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24573: Hermantin (news) LITTLE HAITI | STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHY CAMP



leonie hermantin <lhermantin@hotmail.com>


Posted on Sun, Mar. 27, 2005


LITTLE HAITI | STUDENT PHOTOGRAPHY CAMP
STUDENTS SNAP VIEWS OF PIETY IN THE STREETS
FIFTEEN MIAMI EDISON HIGH STUDENTS SPENT SPRING BREAK DOCUMENTING EASTER WEEK ON THE STREETS OF LITTLE HAITI
BY KEVIN DEAN
kdean@herald.com

Diego Jeanty walks this block of Little Haiti every day, traveling along Northeast 62nd Street to his Upper Eastside home, his uncle's record shop or Lemon City Park to play basketball.

But over the past four days, Jeanty has seen this block and his neighborhood completely differently -- through the lens of a camera.

He's one of 15 Miami Edison High juniors photographing Little Haiti as part of a National Geographic photo camp, sponsored by the National Geographic Society, the University of Miami School of Communication and The Herald photography staff.

A part of National Geographic's Education Foundation, the photo camps help teens in underserved communities produce photo essays similar to the ''ZipUSA'' feature found in National Geographic magazine. This camp's ZIP Code was 33127: Little Haiti.

On Good Friday, the students began at the Notre Dame d'Haiti Catholic Church and followed the traditional religious street procession, headed by a man shouldering a cross and flanked by men dressed as Roman soldiers.

Singing and shouting scripture in Creole, the church's members walked past St. Claire Laundry & Dry Cleaners at Northeast Second Avenue and 62nd Street.

AN UNUSUAL DAY

Usually, Jeanty breezes past the bus stop across the street from this laundromat, but on this day, he is standing on the roof of the blisteringly hot bus stop and photographing the crowd below him -- a sweaty, chanting mass of sticky white suits and flowing dresses winding through the streets of Little Haiti.

A woman drifted underneath Jeanty, balancing a Bible on top of her head while joining in the chants of ''Jesus, Jesus, Where are you, Jesus?'' Jeanty crouched and pointed his camera:

Click.

''I'm not religious,'' said Jeanty, hopping off the bus stop and dashing to photograph a woman wearing a homemade crown of thorns. ``But this is incredible.''

Each morning, the students chatted with photographers from National Geographic and The Herald, viewed slide shows of award-winning photography and examined shots of their own.

The afternoons were spent on the streets of Little Haiti, the students photographing men with felt-tipped, lavender hats eating sugar cane by Bernadette Chancy's fruit and vegetable stand while the pros offered nuggets of wisdom and technical advice.

''You know what's special about people?'' UM Prof. Lelen Robert asked student Tina Francois, who was photographing a woman hunched over a sewing machine.

``Their eyes. Look into hers, and you'll find out who she really is. And then she's going to look at you and smile.''

WILLING SUBJECTS

On Good Friday, the procession wound past Chancy's stand, where a few onlookers sat removed from the chaos.

Sprawled out on a curbside couch, Antoine Jean-Cejuilloume leisurely tips back his pink, floppy hat and watches the crowd moving past him.

Just the day before, the man was asleep on the same couch. But now he's awake, either from the noisy street procession or because of the bottle of gin stashed under his elbow.

Regardless, he's content letting photo campers Linda Therve and Nathalie Alcime take a few shots of him.

Excited about the donated Nikon camera in her hand, Therve listened while Mark Thiessen, a National Geographic photographer participating in the camp, advised her to take three steps closer toward Jean-Cejuilloume.

''I'm a good Catholic, and today is a good day to take my picture,'' Jean-Cejuilloume said in Creole while Therve snapped away.

Alcime was chatting with a nearby woman with a big smile, toothy with a flash of gold, when they started to laugh and embrace.

''This woman knows my family back in Haiti,'' said a surprised Alcime, who left Port-de-Paix two years ago to come to Miami.

``I can't believe I'm photographing her.''