‘Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell’: Closeted Military Members Are Finally Able to Reveal Their Faces

Photographer Jeff Sheng started his “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” project, photographing closeted service members in the U.S. military affected by DADT, knowing only one thing for  sure–that he wouldn’t be able to show any names or faces.  He traveled the country, making new friends, sometimes crashing in spare rooms, often on military bases…living off his credit card. He said he brought with him just his light kit and pulled from everything he’d ever learned about photography.   Little did he know that his project, which began in 2008 and which he self-published in 2009, would fall in the hands of high-level military personnel and White House officials. Nor could he predict that just two years after he made the intimate portrait, above, that he would be back, photographing the couple’s wedding–on a military base, names and faces and all, below, thanks to President Barack Obama’s repeal of “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell.” A lot has changed in a short time, and Sheng has been at the forefront.