Vanity Fair photographer explains reason behind viral portraits of Trump's administration

Journalists at Vanity Fair have been forced to issue a statement after sharing a controversial collection of close-up White House portraits.

The shoot was carried out as part of a reflection on the first year of Donald Trump's second stint in the presidential residence.

Amongst the high-profile Republicans featured are Susie Wiles (White House Chief of Staff), Marco Rubio (Secretary of State), Stephen Miller (Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy), Dan Scavino (Director of Presidential Personnel Office), and James Blair (Deputy Chief of Staff for Legislative, Political and Public Affairs).

Also having posed for a pic are Trump's right-hand duo, Vice President, JD Vance, and White House Press Secretary, Karoline Leavitt.

The official portraits shared this week, however - taken with a medium-format camera and specific lighting - differ greatly to others we've seen in the past.

No one is posed beside a painted pic of a previous president, or flanked by two giant star-spangled flags.

Instead, the photographer - since identified as award-winner Christopher Anderson, famed for his rather niche zoomed-in style of portraiture - got up close and personal with each administration member.

So much so, that every crease, pimple, make-up smudge and ingrown hair is alarmingly visible to viewers.

Unsurprisingly, the obscure shoot has since sparked much discussion online. MAGA-fans have criticised both the outlet and its hired photographer for doing the group 'dirty', and even left-leaning voters have rinsed the collection as 'diabolical'.

"Jesus Christ a warning next time please," one Instagram user joked, whilst another teased: "This just triggered my fight or flight."

Despite the criticism, however, speaking for the fashion mag, Anderson has since defended the shoot, claiming the images weren't captured with the intention of flaunting each Republican's 'bad side'.

"Very close-up portraiture has been a fixture in a lot of my work over the years," the artist told The Independent. "Particularly, political portraits that I’ve done over the years. I like the idea of penetrating the theatre 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 went on to advise: "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."

Unfortunately, despite the photographer's claims, much has been said about Karoline Leavitt's portrait in particular - and none of it very much.

Specifically, critics claimed to have noticed several picture marks around the press sec's mouth, putting them down to lip injections. This theory hasn't been confirmed, however.

Hitting out at the choice of style, one X user wrote: "This is the meanest photo I’ve ever seen."

Another agreed: "This picture is very unkind."

Others questioned why Leavitt had given the hotly-debated image the go-ahead.

"Did she not notice the camera was 2 inches from her face? Why did she let them do this?" a third questioned.

Another also wondered: "I’m just curious who reviewed and signed off on the proofs from the WH."

Though 28-year-old Leavitt is yet to address her portrait, she did take aim at Vanity Fair's team of writers, after Susie Wiles called out the publication for supposedly changing the context of her words, after she was said to have described the President's 'alcoholic personality'.

The outlet reports that Wiles - who has since slammed the article as a 'hit piece' - is also said to have accused Vance of having been a 'conspiracy theorist for a decade'.

Chiming in, Leavitt told press outside the White House today: "This is, unfortunately, another example of disingenuous reporting, where you have a reporter who took the Chief of Staff's words wildly out of context - did not include the context of these conversations.

"Further, I think the most egregious part of this article was the bias of omission that was clearly present."

She continued: "We see a lot of this when dealing with the media everyday."

Responding to the administration's claims, Vanity Fair journalist Chris Whipple - the man responsible for the written article that accompanied the close-up snaps - told CNN: "Everything in the article was on the record."

He added: "I recorded every interview."

You can read Vanity Fair's full piece here.