Brandon Stanton - Humans of New York: Stories

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To Brian DeFiore,

youre a mensch.

Occasionally Im invited to colleges and seminars to explain the story behind Humans of New York. I bring along a very amateurish PowerPoint presentation, which Im constantly tweaking because I never quite know where to begin the story. Thats because Humans of New York did not result from a flash of inspiration. Instead, it grew from five years of experimenting, tinkering, and messing up. I always say that if Id waited until I had the idea for Humans of New York, Id never have begun Humans of New York.

The simplest way to describe the development of HONY over the past five years is this: its evolved from a photography blog to a storytelling blog. In its early years, HONY represented an effort to photograph thousands of people on the streets of New York City10,000, to be exact. But after cataloguing thousands of people, I stumbled upon the idea of including quotes from my subjects alongside their photographs. The quotes grew longer and longer, until eventually I was spending fifteen to twenty minutes interviewing each person I photographed. These interviews, and the stories that resulted from them, became the new purpose of Humans of New York. The blog became dedicated to telling the stories of strangers on the street.

The first Humans of New York book was published in the midst of this transformation. The book included some quotes and stories, but largely it represented the photographic origins of HONY. It provided an exhaustive visual catalogue of life on the streets of the city. But soon after it went to print, it became obvious that another book was waiting to be madeone that includes the in-depth storytelling that the blog is known for today. This is that book.

For those of you who may have picked up this book on a whim, I want to address one last element of Humans of New York. There are more than 15 million people who follow the blog every day on social media. If you are one of those peoplethank you. Thank you for the positivity and kindness you bring to the comments section. Thank you for every time youve said hello to me on the street, and told me how much the blog means to you. Thank you for every time youve shared a post or told a friend about HONY. Thanks for all the money youve donated to the causes weve supported. Im always asked in interviews how such a positive and uplifting community was created. The truth is that Im not exactly sure. But the greatest group of people in the world seems to follow Humans of New York. And thank you so much for being a part of it.

Brandon

I died for eight minutes on January 26th. And Ive been having really weird dreams ever since.

Youre taking my picture!

I want to build a bridge.

How do you build a bridge?

If you want to build a bridge, its going to take a long time and it might be hard because your employees might not be as interested in building the bridge as you are. You have to think about what kind of bridge you want to make. One type of bridge is a suspension bridge and another type of bridge is an arch bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is a suspension bridge and it was built by John Roebling and his family and thats all I remember from second grade. And the bridge has to be strong because the water can rise and push up the bridge. Id maybe like to build a bridge in Wisconsin because there are a lot of people in Wisconsin who might not have bridges, but I dont really know where Wisconsin is.

Im half Alur and half Lugbara. Both tribes settled along the West Nile in Uganda.

Whats your favorite thing about your brother?

Hes cute.

Today in microfashion

I worry that one day shell get separated from me, and nobody will understand that shes deaf.

Shes always been very accepting and patient with my trust issues. Ive always had a hard time getting close. But no matter how many times I doubted, she just kept saying: Im not going anywhere.

Ive sort of had an arrogant demeanor my entire life, and Im learning that Im going to have to change that if I want to succeed. I realized that it doesnt matter how clever you are if nobody wants to work with you.

I have trouble at school with things like maintenance and organization. Those are my weaknesses.

So what are your strengths?

Raw intelligence. Not sure how else to say it.

Whenever I enter a room, I say: The Queen has arrived!

Im trying to be more confident, I guess yeah.

Im just waiting for summer.