Picture This: 10,000 Stories Brought to Life
Humans of New York Captures Everyday People — and a Growing Social Media Following
By Marcia Kirlin
Brandon Stanton didn’t set out to tell a story, let alone thousands of them. Stanton, the amateur photographer behind the Humans of New York photo blog, was an unemployed New York City transplant whose natural curiosity was matched only by his self-described obsessiveness. Armed with a camera, a lot of free time, and a goal to photograph thousands of New Yorkers, he took to the city’s streets, parks, subways, and alleyways, and began a journey that has taken him well beyond the Big Apple — to countries around the world and bookstores around the corner — and that has turned his lofty experiment into an unexpected social media sensation.
Through a Lens Brightly
The Humans of New York project got its start in 2010. Stanton, a bond trader living in Chicago, found himself caught up in the grind of a demanding job and consumed in his off-hours with nagging thoughts about the financial markets. To relieve his stress, he spent weekends taking landscape photographs in and around the city. In what was ultimately a fortuitous turn of events, Stanton ended up losing his job, and he pointed his compass — and his 50 mm lens — in a new direction.
He set himself the ambitious goal of photographing 10,000 people.
“Getting fired turned out to be a surprisingly good thing,” Stanton told Shutterbug. “I took a walk that day and thought, What is it I want to do with my life? And it’s not going to be something that just makes me feel important.” Stanton ended up moving to New York City, where he set for himself the ambitious goal of photographing 10,000 people. There was just one catch: The thought of taking photos of total strangers terrified him. That fear eventually gave way to an engaging, positive aura that Stanton was able to channel, as he explained to National Public Radio: “Over time, you know, I realized it’s not really about what you say when you approach a stranger. It’s all about the energy that you’re giving off.”
Energy. Charm. Chutzpah. Call it what you will, but Stanton mustered up enough of it to endear himself to thousands of his fellow New Yorkers, who let him capture brief snippets of their days and nights, their comings and goings, their funkiness and flair. In the early stages of the project, he took 10 to 40 candid photos a day and posted them to his website. Unfortunately, few people visited that site. However, the photos he posted to Facebook and on other social media attracted a fair amount of attention. So Stanton decided he’d organize the photos into a blog. Thus was born Humans of New York.
Street Stories
As he roams the streets of the city’s five boroughs, Stanton employs what he calls “escalating commitment.” First, he approaches someone who isn’t in a big group or doesn’t appear to be in a hurry. Then he asks permission to photograph them, snaps a picture, and explains to them about the blog. If his subject agrees, he takes a few additional shots — candid, less staged — and engages his new acquaintance in a brief conversation to gain some insight into their life. “Normally that takes the form of an anecdote or a story,” Stanton explained to Fast Company. “I have a very short amount of time, so I always start with a very broad question. ‘What is your greatest struggle right now?’ or ‘Give me one piece of advice.’”
“Their individual stories reflect on different facets of the human experience, from struggles to heartbreak to inspiration.”
Initially, it was not uncommon for the responses to be nondescript or trite — “Seize the day,” “Always be optimistic” — but Stanton has learned that there’s usually an intriguing story or a pivotal life event behind these broad statements. If he senses his subject will open up, he probes. “A lot of these kinds of stories revolve around an emotion: being really sad, happy, or afraid,” he said. “So I’ll ask someone to identify the times in their lives where they’ve felt these emotions the strongest. I’m looking for that one unique thing that people say, and sometimes it’s the first thing they say, and sometimes it takes 10 minutes. But when I hear it I know it, and the interview is done.”
Capturing these glimpses into his subjects’ dreams, disappointments, and desires wasn’t originally part of Stanton’s plan. Early on, the photos themselves took center stage. But an interesting thing happened when he posted a photo of a Brooklyn woman clad totally in green along with a quote about her preference for the verdant look. It turns out the woman had previously dressed in a different color every day, but one time when she wore all green she had an exceptionally fine day, so she decided to keep the green scheme going. Adding these brief, illuminating details upped the engagement level: That day’s post received 63 Facebook likes, the most for any of Stanton’s photos up until that point. “I realized continued success was probably going to be due to my ability to approach strangers and talk with them as opposed to just my photography skills,” Stanton recalled. “My goal now was to tell stories.”
