Celebs de-glamorized with a Polaroid for Vanity Fair

We love seeing celebrities in their natural states, with minimal make-up and without the bright lights that make them seem illuminated from within. The 2014 Vanity Fair Hollywood Issue has captured celebs in just this way and has showed them to us like we have never seen them before.

Vanity Fair’s annual Hollywood Issue is one of the most anticipated editions of the magazine every year and this year, the magazine managed to get a few celebrities on board who were willing to bear their true faces for the camera. This edition will include images of 20 of the biggest names in Hollywood without make-up, airbrushing, complicated cameras or special lighting. Basically, these are photographs of artists as their authentic selves posing willingly.

Respected American artist and photographer, Chuck Close, also a painter, captured the up-close and intimate shots of the celebs using a 20-by-24 inch Polaroid camera. Apart from these celebrities being brave in showing their true selves to the world, Close also showed immense pluck in shooting for the world-renowned publication using a Polaroid camera.

The subjects of the shoot were provided with five non-negotiables. They were to have no staff and arrive alone, possibly with a friend; they were to allow three hours for the shoot; they had to style themselves yet leave off make-up; they had to be satisfied with the simple coffee and snacks on set; and they had to get to the studio without the help of anyone else.

A few of those fearless enough to accept the task were Steven Spielberg, Brad Pitt, Julia Roberts, Scarlett Johansson, Kate Winslet, George Clooney, Forest Whitaker, Oprah Winfrey, Bette Midler, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman, Bruce Willis, Jessica Lange, Sean Penn, Martin Scorsese, and Robert DeNiro.

The issue of Vanity Fair was released on the 11^th of February and has the world amazed at the sincerity and courage of these stars who deserve a great deal of respect for agreeing to be shot in this way. These images are rare for their genuine quality and for capturing subjects that were daring enough to put their aesthetics on hold in a world where they are idolized for it.