Here’s what I remember Cookie (Judith Phillips) once writing about the photo titled “The Salute.” It was taken as part of a themed collection of photos on the subject of “Motherhood.” She asked some of her clients to participate by coming for a photo shoot wearing whatever they thought appropriate. Here are her words from ACR (
http://www.acandyrose.com/s-judith-phillips.htm):
JP: Of course I saw the physical changes with her hair and that she was dressed up like at her Christmas party she was dressed up in this Cinderella ball gown. I had never seen her in clothes like that. You know, I hadn't seen that before.And she was so perfectly coiffed you know, makeup. And when I did the photo shoot in the studio the one where she and her mom and Burke and Nedra were there. I saw her, really I left it up to the people to decide, how they wanted to present their family. I didn't say you had to wear these kinds of clothes, and so I was always very interested to see what mothers would bring to wear.
JP: laugh. So when I saw these elegant outfits I was, um, she, they were the only people that I'd ever photographed that way. And JonBenét had this incredible, beautiful white dress on, and then they applied the makeup and I photographed her, it was obvious to me that this was a little girl that had changed a lot, that I didn't know. No, I did not see the stress of JonBenét at all. What I saw in that photo shoot which was really the last time I, no, the second to last time I saw her alive, was that Patsy was in a frenzy, that she was late as usual, and she probably had another appointment that she was already late for so it was....c'mon, get...you know, she was real tense, and the kids were like real stiff and real obedient to her, they knew not to cross a certain line and then when I took the pictures, especially of JonBenét alone, I allowed her to be free and be herself and on some level, it was difficult for her to handle that. I remember I had to talk to her, encourage her, not to be quote, on, you know I wanted a deeper picture.
And from a posting at FFJ (
http://www.forumsforjustice.org/for...rensic-Expert-Mom-Did-it!&p=137607#post137607):
It was interesting doing the photo shoot of Patsy and all. I instruct my clients to wear whatever is comfortable and the plan the image they wish to project on film. When Patsy walked into the studio, I was a bit surprised at her outfit and those of Burke, Nedra and JB. I don't recall anyone else that I have ever photographed for the Motherhood book that showed up dressed to the hilt like the Ramsey family. Just an interesting observation.
Later in that same thread she wrote (tongue-in-cheek):
It's interesting to hear all your viewpoints from 1 photo. I was kind of going for the American Gothic look. Unlike in the painting where the husband and wife were holding a pitchfork, they all should have had tierras on holding a baseball bat, golf club and/or a garrote.
:floorlaugh:
Seems like she said at one time that JonBenet just spontaneously snapped the salute without prompting. It could be interpreted as her playful reaction while everyone else looked so somber. Maybe Patsy put her up to it without telling Phillips about it. Someone compared it to the famous photo of JohnJohn Kennedy at his father’s funeral. I guess we’ll never know exactly what was going through her mind when she decided to raise her hand in the photo, but it impressed Phillips so much that she used the gesture as the title of the photo.
In Doc Miller’s book proposal he wrote the following about his wife (
http://www.forumsforjustice.org/for...Justice-quot-by-Thomas-C-quot-Doc-quot-Miller):
Judith Phillips captures souls on film. Her portrait of Patsy and JonBenet Ramsey, included in this proposal’s sample book cover, tells the underlying story of a little girl trapped in the beauty pageants of her mother’s glory days. The photograph comes from Phillips’ Motherhood collection.
Once Phillips picked up a camera, she established herself as a photographer. She won contests and awards as many publications in Boulder and Colorado published her work. She began a portrait business, and Patsy Ramsey became one of her artistic supporters and a patron. That led to the stunning images Phillips took of Patsy and her children growing up. Most of the photographs of Patsy, Burke and JonBenet are owned by American Media Corporation. Phillips owns or has permission for use of the photographs that accompany the manuscript.
In addition to the Ramsey images, Phillips has portraits of many of the characters associated with the case. Lawrence Schiller, author of Perfect Murder, Perfect Town, Tabloid “Bad Boy,” Craig Lewis, and Carol McKinley of Fox News are some of the notables. Locals such as mayor Leslie Durgin, reporter Frank Coffman, the reluctant friend, Fleet White and the Moms Gone Bad softball team are included with others whose lives were caught in the maelstrom.
BTW, there’s much more from
Cookie in that particular thread at FFJ if you read through a little more. The other photo showing the misshapen ring-finger was taken during that same photo shoot (as well as some other photos floating around), and it was then that she noticed that it looked like it had been broken. Also in that thread is a photo from a news article about Patsy’s bout with cancer and their 12-year friendship which Patsy later described as an “acquaintance.”
Kudos CBS for finally doing the right thing and investigating this properly.
