When photographer Mark Seliger walked into a room at the Bush Center in Dallas this past July, he faced George W. Bush and Bill Clinton, two former U.S. Presidents who had just announced a new educational joint venture between their respective libraries. The unprecedented photoshoot — Seliger had photographed presidents before, but never two at the same time — is just one of the many TIME commissioned this year.
The subjects of those portraits include Republican frontrunner Donald Trump, new Late Show host Stephen Colbert, actors like Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock, astronaut Scott Kelly and many more of the year’s most influential leaders in politics, entertainment, business, sciences and the arts. And they weren’t all celebrities: TIME also photographed the women who fight the Islamic State in Syria and the families who continue to flee the group’s regime of terror.
In this chronological gallery, TIME’s photo department presents its selection of the best portraits it commissioned in 2015.
Caitlyn JennerFrom "Person of the Year." December 21, 2015 issue. Sebastian Kim for TIMEJoseph Gordon-LevittFrom "Person of the Year." December 21, 2015 issue.Erik Madigan Heck for TIMETaraji P. HensonFrom "Person of the Year." December 21, 2015 issue. Erik Madigan Heck for TIMEHarrison Ford photographed for TIME on October 16, 2015 in Los Angeles.From "Meet the Cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens"Marco Grob for TIMER2D2 photographed for TIME on October 29, 2015 in London.From "Meet the Cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens"Marco Grob for TIMEMark Hamill photographed for TIME on October 27, 2015 in Los Angeles.From "Meet the Cast of Star Wars: The Force Awakens"Marco Grob for TIMENajee Washington, left, and Nadine Collier,
Ethel Lance’s granddaughter and daughter at Collier’s Charleston home.
Collier was the first family member to offer forgiveness at the bond hearing.From "Telling Charleston’s Story in Photographs"Deana Lawson for TIMEGracie Broome, the Rev. Clementa Pinckney’s grandmother, at her home in Mullins, S.C., with a photo of him in his school marching-band uniform. “When you hear others forgiving,” she says, “it makes you feel good.”From "Telling Charleston’s Story in Photographs"Deana Lawson for TIMESandra Bullock photographed at the Four Seasons hotel in Los Angeles, October 17, 2015.From "Women Flip the Script." November 2, 2015 issue.Peter Hapak for TIMEPortrait of director Steven Spielberg and actor Tom Hanks photographed at the Ritz Carlton hotel in New York City October 4, 2015.From "For Two Legends, History Is Personal." October 19, 2015 issue.Peter Hapak for TIMEBritta Leben, left, a 27-year-old German master’s student, helps Zakaria Edelbi, 30, center, with his German-language work. Edelbi came to Berlin in August 2014, leaving behind his wife and three children in Aleppo. He was reunited with them in March 2015 after months of trying to secure visas. Leben first met Edelbi in May, thanks to Beginn Nebenan Berlin, an organization that connects locals with refugees. “I just wanted to get to know the people we’re sharing this city with,” she says. “And Zakaria’s family is so open-minded and fun to be around.” In late August, the Edelbis moved out of a shelter and into their own flat in Spandau, West Berlin. The children now attend school nearby and already speak some German. Edelbi says he fears for Syria’s future—but for the first time, he is no longer afraid for his children.From "The Welcome." October 19, 2015 issue.Joakim Eskildsen for TIMEPhilanthropist Eli Broad photographed at the Broad Museum in Los Angeles, September 18, 2015.From "Broad City." October 12, 2015 issue.Spencer Lowell for TIMESen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt, photographed at his Senate office in Washington D.C. on September 15, 2015.From "The Gospel of Bernie." September 28, 2015 issue.Stephen Voss for TIMEMichael Fassbender photographed for TIME in London on August 11,2015.From "The Man Who Would Be Jobs." Sept. 7 / Sept. 14, 2015 issue.Miles Aldridge for TIMEAuthor Margo Jefferson photographed in New York City, August 11, 2015. From "A Voice to Say, This Land Is My Land." Sept. 7 / Sept. 14, 2015 issue.Andreas Laszlo Konrath for TIMEStephen Colbert photographed for TIME on August 7, 2015 in New York City.From "Night Vision." Sept. 7 / Sept. 14, 2015 issue.Platon for TIMEStephen Colbert pictured in newly installed seats at the Ed Sullivan Theater, August 13, 2015. From "Night Vision." Sept. 7 / Sept. 14, 2015 issue.Platon for TIMEDonald Trump photographed at Trump Tower in New York City, August 18, 2015.From "The Donald Has Landed." August 31, 2015 issue.Martin Schoeller for TIMEThe Republican front runner in his corner office on the 25th floor of Trump Tower in New York City, photographed with a bald eagle named Uncle Sam. From "The Donald Has Landed." August 31, 2015 issue.Martin Schoeller for TIMEPalmer lucky, inventor of Oculus Rift, photographed in Menlo Park, California on June 23, 2015.From "Inside the Box." August 17, 2015. Gregg Segal for TIMEPresidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton photographed at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas, July 9, 2015. From "Game of Thrones." August 3, 2015 issue.Mark Seliger for TIMEPresidents George W. Bush and Bill Clinton photographed at the George W. Bush Presidential Library in Dallas, Texas, July 9, 2015. From "Game of Thrones." August 3, 2015 issue.Mark Seliger for TIMEMarco Grob for TIMEAlexis Ohanian, left, and Ellen Pao of Reddit photographed in their San Francisco office, Thursday, June 25, 2015.From "Reddit Reboots." July 20, 2015 issue.
