The 22 Project: NYC - episode 2

Once upon a time, there was a young 20-something living in the Greatest City in the World* (*citation needed).  She was the type to go see The Dark Knight Rises in theatres two days after she'd already seen it; the kind of girl who browsed through a bookstore after seeing said movie; the kind of young woman who couldn't pass up a moment to talk to the mysterious-looking character standing outside said bookstore.

Okay fine, we're talking about me.

And that's how I met Louis Mendez, the 72 year-old New York City photographer with a flair for the surprising.  Oh here, let me Google him for you.  He's the guy that shows up on the side.

It was easy to walk up and have a chat, and it turned out that he often settles in a high traffic spot of the city with his camera letting people come to him.  I was caught like a shrimp in a net, but I didn't mind.  It became clear that our conversation would be a fun one when I asked to take a photo together with him and he asked, pointing to my iPhone, "You know how to use that thing?"  I'm still not sure there's a right way to answer that question coming from a man holding the Kodak mammoth you see in his hands, but I managed well enough.  For an iPhone, anyway.  That's when he got behind his own camera and asked to take my photograph!Sure it was surprising, but being the attention hog I am, my only response was, "Where do you want me?"  


Then he asked if I wanted to interview him, and how could I say no?

Mr. Mendes could very well be the father of "Shit My Dad Says" if we didn't all know better.  He's the kind of man who takes full advantage of his age.  I think my favorite was when two tourists walked up and started taking photos of him with their cameras.  He looked them deadpan and said, "You didn't pay for that,"and then he stared at them until they nervously gave him a couple of dollars and ran off.  He turned to me grinning and handed me the two dollars saying, "Go buy yourself something nice." Again, I couldn't say no.

Then of course, I asked him if he does that to everyone, and his answer was simple enough: "I'm old, I say whatever I want!"

I hope I say whatever I want when I'm old.  Here's to Louis Mendes, episode two of The 22 Project: NYC.