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

Prince Street People

I really like wall art.  Murals, graffiti, mosaics, frescos... you name it. If it's on a wall, I probably like it.  Why is this?  Because I appreciate public art in general.  I really enjoy how adding art to a public space, like a bridge, a park, or even a subway station can brighten up everyone's day.  Suddenly that commute on the train turns into a mini museum trip every morning, and that run through the park turns into a private viewing of a statue gallery.  I love it.  And, lucky for me, New York is smothered in public art- it's just everywhere.  It doesn't hurt that I live near one of the largest and prettiest parks in the city, Prospect Park.  That kind of just fuels my adoration.

In any case, the subway art in New York City is pretty great compared to other cities I have visited.  Many stations have intricate mosaic work, some have statues, like the 14th Street 8th Ave Station in Manhattan, and some, like many stops along the J, M, and Z trains, and a few stops along the Q line, have stained glass designs in the platform or station.  Some of the stations are rather decrepit, and almost rotting, but some of the ones I would have currently put on that list are currently under renovation by the MTA, the Metropolitan Transport Authority, which is the governmental department that runs all of New York City's transportation.  As annoying as it is when they close down stations for a weekend, or even months at a time, the results can be rather impressive.  For example, the relatively new mosaic work in the Bay Ridge 86th St Station on the R line in Brooklyn is quite nice.  However, some of the station mosaic art is just simply exquisite.

One station that I would say falls into the exquisite category, is the Prince Street Station in Manhattan on the N and R lines.  There are mosaics of... silhouettes of people.  People who look like they'd be in New York City.  There are rich women with heels and fancy bags, men with construction hats and beer guts pushing carts full of who knows what, children, people with backpacks and hats, nuns, pregnant women.  Of course, not everyone is represented, but it's  a pretty nice cross section of the people you might see actually standing in the station.  I get to see this most every day- I generally ride the express train that passes through this station without stopping, and as I look out the window, I see the actual people and their shadow counterparts side by side, captured in a moment, frozen.  The people mix with the art on the wall, and it really is beautiful.  My New York.

Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA

Flashback

I had not walked over the Williamsburg Bridge in about nine months.  Since I moved out of Bed-Stuy, I don't live anywhere near it.  I live fairly far south, and I barely go to northern Brooklyn at all, so there is no reason for me to walk over it.  I walk over the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges fairly often, but they are near places I hang out, and are just generally closer to where I find myself most of the time.  Yes, the Williamsburg is a cool bridge, there is no doubt about that, but I live nowhere near it.  However, when a good friend of mine wanted to meet up for lunch in Williamsburg on Friday, and I didn't have to be anywhere else until later in the afternoon, I saw an opportunity for a little trip across the East River and down memory lane.  

When I did live in Bed-Stuy, I walked over the bridge all of the time.  I was constantly meeting Danny at Grand Central Station late in the evening, and then we'd take a nice two hour walk back to our neighborhood together, to catch up on the day.  At the time, I was still in school, doing my last semester of college.  I was in a summer intensive- six weeks of Shakespeare and then five weeks of Chekhov, with four to nine hours of class a day, so I had lots to talk about.  This time, I walked the bridge by myself in broad daylight, and noticed all kinds of things I hadn't seen before.  New grafitti, the look of the train tracks below, the signs on buildings near the bridge.  Some of it probably was not there before- that is one thing I love about street art- it is always changing.  Someone adds a new word to a design, paints on a rafter that was previously clear, or even covers up a previous message or symbol with their own.  It's fluid, new. I like that.  

Oh... and here's a gratuitous hipstery self-portrait for funsies.

Look at me.  I'm obviously thinking deep thoughts about post-modern performace art, underground bands you've never heard of, and organic bok choy.

Just kidding. What was I actually thinking about?  Probably about how my camera was running out of batteries.  And how I wish that there were more public bathrooms in New York.  Deep, deep thoughts.

New York City, New York, USA