Nonfiction Blog Post: Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York

Jess Parrott 812

Nonfiction Blog Post: Brandon Stanton of Humans of New York

            Brandon Stanton’s photography blog, Humans of New York, has completely revolutionized the way I view my city. Multiple times a day I am stunned and mesmerized by the amazing stories that one photograph, and usually a short interview, can tell by following his blog. The New York Times recently interviewed Stanton and noted that, however his lack of professional photography skills, he “has amassed more than one million fans in three years.” His book, displaying the same title as his blog, was released in October and quickly climbed the New York Times bestseller list all the way to the top. Just by not being very shy and having a sixth sense of picking quite interesting people, Brandon Stanton has given the world a new lens to view New York City through.

            Stanton is a Georgia native and graduated from the University of Georgia to become a bond trader in Chicago. But after a few years, he was laid off, and made the bold choice to move to a city where he knew not one person to pursue a passion of his: photography. He has begun photographing random people in Chicago for a time; but pursued it in New York. His first idea for his collection of photos was to travel all over the city and take photos of people; creating a sort of virtual map of faces throughout the whole city. But after he created his blog, it became so much more. He began conducting short interviews and asking questions that, quoting the Time article, were “so personal they might make Oprah Winfrey blush.” Since, his following has simply grown, and has reached people all over the world.

Stanton’s blog not only gives a view into the daily lives of New York City’s human population, but their emotional lives as well. A letter written to Stanton by a person he had photographed recently struck me in a very deep way. “Hi Brandon, I’m Ted, we met getting off the six at Grand Central…I’ve read about 1000 of the comments, words cannot express how touched I am by what I have read. Its actually more than touched, it has been very emotional to read the wonderful things people have said…Thanks for doing this, it has really touched my life. The most wonderful people in the world read your material and comment on it.”           Even an excerpt shows how a deep connection can be made from the public to a person who had a light shown on them. Stanton plays a very crucial role in giving the public, not just in New York but also in the rest of the country and the world, a connection to the residents of a largely populated and extremely diverse city. He dares to go further and step beyond the curtain of privacy between strangers and dives deeper into the lives of people he has never interacted with before in his life.

I had the incredible fortune of meeting Brandon Stanton, briefly so, at one of his spur-of-the-moment book signings this past November. I waited for almost 3 hours in line amidst excited people of all ages. I was behind two girls who were visiting from England singularly to buy his book and get it signed. After being there for hours, continuously signing and greeting people, taking selfies, and answering questions, he was still charming and upbeat for the short time that I got to meet him. But not only that, what also amazed me was the sheer amount of people who were there after he announced the signing one or two days before. Stanton has created such a large and passionate following with his stunning work that is very hard to compare to.

I commend Brandon Stanton for his incredible, breathtaking, stellar, and continuously spectacular work, giving everyone a new look into our bustling and mental city.