#30 - Wendy de Boer - April 19, 2018 - Washington, DC

I'm not quite sure how Wendy and I started following each other on Instagram last year, but it happened. As I started to see more of her photos it was apparent to me that she is really a special person.  She has a "joie de vivre" (cheerful enjoyment of life) that is a joy to be around.  

One of the things Wendy is deeply interested in is people. She has a deep passion for people from all walks of life, their traditions, culture, ways of living, their food, customs -  simply stated - she loves people. She loves photography and has pursued it many years. One of her projects is to meet with photographers around the world that inspire her to team up and share experiences. She also learns from them by spending time making images together.  As Wendy says "I team up with photographers around the world to learn more about photography, their culture and photo projects. We share a passion, we connect with locals on the streets and learn about life."  So far Wendy has teamed up with photographers in Dubai, South Korea, Spain, Argentina, Malaysia, Uganda, Iran, India, and the United States. Please check out her project and her videos here.   Wendy also has quite an Instagram following with about 31,000 followers and growing. 

Wendy works for KLM Royal Dutch Airlines as a flight attendant. KLM is the oldest airline in the world still operates under its original name. Wendy is Dutch and lives in Amsterdam when she is not working, which involves traveling to anywhere KLM flies. I asked her where she has been over the past twenty or so years she stated that she has probably been to just about every continent in the world.  She logs hundreds of thousands of miles (kilometers) every year traveling the world. She will soon celebrate 10,000 flying hours. That is 417 days in the air!

I contacted Wendy last fall and asked her if she ever flew into the Washington, DC area that I'd like to meet her and make her portrait for the project. She had a 24-hour layover in DC back in April and we spent a few hours together. Wendy made some videos of me working, but most of the day was spent making images of her for the 520 project.  It was a short but fun day. We made a few images at places in DC and I asked her if I could photograph her in her uniform. She had to go to work right after the photo shoot so it worked out that those were some of the last photos on the roll.