Mark Mahaney for TIMEKacey Musgraves, photographed in New York City, June 9, 2015.From "Modern Twang." June 29, 2015 issue.
Peter Hapak for TIMEFrom "Nip. Tuck. Or Else." June 29, 2015 issue.Miles Aldridge for TIMEJoseph Kawesi, 31
Uganda, March 2015
Joseph Kawesi, a transgender woman, sits at home in the Ugandan capital of Kampala with her mother Mai, 65.
Kawesi still has nightmares about the night in December 2012 when she says police officers dragged her out of her home after a tip-off that she might be gay. She says the officers beat her, and then raped her with a club. Kawesi is now an activist working to support LGBT people affected by HIV/AIDS in Uganda.
Uganda's president signed an Anti-Homosexuality Act into law in Feb. 2014, that broadened the criminalization of same-sex relationships, adding to colonial-era laws that already prohibited sodomy. The law was overturned on a technicality in August, but Parliament could pass a new anti-homosexuality bill this year.From "Chronicling the Struggles of LGBT People Around the World"Robin Hammond—Panos for TIMEKasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, 34Uganda, March 2015
“We have a very long way to go in this struggle but I am glad that we are not just sitting back," says Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, 34, one of the early pioneers of the gay-rights struggle in Uganda.
In 2003, she founded Freedom and Roam Uganda, a gay-rights advocacy group; last December she published and distributed Bombastic, a free magazine focused on the personal stories of Uganda's gay men and women. From "Chronicling the Struggles of LGBT People Around the World"Robin Hammond—Panos for TIMETiffany Turner poses for a portrait at her home on May 23, 2015. When her doctor cut off her pain medication two years after a car accident, Turner turned to the black market.From "The Price of Relief." June 15, 2015 issue.Natalie Keyssar for TIMEAziz Ansari, photographed in New York City, Saturday, May 26, 2015.From "Love in the Age of Like." June 15, 2015 issue.
Martin Schoeller for TIME A robot practices walking across rough terrain at the Institute for Human and Machine Cognition in Pensacola, Florida.From "Iron Man." June 8, 2015 issue.Marco Grob for TIMEAziz Ansari, photographed in New York City, Saturday, May 26, 2015.From "Love in the Age of Like." June 15, 2015 issue.
Martin Schoeller for TIME Ogyen Trinley Dorje, the 17th Karmapa, photographed in New York City, April 13, 2015.From "10 Questions." May 25, 2015 International issue.Peter Hapak for TIMEIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi photographed at his residence in New Delhi, India, May 2, 2015.From "The Next Global Player." May 18, 2015 issue.Peter Hapak for TIMEIndian Prime Minister Narendra Modi photographed at his residence in New Delhi, India, May 2, 2015.From "The Next Global Player." May 18, 2015 issue.Peter Hapak for TIMEEighteen-year-old Kurdish fighter Torin Khairegi.From "Fight For Their Rights." April 20, 2015 issue.Newsha Tavakolian for TIME NASA astronaut Scott Kelly sits in a training simulator in Star City, Russia, March 4, 2015.From "The 100 Most Influential People." April 27 / May 4, 2015 issue.Marco Grob for TIMEUnited States Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg photographed at the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C., March 17, 2015.From "The 100 Most Influential People." April 27 / May 4, 2015 issue.Sebastian Kim for TIMEBradley Cooper photographed in New York City, March 4, 2015.From "The 100 Most Influential People." April 27 / May 4, 2015 issue.
Sebastian Kim for TIMEMisty Copeland photographed at the American Ballet Theater in New York City, February 24, 2015.From "The 100 Most Influential People." April 27 / May 4, 2015 issue.Sebastian Kim for TIMEKanye West, photographed in Los Angeles, March 18, 2015.From "The 100 Most Influential People." April 27 / May 4, 2015 issue.
Sebastian Kim for TIMEJorge Ramos photographed in Doral, Florida, March 19, 2015.From "The 100 Most Influential People." April 27 / May 4, 2015 issue.
Sebastian Kim for TIMECake Boss Buddy Valastro, left, and David Zaslav at a Carlo's bakery facility in Jersey City, N.J. From "The Cable Boss." April 13, 2015 issue.Martin Schoeller for TIME News anchor Katie Couric photographed in New York City, March 23, 2015. From "10 Questions." April 6, 2015 issue.Peter Hapak for TIMEMaryAnn Anselmo, 59. Anselmo's brain cancer is being treated with an experimental drug at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City; her tumor hasn't grown in a year.From "The Cancer Gap." March 30, 2015 issue.Christopher Morris—VII for TIMEMarcia Stiefel, 68, spent Thanksgiving in the hospital to have a brain tumor removed; now she awaits the results of scans that will tell her whether the radiation and chemo worked.From "The Cancer Gap." March 30, 2015 issue. Christopher Morris—VII for TIMEWisconsin Governor Scott Walker at the Conservative Political Action Conference in February.From "Playing to Win." March 30, 2015 issue.Mark Peterson—Redux for TIMEStarbucks CEO Howard Schultz photographed in Seattle.From "Starbucks For America." February 16, 2015 issue.Ian Allen for TIMESelma Director Ava DuVernay and actor David Oyelowo photographed in New York City. From "Making Selma History." January 19, 2014 issue.Peter Hapak for TIME