Powerful Numbers
From that then-record-setting post, in 2011, Humans of New York has continued to gain social media traction, attracting droves of appreciative followers and fans, to the tune of 25 million as of late January. The popularity of Humans of New York hasn’t altered Stanton’s focus. From the start, he has eschewed financial influences, preferring instead to remain unbeholden to any sponsors. (He does endorse Facebook because he credits that channel with helping him find his audience.) “I’ve said publicly that I don’t want to ‘cash out’ or ‘monetize’ HONY,” he told Origin Stories Magazine. Indeed, Stanton’s resolve not to cash out didn’t waiver when, in 2013, clothing brand DKNY used some of his photos without permission. Instead of suing for a huge sum, Stanton asked the company to donate $100,000 to the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA, where he exercises. He only received a fourth of what he asked for, but he walked away with a priceless chunk of credibility, and, thanks to the donation, hundreds of kids got the chance to attend a YMCA-sponsored summer camp.
Branching Out
In the past several years Stanton has taken Humans of New York in new directions — and garnered even more fans. (In fact, as of late March, the lady-in-green post had received 489,000 likes and been shared close to 42,000 times on Facebook.) One of these new trajectories came in 2016, when Stanton partnered with the Headstrong Project to produce a compilation of photos and lengthy interviews of veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan conflicts. In an introduction to “Invisible Wounds,” Stanton wrote, “I know that many people have strong opinions about America’s involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan. But as we meet the individuals behind the uniforms and seek to understand their stories, I’m hoping we can momentarily put those politics aside. This is a great group of people who served and sacrificed at the request of their country.” Other themed series on the website include “Inmate Stories,” which explores the lives of prisoners in five federal penitentiaries, and “Pediatric Cancer,” which is about the challenges of kids, parents, and caregivers touched by the battle against childhood cancer.
“I’m looking for that one unique thing that people say, and sometimes it’s the first thing they say, and sometimes it takes 10 minutes.”
Venturing beyond the streets of New York City, Stanton has documented the challenges of newly resettled Syrian refugees and shared the stories of people he met on a United Nations–sponsored trip to 15 nations, including Iraq, Uganda, South Sudan, and Pakistan. His most recent posts introduced us to some fascinating folks he’s stumbled upon in São Paulo, Rio de Janeiro, and Santiago, Chile.
The social media popularity of Humans of New York has opened other doors for Stanton. His photographs have been published in three books — Humans of New York, in 2013, Humans of New York: Stories, in 2015, and Little Humans, in 2014. Humans of New York was an instant hit, occupying the №1 spot on the New York Times Best Sellers list for over 45 weeks. Yaniv Soha, acquiring editor with Humans of New York publisher St. Martin’s Press, said the lure of the book lies in Stanton’s talent for connecting with random people. “It’s about the stories as much as it is about the photos,” he told the New York Times. “It’s really about his ability to relate to people and convey what makes them individual.”
Publishers Weekly weighed in on Stanton’s Humans of New York: Stories: “The strength of his work is the range of perspectives and experiences he captures. Their individual stories reflect on different facets of the human experience, from struggles to heartbreak to inspiration. New readers and seasoned fans can’t help but become engrossed with the stories Stanton tells.” The handsome coffee-table book features one story that ended up having an unexpected, heartwarming sequel. Stanton devoted four pages to the tale of a young student from Brooklyn’s Mott Hall Bridges Academy who named the principal of the school as his biggest influence. Intrigued, Stanton paid a visit to the school and documented the principal’s story. Later, both the boy and his principal were invited to the White House. One of the photos in the spread shows the pair in the Oval Office with former President Barack Obama, who offered insight into his own greatest influence. (That would be his mother, in case you were wondering.)
The Imitation Game
Not surprisingly, along with all its followers, Humans of New York has attracted its share of imitators, among them The Dogist: Photographic Encounters with 1,000 Dogs; Humans parody Millennials of New York; Felines of New York; and Humans of Sydney, Tehran, Edinburgh, Seoul, Singapore, Rome, Syracuse, Austin, and dozens of other cities. Unlike most of these copycats, Stanton’s blog seems more sincere — and much more likely to maintain the interest of his followers. “Their [imitators’] blogs are rife with clichés, self-congratulation, and canned wisdom that risks nothing,” Mark Mann wrote. “The HONY rip-offs … are generally so uninteresting, they make vivid illustrations of how easily Stanton could have failed.”
Far from a failure, Stanton has proven that a dose of curiosity, a prodigious goal, and an unwavering focus can result in some rather impressive storytelling — and attract worldwide acclaim. That sounds like the picture of success to us.
Marcia Kirlin
Freelance Contributor
BMDG
Photos: HumansOfNewYork.com and Shutterstock
Originally published at www.brittonmdg.com.
