Scholar Valerie Hébert served as an author and editor for a new book called Framing the Holocaust: Photographs of a Mass Shooting in Latvia, 1941.

The Lakehead University professor is one of eight contributors to the book, which takes a deep dive into 12 photographs that document a mass shooting of Jewish people on a beach in Latvia in December 1941.

“When a lot of people think about the Holocaust, they think of Auschwitz and they think of trains,” Hébert said. “Before the death camps were built, the mass killings began with mobile shooting squads that combed through the Eastern Front as the Nazi army advanced.”

Hébert says the mobile shooting squads would gather alleged racial and political enemies and shoot them to death. More than a million people were killed using this terrorizing tactic.

“These 12 photographs show the sequential steps in one of these shooting actions,” she explained. “Jews were brought to this place, were made to undress. They were separated into smaller groups and brought to a ditch that was dug parallel with the sea, and they were shot. Their bodies fell into the ditch.”

Four men are connected to the photographs, but it’s unknown for sure who took them. The photos were turned in to the Soviet investigators by a Jewish Latvian man and are commonly used today in Holocaust museums but are rarely attributed to the correct time and place.

“This book provides an in-depth study and the historical context for these photos,” Hébert said.

In 2017, Hébert organized a workshop at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, D.C. on atrocity photography.

“Photographs are sort of at the cutting edge of Holocaust research in particular,” she said. “There is more and more interest in this field of atrocity photography.”

She invited scholars from Canada, the U.S., Germany and Australia to the two-week workshop to talk about their work in atrocity photography and to look at materials from the museum.

“The idea was to put together a book where we are all speaking about the same images,” she said. “We chose these 12 photos because it’s rare to have so many in a clear sequence.”

The images show partially clothed and naked women and children caught in moments of terror.

“They really push us to the edge of what it is we can bear to look at,” she said. “The key question of the book is if they are so unbearable to look at, why should we even engage with them? What can we gain from them? And what can they tell us?”

Each author in the book brings a different question to the photos.

For Hébert, studying photos goes back to her childhood. Her interest in history comes from looking through her grandfather’s Time Life coffee table book of photographs from the 20th century.

“From the time I was little, I would look at this book and would be really drawn to photographs,” she said.

Hébert, who has a PhD in history, uses photographs often in her teaching at Lakehead University.

“I’ve taught Holocaust courses, I’ve taught courses on the world wars, and at first I was always uneasy about showing photographs of dead bodies and people in distress,” she said.

“There are some really important questions around these people not giving their consent to be photographed. A lot of times, the photographs are a part of the torture and humiliation because the photographer is using the moment to deepen their suffering.”

Through the process of creating the book, Hébert asked herself if bringing light to the photographs continued the humiliation and horror of victims. She also asked herself if the pictures were important evidence that help people understand history.

“The chapter that I contributed to the book looks at that ethical question,” she said. “Should we look at these? Should we not? And what are the arguments on both sides?”

The chapter sets the stage for all of the following chapters in the book, and Hébert hopes readers who pick up the book will gain a new appreciation for how rich and complex photographs are.

“We have this idea that photographs tell us everything, the truth is on its surface, and we understand everything by looking at the photograph, but we don’t,” she said. “So, it’s really important to consider who took the photograph, who was the intended audience, and what that might mean.”

While the photographs in the book were taken as a celebration of the crime, they’re also an indictment, which makes it important to understand the many meanings photographs hold, Hébert says.

“It helps us think more critically about historical photographs that we see,” she said. “We are a more visual culture now with social media and Instagram. It’s all image based now.”

She says photographs can transcend language, time and geography, which makes it important to have a more critical and nuanced way of understanding pictures while being aware of their ethical complications, which makes people better consumers of present-day photojournalism.

“The ones in the book help us understand this particular event in the Holocaust,” she said. “The way that the authors model how we read and interpret these photographs, there is a lot of crossover to how you may engage in photographs of other historical events or present-day crises and human rights issues.”

Framing the Holocaust: Photographs of a Mass Shooting in Latvia, 1941 will be available for purchase on Amazon starting Aug. 22.

Thanks to John Skerratt for the photo of canoes that landed on Alki Sunday for the Paddle to Muckleshoot journey (WSB coverage here) and remain there while canoe families share a week of protocol at the Muckleshoot Community Center in Auburn. Here in West Seattle, highlights for today/tonight include:

LOW-LOW TIDE: It was out to -3.1 feet at 10:20 am, so it’s still way out right now (and even lower the next two days – here’s the chart).

SUMMER MEALS FOR KIDS: Here’s the list of local sites where free food is available for kids on weekdays this summer, 11:30 am-1 pm lunch, 2-3 pm snacks.

