Humans of New York

By Brandon Stanton

Based on the blog with more than four million loyal fans, a beautiful, heartfelt, funny, and inspiring collection of photographs and stories capturing the spirit of a city

Now an instant #1 New York Times bestseller, Humans of New York began in the summer of 2010, when photographer Brandon Stanton set out to create a photographic census of New York City. Armed with his camera, he began crisscrossing the city, covering thousands of miles on foot, all in an attempt to capture New Yorkers and their stories. The result of these efforts was a vibrant blog he called "Humans of New York," in which his photos were featured alongside quotes and anecdotes.

The blog has steadily grown, now boasting millions of devoted followers. Humans of New York is the book inspired by the blog. With four hundred color photos, including exclusive portraits and all-new stories, Humans of New York is a stunning collection of images that showcases the outsized personalities of New York.

Surprising and moving, printed in a beautiful full-color, hardbound edition, Humans of New York is a celebration of individuality and a tribute to the spirit of the city.


With 400 full-color photos and a distinctive vellum jacket

• Language: English
• Publisher: Macmillan Publishers
• Release date: Oct 6, 2020
• ISBN: 9781250277541

Brandon Stanton

BRANDON STANTON is the creator of the #1 New York Times bestselling books Humans, Humans of New York, and Humans of New York: Stories as well as the children's book, Little Humans. His photography and storytelling blog is followed by a global audience of over thirty million people across several social media platforms. In addition to sharing thousands of stories from around the world, the blog has raised over $30 million for featured individuals and nonprofits. Stanton is a graduate of the University of Georgia and lives in New York City.

Book preview

HUMANS OF NEW YORK

BRANDON STANTON

ST. MARTIN’S PRESS       NEW YORK

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Table of Contents

Copyright Page

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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.

INTRODUCTION

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, I’d take my camera into downtown Chicago and photograph everything. If I found something especially beautiful, I’d photograph it from twenty different angles—just to be sure that I’d end up with one good shot. I’d return home each night with over one thousand new photos. Almost all of them were awful, but I didn’t mind. I was hooked. Photography felt like a treasure hunt, and even though I sucked at it, I’d 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 I’d obsessed over markets in the same way that I’d 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 didn’t 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 didn’t 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 I’d 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, I’d 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 I’d taken in Chicago and Pittsburgh, but with one notable exception. I was starting to take more and more pictures of people. I’d 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

Reviews for Humans of New York

[annbury_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Why live in New York? Stanton counts the ways -- Terrific read for anyone who lives in the city and/or loves it, and a great present for anyone who is interested in people.

[mahallett · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

a happy book. fun to figure out the locations.

[les121 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I adore the HONY blog. In this collection, the captions that accompany each image are shorter and don't explore the darker aspects of human experience as they so often do on the blog. Still, the colorful characters in this book brought a huge smile to my face and made me extremely nostalgic for New York. As always, Stanton's photography captures the energy, diversity, and magic of the city perfectly. I would have easily given this book five stars if it weren't for the print quality. I purchased the physical version of this book so that I could have HONY on my bookshelf, but unfortunately, the print quality is mediocre at best. If I'd realized this, I would have purchased the digital version instead.

[c.archer · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Fantastic pictorial encyclopedia of NYC. Places and people are represented in beautiful color and style. A treat for anyone who loves people and celebrates our vast diversity.

[james.igoe · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Just great, with so many touching, insightful, and creative moments...

[m.belljackson · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

The people in these photographs are so open, honest, and fun that it feelslike you are looking through an album of old friends. So much to see and revisit!

[bookczuk · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Love this book. Love the website. Love the friend who gave it for Christmas 2014.

[bauernfeind · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

In New York you can truly see one of every type of human there is that lives on our planet. Sort of like a zoo for humans. Great book with wonderful images

[ladycato · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I received this as a Christmas present, and I wasn't quite sure what to expect as I began reading. The content is mostly photographs of people, some accompanied by a mere line of text with location, some with several paragraphs of dialogue. It didn't take me long to get pulled into the book. There's a strong awareness that every picture is a story, and we are getting a simple sneak peak into a greater truth. No wonder the blog behind the book has millions of followers. Stanton has brought together something beautiful.

[phoibee-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

"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."

[5eva5 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A collection of the photos Brandon Stanton took when he first started photographic people on the streets of New York. These are some great photos and some wonderful characters. My favorite part of HONY, though, are the stories and as this is a record of the beginning of the site, there aren't many of them, but mostly photos. Great pictures, great project, great work, great guy. I've picked up the other book ("Stories") as well and am looking forward to getting to it.

[pennylane78 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

So much love!

[bookmagic_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Great photography showing such great characters in NYC. This doesn't have as many stories to accompany the pictures as it does on the author's blog and that has upset some reviewers. But this was his original intention, to just take pictures and be a photographer. These may be mostly pictures from when he first started and didn't yet have such a fan base so they are new to most of the public. It didn't bother me, the pictures are so amazing and tell enough of a story. I'm sure Brandon will be publishing another book and that it will contain more stories.

[bness2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Can't put my finger on it exactly, but this guy has the touch for portrait photography. A delightful book, and the brief snippets from his interviews are frosting on the cake.