Worth a Thousand Words

    When 29-year-old Saad Tabani began taking pictures of children buying ice cream in Richmond Hill, Queens, he didn't expect to get a tour of the ice cream truck's inner sanctum, filled with sprinkles, a machine that freezes hot syrup, a blender for milkshakes and surprisingly enough space to fit three people.

    "It really is like an ice cream store," said Tabani, an IBM employee and part-time MBA student at NYU's Stern School of Business with no photography experience. "I just shot him a big smile, and he let us in."

    This friendly approach was Tabani's method to take candid photographs during Thursday's SAJA photojournalism workshop, led by documentary photographer Preston Merchant and freelance photographer Scott Lewis. Tabani was one of seven participants who traveled to the South Asian enclave of Richmond Hill, home to many Caribbean Indians from Guyan and Trinidad.

    Tabani followed Lewis' advice when trying to capture the essence of the neighborhood, which stretches on Liberty Avenue from Lefferts to Van Wyck Boulevards.

    "You can get away with a lot by smiling," Lewis said about shooting candids. But Lewis was careful not to restrict participants with any rules. "I want to say there are a lot of rules, but there aren't. For every rule there's a reason to break it."

    Simran Thadani, 23, a post-baccalaureate student at Wellesley College, freelance writer and newcomer to photography, broke Lewis' smiling "rule" when trying to get the perfect shot.

    Thadani admitted that she usually shoots still objects, essentially, things that don't protest.

    When she walked by a Guyanese grocery store and a man in front cutting coconuts, she was first nervous to approach him.

    "Maybe I'll be brave," she told Merchant.
    "Yeah," Merchant said. " Go for it."

    Rather than taking Tabani's approach, Thadani introduced herself and explained her mission, only to be rejected by the coconut cutter.

    "Don't be apologetic by saying you're a student," Merchant told her.

    Merchant's advice on asking permission is to combine asking with doing. Some photographers, however, disagree. Lewis prescribes politeness for the potential of more comfortable, personal shots that are difficult to shoot otherwise. Anjali Bhargava, another participant and freelance photographer based in New York City, bases her decision on the situation. Sometimes, she likes to be the fly on the wall.

    "The challenge is getting people to be comfortable while you're standing in front of them with a camera," Lewis said. ""It's really driven by the moment, the situation at hand."

    Thadani, like most of the other participants, faced this problem in her first round of shooting. A clothing store feared duplication of their items; some were shy; and others just didn't want to be photographed.

    But for every hesitant subject was the verbose one who takes photographers beyond the surface.

    Thadani learned about the history of a Richmond Hill Hindu temple; fellow participant Kimiko Asakura observed a woman praying in a mosque; and Tabani learned that some ice cream truck drivers make enough money to work only in the summer.

    Participants shared these stories during a pow-wow during which Merchant and Lewis critiqued participants' photos. Because some had trouble getting candid shots of people, they opted for still shots that used juxtaposition in both color and content.

    Participant Carolyn Nardiello, an editor from New York, photographed Clorox sold next to food in a grocery store and Tabani photographed an old woman next to a store sign that read, "Party."

    "Juxtaposition is a classic aspect of street photography," Lewis said. "You're seeing the essential components of what make a good picture."

    The workshop closed with an assignment to take multiple photographs in a single space. Lewis said that even though there is constant face-to-face interaction with the photographer and subject, the subject changes, as does the photographer. It was one of the many pieces of advice that participants took home. The workshop gave participants an opportunity to both test their skills and venture to territory unchartered by most Manhattan-ites.

    "It was wonderful," Thadani said. "It gave me the push to go out there."

Photography Tips from Preston Merchant and Scott Lewis:

- Think about taking photos from different angles. You want to take a mixture of shots because your editor might want only a horizontal shot when you've taken only vertical pictures.

- Scan the edges when you look through the viewfinder to make sure there aren't any extraneous objects in the photo.

- Presume from the beginning that you're not close enough to the subject you're photographing. In other words, move closer.

- Personal space is a delicate balance.

- Sometimes the best shots are the ones taken randomly.

- A tilted shot is a photographic cliche, but sometimes it works.

- You can find colors and patterns everywhere.

- "No" can sometimes mean "I don't care" when asking for permission.

- Don't delete anything.      

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