The Inquiring Photographer - Hello, Mom?
Wendy L
David Goodman: “What’s your name?”
Wendy L: “Wendy L.”
DG: “Where are you from?”
WL: “I’m from Florida. Sarasota.”
DG: “How long have you been living here?”
WL: “Almost 15 years.”
DG: “What do you do?”
WL: “I’m in finance. But I have an art degree.”
DG: “You live in the neighborhood?”
WL: “I do. Until this week. I am moving back to Florida.”
DG: “Sarasota?”
WL: “Yeah! I got a job!”
DG: “Wow! Cool! Congratulations!”
WL: “Thank you!”
DG: “So you live in the neighborhood… How often do you come to the High Line?”
WL: “Every morning! I try to get here around 7 o’clock or a little bit before.”
DG: “When it opens.”
WL: “Yeah. Usually around that time. And then I put on my earphones at 7:15 and I call my mother, and that’s the time where we like catch up during the day. And we start our day that way.”
DG: “That’s so nice!”
WL: “Yeah.”
DG: “Well, what is it about the High Line that you like? You’re leaving town. What will you miss the most?”
WL: “The High Line!… Umm… I love it ‘cause it’s like ‘contrived nature’, right?”
DG: “Contrived nature?”
WL: “Like, I love that it’s like a New York park. It’s not like the kind of park that you would have anyplace else. It’s like…”
DG: “It’s the park two flights up.”
WL: “Yeah! It’s contrived, right? It’s like New Yorkers are cool enough and creative enough and badass enough to be like: 'It doesn’t need to be on the ground. Our park is gonna be up here!'”
DG: (laughing) “That’s great! I love that!”
WL: “And it also gives me a vantage point or a view of things I otherwise wouldn’t see on the ground. And I’ve lived many places that I can see from the High Line. And so I kind of love that as I’m walking around the High Line every day, it kind of takes me through my journey of places I’ve lived in Manhattan, or places I’ve worked around here, and so it just triggers different memories on my walk.”
A couple strolls by walking their dog.
DG: “I wonder if they know that dogs are not allowed up on the High Line… unless it’s a service dog.”
WL: “Every New York dog is a service dog.” (laughs)
DG: “Yeah, I see… (laughing) of course!... So, you're an artist?
WL: Yeah.
DG: "What kind of art do you do?"
WL: "I'm a sculptor. I like to weld."
DG: "Wow!"
WL: “So, yeah... I love the High Line. And I love the little High Line Hotel over here. I love that place. I especially like it in the evening for their Lemon Freeze drink and I love that it’s like so close to the High Line!”
DG: “Nice! And I’m sure the hotel will love that little plug! ... (pause) ... Wanna go get a Lemon Freeze with me before you leave town?"
(Full disclosure: I didn't actually say that very last sentence... But I wish I had.)
