Inspiration Fridays: Humans of New York

Humans of New York is an incredible website, and it has an even more active Facebook Page.  If you haven't checked out this website, run, don't walk.  I'm serious.  Get off of my silly little blog and check this stuff out now.  Right now.  Why are you still here?  Go.  Go now.

Welcome back!  If you didn't leave, like, seriously, go.  Then, come back.

Okay, welcome back for real this time.  Thank you for returning.

Humans of New York.  Wow, man, I've been following this site for about a year and a half now and ever since day one, it took my breath away.  Brandon Stanton is a complete and utter genius, and I don't say things like that lightly.  New York City is a wonderfully vibrant, beautiful place, and the soul of it is its residents.  I suppose that is the truth for any city, really, but the melting pot/ mixture that is New York cannot be discussed adequately without focusing mainly on the people.  There is such a gorgeous diversity to the people here, but what makes New York, well, New York, is how much we are all the same. We are humans.  We are together, here, in this city, all experiencing life.  We are sharing the human experience.  Together.  And Stanton shows this with a lovely facility.

I may sound overly superlative, and if you think so, I can tell that you haven't looked at his site.  Dude.  Really.  Check it out.

His attention to detail, and his obvious care for each individual is what truly shines through in his work, for me.  Yes, the photographs are stunning.  Awesome.  But, what is really great are his captions, his interactions, his stories, his quotes- his understanding of how to relate to his subject, and then bring that person's soul into the portrait.  I'm coming back to the word beautiful.  Because, it is.

On his Facebook page yesterday, he posted this:

"When you're feeling down, it's so tempting to focus on your sadness: you wonder why you're sad, you hate that you're sad, you wish you weren't sad. It's completely natural to do this. But it's the wrong way to be. No matter how smart you are-- you will never change a bad mood by thinking about it. You will only magnify it.

Instead focus on your behavior. Focus on what you can change. Go outside. Exercise. Quit isolating yourself. Interact with friends and family. Accomplish things. Your mind will reward you with happiness.

It is so tough to change your behavior if you are feeling depressed. But it's the only way. Don't say: "I'll act differently when I feel better."

Act differently, and you will feel better."

 

Genius.  Freaking genius.

 

Now, here are some of his portraits.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I'd like to clarify that choosing only a few to put on here was like... I don't know.  It was super freaking tricky.  And, there are many photos here, so I didn't even manage to do a good job of it.  These are almost all works of his from the past two monthes.  If I had gone through his entire portfolio,  I would have ended up copying and pasting his entire website, and I'm fairly certain that wouldn't have been legal or appreciated.  This also would have taken forever and a half to load.  No one wants that. 

Thank you for all of the inspiration, Brandon.  Maybe, one day, I'll be brave enough to ask people for their photos too!

 

New York City, New York, USA