DOCUMENTING OUTRAGE: L.A. photographer documents U.S. military's 'don't ask, don't tell' policy

Does anybody care to explain away, justify and talk about how full our politician's "plates" are to keep this disgraceful law on the books even one more day?
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Why would you want to take a portrait of someone without showing his or her face? The essence of portrait photography, after all, is to capture the spirit of the subject and to reveal some crucial aspect of his or her identity.

But in the case of L.A. photographer Jeff Sheng's latest project, capturing his subjects' faces would almost certainly put their careers in jeopardy. That's because Sheng has set about to photograph U.S. military service personnel who are gay but closeted in their work lives. Titled "Dont' Ask, Don't Tell," the ongoing project consists of a series of stark, sometimes sad, portraits of U.S. soldiers who are forced to hide a part of who they are.

"I want to give an invisible community some visibility, but at the same time, to keep them invisible," said Sheng on the phone from Vancouver, where he is working on another project.

"There's already a lot of journalistic work on gay people in the military who have been discharged. My project is more about people who are still serving."

To conceal the identities of current military personnel, the photographer has used lighting and shadow effects to mask part or all of their faces. Sometimes, the subject will conceal his or her face with a hand, as in the photo above, titled "Jess, Bend, Oregon, 2009." (The names and towns of the titles are fictional for the protection of identity.) In certain cases, the entire subject is hidden in the shadows. The photographer sometimes meets them in a hotel near the base where they are serving....

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/culturemonster/2009/11/la-photographer-documents-us-militarys-dont-ask-dont-tell-policy.html

to see if there's any identifying information at all in the photos, for the sole purpose of kicking them out if they can find out who they are.

I hope this doesn't backfire on anyone....

Isn't it a shame what these soldiers have to endure just to serve their country.

And I mean "shame" as in "disgrace" and not "pity".

I hope that great care is taken to hide these soldiers' identities.

The Office of Faith Based Discrimination and Hate, that whole crowd. I think Obama promised them a number. And he's glad to oblige obviously. He wants more war, but has no need for warriors.

but this puts me back in perspective. I am able to be out with my students and my coworkers. I sing in a gay chorus. I get to live my life as I see fit. They can't do any of that.

Do check out his project of pics for out college and HS athletes. Very inspiring.

:hi: