UPDATE:
Same Publication, Quueerity: High school students who threw Nazi salute won’t be punished because it’s ‘free speech’
By Daniel Villarreal November 26, 2018 at 10:11am
There are a lot of political out cries again, with this photo and with this new information:
"The picture was taken by Peter Gust, a parent who wasn’t the official school photographer. When the photo was taken, a gay student named Jordan Blue said his classmates knew what the salute meant and threw it as a some sort of joke."
This is a great example of why you hire a professional photographer.
Everyone with a camera phone is now a photographer. I am a big advocate of images taken with what ever tool you have and growing that interest. There are photography situations that a novice photographer will be put into and not know exactly what to do, and this is one of them. This lesson could have been simply been avoided by deleting this image in the editing process, but now it’s on the web, and will no longer can be erased, especially with the attention it has now.
I still believe in my heart, that these children are innocent. With that said, I am a realist and do however, sense the rest of the world will not be so forgiving. The backlash for these children could be detrimental to their future. This photo will follow these young men through life. For example: If I were a college admissions officer, I would take a close look at any male applicant from that school. A personal note to Jordan Blue, I am sure some of the male students who may have harassed and bullied you are in that photo. You stand tall young man, for you are recognized for refusing to act foolish. I believe most schools will be more than willing to admit a kid with courage and principals to what ever school you apply to!
Wave - A Fork in the Road
This is the article on Queerity: No, Just No This gay student refused to throw a Nazi salute in his school’s junior prom photo By Daniel Villarreal November 13, 2018 at 12:11pm:
The Baraboo High School in Wisconsin has become infamous for a photo that surfaced over the weekend of male students throwing a Nazi salute. Some of the photographed students didn’t throw the salute, including one gay student named Jordan Blue who is now speaking out about it.The photo was taken last spring on the steps of the country courthouse before the junior prom as an annual tradition. The boys in the photo were all juniors — many are now members of the school’s Class of 2019.Blue tells the local CBS News affiliate, “As soon as I heard the photographer say ‘Raise your hand,’ I knew what was going to happen…. [The photographer] did not say ‘Raise your hand in a Nazi symbol way,’ and I’m pretty sure that my classmates just interpreted it as ‘Raise your hand — let’s do this as a joke.’”Blue says he believes that his fellow students knew what the “sieg heil” salute meant and adds that he didn’t throw the salute because “It did not represent my morals and I could not do something that I didn’t believe in.” He also says that a parent standing nearby yelled at the boys to stop throwing the salute.The GoBaraboo Twitter account shared the photo on Sunday, captioning it with the following message: “We even got the black kid to throw it up #BarabooProud.” The account has since gone private…. …The photographer, Peter Gust, also spoke with the CBS News affiliate, saying that he told the boys to wave their hands as if saying goodbye to their parents. Gust says that the gesture is being taken out of context, stating, “For society to turn it around and now blame these kids is absolutely wrong.” Scroll down to see the photograph in question. If you are wondering which guy is Jordan Blue, He is top row, on the right wearing a fabulous red bowtie.
I have taken a lot of group photos, A LOT. It comes with the job description. The most recent is of Lamont Home’s Company Photo. I took about three shots of everyone standing and smiling is used on the company’s website. After I knew I knew i had the shot, I wanted to lightened the mood and had everyone wave. I had the people, camera left, use their right hand and the people camera right, use their left hand. This is what a group of people waving looks like.
Scroll down to see the photograph.
In my previous blog post, I mentioned how I presented “lighting” at a High School Festival at a University.
Now, High School kids are still being shaped as Adults. It is up to us adults to guide them to the correct path. They do what they are told, and yelled at for doing something wrong. So, in this case, the Photographer controls the situation and the image that is produced. When the boys get rowdy, and start doing the salute, you can tell all the boys to cut it out, and wave nicely. I really don’t know how this photographer, who is a professional adult allowed this image to happen, and then viewed nationally by the public. This global attention should be unwanted, but perhaps that is what he intended? I learned in Los Angeles, that bad press is still press. People are talking about it, for example: I wouldn’t be blogging about this issue if it didn’t acquire national attention. I would caution every photographer to error on the positive. These kids, these children are our future. I believe children are innocent, and we have a responsibility to show them the correct course to take when a fork in the road shows itself in life. This is why I am blogging about this situation. We, as photographers have to be accountable for our work; what we put out and show the world who we are. People always want to take credit for the good work we do, but also need to stand up and take credit for the bad. So, let's take this as a teaching moment and learn from other people's mistakes: When a group of people are doing something vulgar, or surreptitious in the photo you are about to capture, just tell them to stop; "Knock it off". Reset, and take the photo that you and your fellow photographers will be proud of. With that said, I would like to take this moment to applaud Jordan Blue, the high school student who refused to salute because he knew it was wrong. Your parents, teachers, mentors and I am very proud of you! Your future looks very bright, young man.
UPDATE:
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