Cabinet, particularly the portrait of White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt.
The images have caused a stir online. Some called out Anderson for intentionally trying to make the staff look ugly, while comments on the Vanity Fair Instagram page — where the photos have been shared — range from “jump scare,” “diabolical,” “crazy,” and “done dirty.”
Anderson took extremely tight head shots of many of Trump’s inner circle, including Vice President JD Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, and White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. Some of them came with accompanying juxtaposed blurbs, such as “The Mouthpiece” for Leavitt.
The photographs are certainly unflinching. Many people have pointed out the filler injection sites on Leavitt’s lips; perhaps a more sympathetic eye may have airbrushed the photo. However, Anderson is well-known for this style of work.
“Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the years,” Anderson tells The Independent. “Particularly, political portraits that I’ve done over the years. I like the idea of penetrating the theater of politics.”
“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 adds. “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.”
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In an Instagram Reel by V Spehar that was co-authored by Anderson, Spehar says it is the photographer’s signature style.
“Christopher Anderson quite simply captures the deepest truth of people, which is what makes him such an incredible and respected artist as a photographer,” they say.
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Anderson didn’t just take up-close photos of Trump’s team; he captured more regular group portraits, details, and wider shots — including a bizarre photo of Rubio looking at a lamp.
In the Vanity Fair article, it’s revealed that Vance joked to Anderson: “I’ll give you $100 for every person you make look really s****y compared to me. And $1,000 if it’s Marco.”
When Anderson started shooting, the wisecracking vice president asked the photographer, “Is this the part where you say we’re all evil?”
There has also been significant fallout from the contents within the article: Wiles describes the president as having “an alcoholic’s personality,” accuses former head of DOGE Elon Musk of being an “avowed ketamine” user, and calls Vance a “conspiracy theorist.”
Image credits: Vanity Fair / Christopher Anderson