Brandon Stanton - Humans of New York

HUMANS OF NEW YORK

BRANDON STANTON

ST. MARTINS PRESS NEW YORK

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TO THE CITY OF NEW YORK.

I HAD THIS CRAZY, JUVENILE IDEA THAT YOU WERE GOING TO MAKE ALL MY DREAMS COME TRUE. AND YOU DID.

I got my first camera in January 2010. I was working as a bond trader, so I only had time to use it on weekends, but I fell in love with it. Every Saturday and Sunday, Id take my camera into downtown Chicago and photograph everything. If I found something especially beautiful, Id photograph it from twenty different anglesjust to be sure that Id end up with one good shot. Id return home each night with over one thousand new photos. Almost all of them were awful, but I didnt mind. I was hooked. Photography felt like a treasure hunt, and even though I sucked at it, Id occasionally stumble upon a diamond. And that was enough to keep me wanting more.

I lost my trading job that July and immediately decided I wanted to be a photographer. I had enjoyed my time as a trader. The job was challenging and stimulating. And Id obsessed over markets in the same way that Id later obsess over photography. But the end goal of trading was always money. Two years of my life were spent obsessing over money, and in the end I had nothing to show for it. I wanted to spend the next phase of my life doing work that I valued as much as the reward. Photography seemed like an obvious choice. Like I said, it felt like a treasure hunt. And that seemed like a pretty good way to spend my time.

My parents thought I was crazy. There were several awkward phone calls during this time. My mother didnt try to hide her disappointment. She saw bond trading as a very prestigious profession. Photography, on the other hand, seemed like a thinly veiled attempt to avoid employment. After all, I had no experience or formal training. And it didnt help that I had no plan for making money. But I figured the best way to become a photographer was to start photographing. So I planned a photo tour through several major American cities.

I left Chicago in late July and started across the country. My first stop was Pittsburgh. I explored the city in the same way that Id explored Chicago: I walked around aimlessly, got lost, and photographed everything. Each night I uploaded my photos to an album on my personal Facebook account. I titled the album Yellow Steel Bridges, because that was my first impression of the city. Most of my photos were of buildings and bridges. But occasionally, Id include a shot of an interesting person.

I repeated the process in Philadelphia. I spent my days combing the streets for interesting photographs, and each night I deposited the photos in a Facebook album. I named this album Bricks and Flags. My photos remained similar to those Id taken in Chicago and Pittsburgh, but with one notable exception. I was starting to take more and more pictures of people. Id begun to move beyond candid shots, and was actually stopping strangers on the street. The resulting portraits seemed to be the most compelling of my photographs, so I focused more energy on seeking them out.

I arrived in New York in early August. I planned to spend a week in the city before hopping on a plane for the West Coast, but I ended up staying for the rest of the summer. I remember the moment my bus emerged from the Lincoln Tunnel and I saw the city for the first time. The sidewalks were covered with people. The buildings were impressive, but what struck me most were the people. There were tons of them. And they all seemed to be in a hurry. That night, I created a photo album for my New York photos. I called it Humans of New York.

Back then I had no intention of starting a blog. I didnt even know what a blog was. But after spending some time in New York, I knew that I wanted to photograph people. I spent that entire summer stopping people on the streets. By the end of August, Id collected over six hundred portraits. I began to sense that I was on to something special. I returned to Chicago long enough to pack my bags, and returned to New York on November 4, 2010.

I first envisioned HONY as a photographic census of New York City. I wanted to take ten thousand portraits and plot them on an interactive map of the city. That way you could click on any neighborhood in New York and scroll through the faces of people who live there. I worked for several months with that goal in mind. This effort resulted in thousands of photographs, but very few people were paying attention. During the first year of HONY, only a handful of people were coming to my Web site each day.

Then I discovered the power of social media. Ive got to thank my friend Mike Schaefer, because he was the one who convinced me to start a Facebook page for Humans of New York. Id been resisting the suggestion for some time, because I was already posting my photos to my personal account. Making a separate page seemed redundant. But one night he finally talked me into it, and I started a new page for Humans of New York. In just over a year, that haphazard decision would lead to the discovery of half a million fans.

It wasnt an immediate explosion of growth. Progress was slow at first. But after a few weeks of posting, I began to notice unfamiliar names interacting with my photography. With each new post, a few more strangers began to follow my work. I could now see a direct correlation between my work and my growth. HONY was growing every day. After months of spinning my wheels, this was a very liberating feeling.

My next big break came when I discovered Tumblr. No other platform puts a higher value on promoting its artists and creators. HONY took root on Tumblr very quickly, mainly because of the early support of Tumblrs editorial team. Soon hundreds of thousands of people were following HONY on Tumblr, and I remain very thankful for Tumblrs role in my success.

The last major evolution in HONY came when I began interviewing my subjects. Whenever possible, I started pairing my photos with a story or quotation. This mix of photography and writing caused HONY to grow even faster. Hundreds of new fans started following the site every single day. Then thousands. And as the audience began to balloon, HONY evolved from a photography project into an ongoing blog. I began to shift my priorities. I no longer aimed to complete an epic photography project. Instead, I sought to provide my audience with a few good portraits, every single day. And I hope to continue doing so for a very long time.

This book is the result of nearly three years of work. I walked several thousand miles to find these portraits. I stopped over ten thousand people on the street. It was exhausting work, but I enjoyed every minute of it. The people in these pages are very dear to me. By allowing me to take their photo, each one of them helped me to realize my dream. And I am so thankful for their participation.

Last, thanks to all of you who follow my work. Youve supported me so much. Its been a dream, really. Thank you for making this happen for me. Thank you, thank you, thank you.