Assistant photojournalism professor Peter Smith was publicly released from his freelancing job at The Pilot, the official newspaper of the Archdiocese of Boston March 29, after releasing a controversial – some say obscene – photo of Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia to the Boston Herald.

Smith said he was standing near Herald reporter Laurel Sweet after the Red Mass, a Catholic service honoring lawyers, at a Boston cathedral March 26, when Sweet asked Scalia a question concerning criticism about his roles as an active Catholic and as a Supreme Court justice. According to Smith, Scalia replied by flicking his hand under his chin, a gesture Smith caught on film.

Smith said he heard Scalia say, “Oh, that’s the Sicilian in me. You’re not going to print that, are you?”

“It was almost a theatrical moment,” Smith said. “I’ll never understand why he did that. He gave his gesture, and I think the reporter was shocked that he made a story right there.”

On March 27, the Herald printed Sweet’s account of the incident in which she characterized Scalia’s gesture as “obscene.” The story ran without the photo, which Smith had not yet released. Herald photo editor Jim Mahoney said the newspaper called Smith and asked him to release the photo for publication, but Smith was hesitant.

Smith said he spoke to Pilot editor Antonio Enrique Monday and told Enrique he was not going to release the photo because he felt the reporter’s story spoke for itself. However, Smith said he changed his mind after the Herald printed Scalia’s response to the story Wednesday.

In the letter, Scalia said the Herald’s story was “false” and called Sweet “an up-and-coming ‘gotcha’ star.” Scalia said the gesture he made meant he “could not care less.”

Smith said he then decided to release the photograph to add clarity to the story by letting the photo speak for itself.

“I think the dynamics changed on Wednesday when the Herald published Scalia’s response,” he said. “His bigger error was in condemning the reporter and questioning her credibility. If he used his position from the bench, that’s going to affect her.”

Photojournalism program director Peter Southwick said he agreed with Smith’s decision to release the photo. He said Smith considered many variables and took different viewpoints into consideration in a sensitive situation before he released it.

“I think he showed very good judgment,” Southwick said. “Another journalist was being unfairly characterized.”

After Smith releasing the photo to the Herald, he said the Pilot told him he was fired because the publication needed a photographer it could trust.

According to Smith, as a freelance photographer, he was under no contractual obligation to the Pilot and therefore could not technically be fired.

“As a freelancer without a contract, I was not an employee of their newspaper,” he said in a statement. “They can choose not to give me assignments in the future, and this is not of large concern to me.”

After the Pilot’s announcement, Smith fielded phone calls for five hours straight, he said.

“It once again created a new news cycle,” he said. “[The Pilot] sort of extended the story that much further.”

Smith said he freelanced for the Pilot for the last 10 years, taking two to three assignments a month for the paper. He said the work was a nice way to learn about different aspects of the church.

“[There was] never any controversy, never any problems,” Smith said. “I will miss my association working with the nice people over at The Pilot.”

However, Smith said the entire incident has given him rich material for his class, using a situation he would not have been able to dream up as a teaching tool. He said his students have learned about ethical concerns in reporting and how journalists must be accurate and truthful, understand the situation on which they are reporting and know when to speak up.

Smith said the university has been tremendously supportive of his decision to release the photograph, in addition to the dozens of positive emails he has received from around the country.

Mahoney said he also thought Smith made the right decision to release the photo and said the Herald would publish Smith’s photos in the future if the situation arose.

Pilot staff and Boston Archdiocese Communications Director Terrence Donilon did not return repeated attempts for comments.