WADING POOLS OPEN: Noon-7 pm. Today’s scheduled pools in West Seattle: EC Hughes (2805 SW Holden) and Lincoln Park (8011 Fauntleroy Way SW).

COLMAN POOL OPEN: This outdoor salt-water pool at Lincoln Park is open noon-7 pm daily through Labor Day. See the session schedule here.

LEARN TO PHOTOGRAPH ISS SOLAR TRANSITS: West Seattleite Kevin Freitas‘s free 2:30 pm event for interested photographers has moved to Magnolia because the International Space Station‘s path moved, but you’re still invited – info including location map is in our calendar listing.

LEARN BASIC CARPENTRY SKILLS: Skillshare event at The Heron’s Nest, 4 pm – more info in our calendar listing. (4818 Puget Way SW)

COMMUNITY PADDLE: Monday nights all summer long, get out on the water with Alki Kayak Tours, 6 pm. (1660 Harbor SW).

CRAFTING AND CREATIVITY NIGHT: 6-10 pm at The Missing Piece (9456 35th SW), info here.

OPEN MIC: Weekly BedHead Open Mic continues at West Seattle Church of the Nazarene (4201 SW Juneau), 6:30 pm – info in our calendar listing.

D&D: Open D&D starts at 6:30 pm at Meeples Games (3727 California SW), all welcome, first-time players too. $5.

FAUNTLEROY MEDITATION: Free weekly Zen sitting/meditation event at the chapel at Fauntleroy UCC (9140 California SW), 7 pm-8:30 pm.

PLAY TRIVIA! Here are three Monday night options for trivia – 7 and 8 pm Sporcle Pub Quiz at Three 9 Lounge (4505 39th SW); 7 pm at The Good Society (California/Lander), 7:30 pm at The Skylark (3803 Delridge Way SW)

MONDAY MUSIC: Live music with The Westside Trio, 8 pm at The Alley (behind 4509 California SW), 21+, no cover.

Have a West Seattle/White Center event to add to our calendar ? Please send info to westseattleblog@gmail.com – thank you!

• A TikToker said she paid $3,000 for her wedding photos and hated the result.
• She shared some images in a viral video, and viewers flocked to her defense.
• Some viewers said they were photographers and offered to re-shoot the wedding for free.

TikTokers are flooding a creator with sympathy and offers of free photography services after she said she was unhappy with her wedding pictures.

On May 10, a TikToker who goes by Brooke posted a video asking viewers for their help, saying she paid $3,000 for her wedding photos, but what she received made her want to cry “every single day.”

She also shared some images that appeared to be taken at her wedding which were blurry or taken from unusual angles, saying they were the images she paid for.

Her story quickly blew up, receiving 2.5 million views, and over 6,400 comments as TikTokers rallied around her.

“I’m a photographer in CO, if youre ever here and would like to do a wedding attire session, I’d love to do them for free I’m so sorry this happened,” wrote one viewer.

“Not sure where you’re located but I’m a wedding photographer in Ohio. If you’d like to do a session in your wedding attire it’s on the house,” another commenter offered.

Each of these comments received a wave of praise from fellow viewers who applauded them for stepping in, and a further commenter wrote that they were going to suggest the same thing. Many sympathised with her story, saying they would not be happy with the quality of the photos she showed if they came from a professional photographer.

In a follow-up video, Brooke shared more photos she said she was unhappy with, including an image where her head had been cut out of frame, and another of her standing next to a wine barrel which she said, although she was aware was taken from a “bad angle,” still made her feel self-conscious about her appearance. 

In a further upload Brooke said she’d been a wedding photographer herself since 2015, had met the photographer she said she’d hired at a wedding fair, had liked their style of photos, and checked in with mutual friends who she said gave the photographer “glowing recommendations.” 

Some viewers questioned whether the images shown were taken by a professional photographer at all. 

Storytime videos of TikTokers sharing shocking or surprising anecdotes they say occurred at a wedding often go viral on the app, and Brooke did not provide any evidence in her viral video that the photographer in question had taken these images, or that she had paid $3,000 for them.

Brooke has 5,000 followers on TikTok where she posts painting and decoration-themed videos which generally receive several thousand views. Her wedding photography saga was by far her most viral moment, as she made over 12 videos on the topic which received over 3 million total views. She did not immediately respond to Insider’s request for comment. It’s unclear whether she will be taking up any of her viewers’ offers of a free photoshoot.

Viewers often come to the aid of people who have shared their bad experiences or struggles online. In April, a TikTok dad was inundated with donations when he said he needed to raise $6,000 to buy a large van he and his kids could move into after living on the road for over a year, and in March a struggling bookstore owner was able to pay her bills after she appealed to Twitter users to help keep her business afloat.

For more stories like this, check out coverage from Insider’s Digital Culture team here.