As I reported the other day, Secretary of State Marco Rubio posted a new profile pic … him in a poorly lit room, apparently staring at a lamp on the table. Vice President JD Vance joked that he owed the Vanity Fair photographer $1,000, as The New York Times reported on the "underlying tension" between the two coming through in Vance's offer to give him $100 "for every person he made look really s****y compared to me. And $1,000 if it’s Marco."
Meg Brock is a photographer and noticed that Vanity Fair photographer Christopher Anderson seemed to pose all of his subjects in front of electrical outlets and light switches.
As a photographer, I’d say the biggest tell in the Vanity Fair photos was posing subjects in front of light switches and electric outlets
— Meg Brock (@MegEBrock) December 19, 2025
No decent photographer says to their subject, “See that thermostat over there? Go stand in front of it and give me a power pose.”
This… pic.twitter.com/84MSjVaZMX
The post continues:
This photography sin is more egregious than the off-putting skin tones. What a train wreck.
This takes me all the way back to the 2008 campaign and photographer Jill Greenberg's photoshoot for The Atlantic, where she used lighting tricks to make candidate John McCain look sinister and later Photoshopped images with blood and fangs, calling him a "bloodthirsty warmonger," as well as a chimpanzee defecating on his head.
According to Grok, Anderson has defended the images as "something more real" and authentic.
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Why would they do that? What does it tell? Is it a signal?
— Chill (@Chillcatser) December 20, 2025
I think it tells how far below the basic quality you’d expect from a professional photographer the images are, much less one working for VF.
— Meg Brock (@MegEBrock) December 20, 2025
Agreeing to a vanity spread in Vanity Fair is moronic. May as well go on Colbert show too
— Not sure (@NotSure4727) December 19, 2025
And talking to Vanity Fair is a mistake, as President Donald Trump’s Chief of Staff Susie Wiles learned this week, saying Vanity Fair published a "disingenuously framed hit piece" to "paint an overwhelmingly chaotic and negative narrative about the President and our team."
How do Republicans not know by now not to do interviews with the media, especially with outlets you know are hostile, like Vanity Fair.
so close. she’s so close to getting it. https://t.co/BN2khqCaBK
— Skoog (@Skoog) December 20, 2025
vanity fair photographer christopher anderson posts this story on his instagram, suggesting he intentionally posed stephen miller underneath a painting of native americans pic.twitter.com/GNuULL2y3P
— derek guy (@dieworkwear) December 18, 2025
This video is a great interpretation of the vision behind these photos... if you're curious. pic.twitter.com/A9BZnh3Amp
— Nitin Singh 🍃 (@Kohlliers) December 20, 2025
Republicans need to learn to just say no. The mainstream media will never like you.
You can tell Vanity Fair's 'journalism' rigor just by the photos their editors chose. pic.twitter.com/HOqYIx76KU
— Jesús Enrique Rosas - The Body Language Guy (@Knesix) December 17, 2025
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