You've got to respect a man who refuses to pretend like he's having a good day.
‘Humans of New York’ is a photo project started by photographer Brandon Stanton in 2010, where he captures portraits of people who live in the ‘Big Apple’.
Armed with a camera, he travels around NYC, capturing the quirky and unusual characters that he encounters on the streets—cataloging them in his personal project.
“I thought it would be really cool to create an exhaustive catalogue of the city’s inhabitants, so I set out to photograph 10,000 New Yorkers and plot their photos on a map,” wrote Stanton.
Besides photos, Stanton also collects quotes and stories of the people he photographs—giving his viewers a more personal glimpse into the lives of strangers from New York.
"Before it was all about us. Now it's all about him."
"Every country is good for different reasons. They are like different fruits. But Egypt is my favorite. Egypt is like a mango."
Seen in Jackson Heights
Seen in Jackson Heights
"I worked hard, I was honest, I provided for my family, and I took care of my parents."
I sat by that stroller and called out her name for three minutes: "Julia, Julia, Juuulllliiiiiiaa." But she wouldn't emerge. Finally this happened.
Turning Pink
One of them pointed at a passing rollerblader and said: "Why don't you photograph him instead?" Another one answered for me: "Because he's not a Hasid with a chihuahua."
"I really started running when I was 18, right after my dad died. I was doing 17 miles every day. It was my own way of facing death each night and beating it."
"I want to be an artist."
"What kind of art do you want to make?"
"I want to make different versions of myself."
"What's your greatest struggle right now?"
"Interacting with other people."
"In what way?"
"In this way."
We talked for a few minutes. She told me that she'd had a plan to join the Navy out of high school, but that fell apart because her knees were bad. She told me that she'd just finished working a 12 hour shift on a food truck. She told me that she'd moved to New York for no reason, just to get out of Kansas. "But I'm so glad I came," she said.
"Why's that?" I asked. Her eyes began to water.
"Because I'm so in love with a girl right now."
"I ain't never made a doll before, and it came out perfect!"
"You look kinda like Ernest Hemingway."
"And we're both from Key West."
"You're from Key West?"
"Well, I used to smuggle coke out of there."
"I never married."
"Why not?"
"Because you didn't come along until today."
[via Humans of New York]