Brandon Stanton is the mind and eye behind Humans of New York, a photo blog and now, number one best seller on The New York Times book list. Stanton is from Marietta, Georgia; a small suburb outside of Atalnta. Oddly enough, Stanton is known for his photography and story telling abilities, although he attended the University of Georgia and majored in history! After graduating from college, Stanton worked as a bond trader at Gambit Trading LLC from 2008 - 2010. Similar to many Americans, Stanton felt the effects of the crumbling economy and lost his job.
The saying goes, "when one door closes, another door opens". This could not ring any more true for this self-taught photographer. Loosing his job allowed for Stanton to embark on a tour of a few different American cities: New Orleans, Pittsburgh, and Philadelphia. While on this "tour", Stanton took the usual cityscapes of the locations he visited although he also began taking candid shots of people he met on the street.
Like any photographer of this era, Stanton posted his travel photos onto his Facebook page and received a lot of positive feedback. This inspired Stanton to pursue his hobby of photography even further, which lead him to travel to New York City in August of 2010. Stanton continued taking photographs of those he met on the street and uploaded the photos to an album on Facebook titled "Humans of New York". Stanton's approach to capturing photographs of subjects was to walk around the streets of New York and introduce himself, gain permission from his subjects and take their portraits. His first "Humans of New York" album on Facebook quickly filled up and he then created a second album... and a third... until finally, Stanton decided to make the project even bigger. Initially, Stanton's goal was to take 10,000 portraits of people who live in New York. The project began on Facebook although two years later, Stanton employed two assistants and turned Humans of New York into a Tumblr blog.
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| Stanton, Brandon, (from Vogue) In Union Square, 2012. |
The same year that Humans of New York transformed into a blog, Stanton was also featured in Vogue. Why would a fashion magazine be interested in Stanton's portraits and project you ask? Stanton's eye for photography is naturally drawn to folks who look interesting; given his location, there are bound to be some "trendy" fashion in his images! Stanton told Vogue, "The personality of New York is expressive, individualistic, and creative—I just photograph people doing their own thing.” (web).
In May of 2013, Stanton was asked to take portraits of all of the employees working at Facebook's headquarters. By October of that year, Stanton had published roughly 6,000 portraits, had 1.6 million followers on Facebook and 400,000 on Tumblr. That same month, Stanton published is first book; an array of portraits taken of those humans... who inhabit the Big Apple. At the Webby Awards, Stanton won the People's Choice Award for "Best Use of Photography". I think it goes without saying... Stanton has been a busy man in the past four years!
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| (From Left to Right) Stanton, Brandon, Luis Torres, 2013. Associated Press, Stanton and Subject, 2013. |
Street photography is certainly an art and it's not for everyone. What I find interesting about Stanton's work is his ability to use his people skills and connect with those whom he photographs. Stay tuned for the upcoming "Make it Monday" post where we will look at a video where Stanton describes his approach to photographing strangers.
01. Stanton, Brandon. "Humans of New York." Humans of New York. N.p., n.d. Web. 30 Apr. 2014.
02. "Style and the City: Humans of New York Spotlights Creative Individuals - Vogue." Style and the City: Humans of New York Spotlights Creative Individuals - Vogue. Vogue, n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
03. "Gallery: Popular 'Humans of New York' Photoblog Now a Book." San Angelo Standard Times. N.p., n.d. Web. 02 May 2014.
04. Press, Associated. "A Day in the Life of Humans of New York:
Photographer behind Hit Website on the Snaps and Stories That Have Won
Him Millions of Fans." Mail Online. Associated Newspapers, 11 Oct. 2013. Web. 02 May 2014.