Brandon Stanton

Brandon Stanton (born March 1, 1984) is an American author, photographer, and blogger. He is the author of Humans of New York, a photoblog and book. He was named to Time magazine's "30 Under 30 People Changing The World" list.

Brandon Stanton
Born	(1984-03-01) March 1, 1984 (age 40)^[1]^[2] Marietta, Georgia, U.S.
Alma mater	University of Georgia
Occupation(s)	Author, photographer, blogger
Known for	Founder of Humans of New York, 2010
Website	www.humansofnewyork.com

Since 2010, Stanton has taken hundreds of portraits of people living and working primarily in New York City, accompanied by bits of conversations about their lives.^[3] He has also traveled outside of the United States, capturing people and their lives in more than 20 countries, including Iran, Iraq, Uganda, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Ukraine, Vietnam, and Mexico.^[4]

Life and work

Stanton grew up in Marietta, Georgia, a suburb of Atlanta,^[5] where he completed his schooling at The Walker School in 2002.^[6] He majored in history at the University of Georgia.^[7] In 2010, he bought a camera while working as a bond trader in Chicago,^[8] and started taking photographs in downtown Chicago on the weekends. When he lost his job a short time later,^[9] he decided to pursue photography full-time. Moving to New York City, he set out to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their portraits on a map of the city, surviving on unemployment checks to "almost pay rent" and borrowing money from friends and family. Eventually, he moved his photographs to the Humans of New York Facebook page, which he started in November 2010.^[10][11] After posting a photo of a woman including a quote from her, he soon began adding captions and quotes to his photographs, which eventually evolved into full interviews.

His Humans of New York book was published in October 2013. It received positive reviews^[12] and sold 30,000 copies as preorders.^[5] The book reached the number 1 position on The New York Times Non-Fiction Best Sellers of 2013 for the week beginning November 3, 2013.^[13][14] The book remained on the list for 26 weeks, again reaching the number one position on December 21, 2014.

Stanton visits President Barack Obama at the White House on February 5, 2015

In December 2013, Stanton was named one of Time magazine's "30 Under 30 People Changing the World".^[15] In August 2014, he traveled to the Middle East to photograph people as part of a 50-day trip through 10 countries in the region under the auspices of the United Nations.^[16][17] In July 2015, he traveled to Pakistan and again to Iran to do the same.^[18][19] At the conclusion of his trip to Pakistan, Stanton crowdfunded $2.3 million to help end bonded labor in Pakistan.^[20]

In January 2015, Stanton was invited to the Oval Office to interview President Barack Obama. The trip concluded a two-week crowdfunding campaign on Humans of New York in which $1.4 million was raised.^[21]

In March 2016, Stanton opposed Donald Trump's presidential campaign, criticizing Trump on social media for hateful speech, such as delayed disavowing "white supremacy" and defending those who commit violence at his rallies. A day after his Facebook post, it had over 1.6 million likes and was shared nearly 1 million times.^[22]

Stanton has posted stories and photos from the Pediatrics Department of Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center in New York City. As he did for his other projects, Stanton created a fundraising campaign, and raised over $3.8 million for pediatric cancer research.^[23]

Publications

• Humans of New York. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2013. ISBN 978-1-250-03882-1.
• Little Humans of New York. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux. 2014. ISBN 978-0374374563.
• Humans of New York: Stories. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2015. ISBN 978-1250058904.
• Humans. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2020. ISBN 978-1-250-11429-7.
• Tanqueray. With Stephanie Johnson. New York: St. Martin's Press. 2022. ISBN 9781250278272

Awards

• 2013: People's Voice award, Best Use of Photography category, 2013 Webby Award for Humans of New York.^[24]
• 2013: Time magazine placed him in its list of "30 Under 30 World Changers".^[25]
• 2014: James Joyce Award from the Literary and Historical Society (L&H) of University College Dublin (UCD).^[26]

References

1. Jalabi, Raya (March 2, 2013). "NYC photographer's crowdfunding rules OK after DKNY boosts YMCA". The Guardian. Retrieved December 19, 2013.
2. Grinberg, Emanuella (October 18, 2013). "The photographer behind 'Humans of New York'". CNN. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
3. "Humans of New York to come to Pakistan in August". The Express Tribune. July 30, 2015. Retrieved August 5, 2015.
4. "Travel | Collected from trips to over twenty countries, these stories feature people from around the world". Humans of New York. Retrieved January 28, 2018.
5. Shapiro Jr., David (October 14, 2013). "Human by Human, a Following Grows". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 25, 2013.
6. . The Walker School. February 5, 2013. Archived from the original on October 23, 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
7. Freilich, Ellen (January 9, 2014). . BusinessWorld. Archived from the original on September 23, 2015. Retrieved January 31, 2014.
8. Goodyear, Sarah (April 20, 2012). "A 'Photographic Census' Captures New York's Characters". The Atlantic City Lab. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
9. Maloney, Jennifer. "In Focus: City's Humans". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
10. Stanton, Brandon (December 6, 2017). "Humans of New York: Behind the Lens". The Huffington Post. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
11. "Humans of New York Facebook Information Page". Facebook.
12. . Macmillan Publishers. Archived from the original on November 13, 2014. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
13. Bosman, Julie (November 6, 2013). "A Fisherman in New York's Sea of Faces". The New York Times. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
14. "Bestsellers List". The New York Times. November 3, 2013. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
15. Schweitzer, Callie (December 16, 2013). "30 Under 30: Meet Brandon Stanton, the Photographer Behind Humans of New York". Time. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
16. Keneally, Meghan (August 12, 2014). "Humans of New York Photographer's Touching Dispatches From Iraq". ABC News. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
17. Gilsinan, Kathy (August 12, 2014). "Humans of the World". The Atlantic. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
18. Tharoor, Ishaan (August 27, 2015). "'Humans of New York' photographer finds humans of Iran". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
19. Jamal, Ramsha (August 21, 2015). "Humans of New York blog offers a fresh perspective on Pakistan". The Guardian. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
20. Whiteman, Hilary (August 19, 2015). "The photos that raised $2 million to free bonded brick workers". CNN. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
21. Zezima, Katie (February 6, 2015). "'Humans of New York' goes to the White House". The Washington Post. Retrieved October 12, 2015.
22. Moyer, Justin Wm. (March 15, 2016). "Trump slammed by founder of Humans of New York". The Washington Post. Retrieved March 15, 2016.
23. Stanton, Brandon. "Humans of New York". Humans of New York. Retrieved May 21, 2016.
24. . The Webby Awards Gallery. Archived from the original on April 12, 2013. Retrieved October 26, 2013.
25. Schweitzer, Callie (December 16, 2013). "30 Under 30: Humans of New York Photographer Brandon Stanton". Time. Retrieved December 17, 2013.
26. "Humans of New York creator, Brandon Stanton honoured by UCD Literary & Historical Society". UCD News, University College Dublin. April 24, 2014. Retrieved August 13, 2014.

External links

 

Wikiquote has quotations related to Brandon Stanton.

• Official website
• Brandon Stanton: The Good Story TEDx