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

Inspiration Fridays: Old New York

Yes, yes, it is Wednesday.  But, I was so excited about this post that I couldn't wait!

Inspiration Wednesday just doesn't sound as thrilling.

Old New York.  Old maps.  Old photos.  Memories of what this place once was... they fascinate me.  I didn't grow up in New York, but my dad grew up mostly right outside of the city, and my grandparents worked in the Bronx.  I feel tied to this place, and do more so every day.  It's been almost five years since I moved up to the big apple, and though I don't plan on spending my entire life here, I certainly love it!

So, here are some wonderful images of the New York City, and parts of the city that were once their own cities, that once was and were!

1853 World's Fair Maps

From the Brooklyn Historical Society

1899 Brooklyn Memorial Day Parade!

I'll have some photos from the 2012 Memorial Day Parade up soon.

Also from the Brooklyn Historical Society.

Painters hang from suspended wires on the Brooklyn Bridge October 7, 1914 -- 31 years after it first opened!

From the New York City Municipal Archives

Old Subway Sign, circa 1980's.

Source Unknown.

Interior of the old Penn Station.  Whenever I see photographs of this I want to cry- Penn Station is such an ugly vortex of stress now, and this beautiful building is lost.  Bad decisions.  Ah, well.

From The Last Civilized Yank

I'm guessing that they mean The Manhattan Bridge, but I'm not totally sure... It could be the Williamsburg.  I'll have to adventure and check it out!

From Photographic Views of New York City.

3rd Ave and 166th St in the Bronx.

Also from Photographic Views of New York City.

A news article from 1917 profiling the old Atlantic Ave station- for which the entrance still stands today. It's that thing in the middle of the street where all the busses stop in that insane intersection next to the new Barclay's Center.

From Obscura Day.

Mock battleship built in Union Square as a recruiting advertisement for WWI!

From The Gothamist.

Aerial view of downtown Manhattan from 1850, featuring Castle Clinton, which, apparently used to be in the middle of the water, folks.  Who knew?

From Fledgling.

McSorley's Ale House on East 7th St in Manhattan in 1942- I can attest, it looks pretty much exactly the same now.

From Dino's NYC.

Another amazing subway photo of the Times Square Shuttle, which just runs from 42nd Times Square to 42nd Grand Central, from back before the graffiti was cleaned off of trains the same day it was put on.

From The Bronx Beat.

A class of 5th grade students in Riverdale in the 1920's.

From Ephemeral New York.

Shot of the beautiful interior of the tragically rotting Loewe's King's Theatre right by where I live.

Apparently, it's beginning a remodeling soon, and is set to open again in 2014 or 2015 as a theatre instead of a movie theatre.  

From Anshitsu.

Happy Adventuring, everyone!

What's Your Hood?

New York City has so many neighborhoods.  An obscene number, really.  Which, if you think about it, makes total sense, because it is the sixth largest city in the world.  Brooklyn alone is, if I remember correctly, the fifth largest city in the United States of America.  That means we beat Philadelphia.  Woot.  

In any case, I try to show a lot of these neighborhoods here, on this blog.  However,  I generally feature only the ones I travel to on any kind of a normal basis.  For example... Upper East Side?  I never go there.  It's not that I don't like it- it's a lovely area, and I have a few friends that I've visited a few times, but in general, other than the Metropolitan Museum of Art, it doesn't strike my particular fancy.  Flushing... I have never been to.  I keep meaning to go, and I know there is a lot of rad stuff to do out there, even though they house the Mets, but I haven't made it out.  It's really far away from me, and I haven't yet had a day where I woke up and said "Hmm, today seems like the day I should familiarize myself with Flushing!".  Perhaps, I should decide to have that day.  The Bronx, I like, but, once again, it's far away.  The main reason I go to the Bronx is for Yankee Stadium (see Mets joke above).  I like the Bronx, as I've said, but it's at least an hour by train for me, so it's not convenient to just traipse on up there for an adventure unless the adventure is going to be really fantastic.  That said, if you live in the Bronx, hit me up, let's jam.  I'd love a good reason to get up there and take some photos.  As for Staten Island... yeah, well.  Yeah.  That.  I've driven through it... does that count?  It seemed to be somehow differentiated from Jersey.

Basically, I live here in NYC, and I know a lot of it like the back of my hand, especially the areas I've lived in.  The Village?  Check.  Lived there during Undergrad.  Bed-Stuy?  Lived there too.  Flatbush?  I might live there now, but I'd never tell you that online... Chelsea?  Check. Work there.  Midtown?  Check.  I have spent too much time waiting outside auditions freezing my butt off and doing nothing to occupy my time other than observing the scenery, and have also shown many visiting friends the M&M store and mega Toys R Us.  By the way... there is a ferris wheel inside of Toys R Us.  It is pretty epic.

HOWEVER!

(dun dun dunnnn)

There is a lot of the city that I have just never seen.

Here's your opportunity to change that.

Comment on this post and tell me what you think is New York's 

MOST FASCINATING NEIGHBORHOOD!

I'll then go there, take a bunch of photos, check it out, and prep a post for next weekend.

You can vote for any neighborhood.  It can be one I feature all the time, like The Village or Chinatown, or something I never show, like Riverdale or Canarsie.  

The possibilities are endless.  And, it is totally up to you!

I'm hoping to turn this into a running thing.

Thanks everyone!  

Now, enjoy some scattered photos from a variety of neighborhoods.

This is a photograph of one of the best little decor pieces in my apartment in Brooklyn- my light-up cherry blossoms!



 This photograph shoes my sister, Julianna, coming very close to hitting my mother in the face with one of the "bam bam" excitement/ noisemakers that they gave to all of the Tisch graduates at the recent NYU graduation at Yankee Stadium, in the Bronx.



After the graduation ceremony at the stadium, we took a nice little walk through the East Bronx to a subway station that wouldn't be quite so much of a zoo.  Here is my dad, Bob, standing on the platform at the 149th St Grand Concourse station, waiting for the 5 train.



This super cool little statue is outside of a restaurant in Little Italy, in Manhattan.  You have to kind of shuffle past him to get into the door, but, hey!  Someone gave you a thumbs up and a wink today.  It's now a pretty awesome day.



I found this vintage Charmain Mao propaganda poster in Pearl River Mart, in Soho, in Manhattan.  The details and colors were so exciting and riveting to me.  So, I've titled this photo "Vintage Pro-Mao Poster".  (Get it?  I made a pun there.  Promo poster... pro-Mao poster..... whatever.)

New York City, New York, USA