You may have read some heartfelt stories of New Yorkers whose photographs are shared by your Facebook friends, but what’s the story with the man behind the camera?
Brandon Stanton, at the mere age of 28, is capturing the faces of New York City one portrait at a time.
Like many young boys, Brandon Stanton was a ‘dabbler,’ finding interests along the way but never committing to just one. He first laid hands on a camera and picked up an interest in film while attending the University of Georgia.
But after his movie about student athletes fell through, he moved on to something political. He began to learn as much as he could about Barack Obama, the senator from Illinois who was starting to get some attention as a potential presidential candidate. From here, Stanton boldly bet a $3,000 loan on Obama winning the 2008 presidential election. They both won. Stanton’s friend then found him the perfect job as a bond trader in Chicago.
So, how does a bond trader become a photographer? After losing his job in The Windy City, Stanton decided to move to The Big Apple. New to the city and unsure of his next move, Stanton did what he loved most; he took photos.
After collecting 600 portraits of people in New York, Stanton dreamed bigger. His idea: put a photo census together, mapping the ‘Humans of New York.’
….And so his journey began. Stanton walked miles a day asking strangers for their pictures. He sought to gather 10,000 portraits.
Months later, in 2010, Stanton’s idea unraveled into something completely different. Humans of New York was born.
He walked around, “keeping an open mind and looking at everybody and anybody who strikes me at any reason, you know the kind of people that makes me double take.” After photographing these people, he engaged with them in short interactions, which evolved into photo captions and sometimes blossomed into stories.
In 2010, he created a Humans of New York blog and a Facebook page. Success did not come overnight. After 8 months, he gained a meager total of 1,000 blog followers. But now, the page now has over 400,000 fans and gains an average of 1,000 followers a day!
Commenting on his path to fame in an interview for The Epoch Times, Stanton recalls, “It wasn’t a victorious march to victory, or an unimpeded march to victory at all. It was a lot of work before anyone really cared.”
In the same interview, he added, “What makes my work grow is not spending money…It’s walking the streets, spending a lot of time out there and finding interesting content.”
So, what’s next?
Brandon Stanton has been selling his portraits for $30 on his website. He updates his blog daily and continues to take his internet sensation to the next level; the money he makes is invested right back into the business.
He recently has also taken his skills beyond the boroughs. It seems that HONY is now HOW (Humans of the World).
On Wednesday, Brandon announced that he would be traveling 6,000 miles away from New York, embarking on his first vacation in a few years and capturing some portraits along the way. Since his arrival in Iran, Stanton has already uploaded some international pictures. Is this a new direction for HONY?
Keep your eye out for this Human of New York. Stanton ought to have a lot more in store.