Humans of New York- Portrait Research

'Humans of New York' is a photo blog/book of street portraits and stories collected from people on the streets on New York. This idea was born in 2010, dreamt up by photographer Brandon Stanton.

Brandon Stanton

Stanton is one of the Time's "30 Under 30 People Changing The World". Since 2010, he's taken hundreds of portraits of people living in New York. These photographs are accompanied by little conversations about their lives. I really like this because it gives each photo context and a deeper meaning. It's also like you're meeting all these people yourself, despite them being on the other side of the world. You're being let into a snippet of their lives through this one photograph. It's a brilliant way to showcase daily struggles, relationships, current affairs, politics, culture- just things we may not be aware of in OUR everyday lives. We can empathise with these people or equally, laugh along with them. The stories vary as well, which i really like. Looking at a portrait on their website, you never know what the story below is going to be. A face can be so miss-leading which is why reading their stories just makes the experience so much more personal.
Stanton has also travelled outside of the United States, documenting accounts of people's lives in over 20 different countries. Humans of New York is such a unique and wonderful platform to get away from your own life for a split second and experience others. Some of the stories you read stick with you just because they are so poignant.

"Initially, he planned to gather 10,000 portraits of New Yorkers and plot them on a map of the city. The project soon evolved, however, when Stanton started having conversations with his subjects and including small quotes and stories alongside his photographs."

I think something like this almost occurs naturally. If your subject is a person or people, then it's without a doubt that you'll probably strike up some form of conversation with them. Stanton obviously let this evolve and allowed it to develop his work. This statement takes me back to the 'Stroker' exhibition i saw at Somerset House. Conversation starts naturally but sometimes it can be harder than we think, especially in a world being consumed by technology. Stanton breaks this format by showing that he can have genuine, meaningful conversations with complete strangers who are reflecting on their lives instead of hiding behind a phone screen. They are just two people enjoying one another's company. Some of the stories shared are shared because they need the attention of the public eye. Things like families affected by immigration for example- Getting recognition of 'Humans of New York' could help to make people more aware of this dire situation. Other stories are simply about relationships, like the story of meeting the love of your life for example. It raises issues within the LGBT+ community, it raises questions on just about everything because you're reading the lives of so many different people. It would be hard not to cover so many different scenarios.



This portrait, for example, i love because you just wouldn't expect the caption linked to it in a million years. You'd take one look at this lady and see innocence, vulnerability and comfort. But 'Tanqueray' has a past and a half that Stanton was lucky enough to capture. It just shows how interesting the unexpected can be. The composition of this image is very effective because he uses the rule of thirds. Not only can we see her close enough to pick out little details but we can also see a busy background that gives the photo depth. I like how the lights are out of focus.I also love her expression. She almost looks shocked but it's just Stanton capturing her in her natural being. He doesn't wait for her to cosy up to the camera and put on a face, he just shoots in the moment. I also like that nothing is censored. He's included every little part of her story because what happened made her who she is and even though it could be seen as controversial, he's keeping it authentic.



I like how the colour blue is most dominant in this photo. The blue, washed out wall, the blue phone box and the blue coat on the dog. It almost becomes a theme for the girl and her dog. Another beautifully composed shot with an equally beautiful story.

This shot compliments the story behind it. His son talks of space and the way the lights are blurred in the background makes it look rather ethereal/otherworldly. It almost looks like a space station. It's like Stanton is making the boys imagination come to life within this photo.

'Humans of New York' has helped inspire me to take to the streets in search of my own stories. I'm not sure yet whether i'm actually going to stop people to take photographs or if i'm just going to blend into the background and let stories uncover themselves but, 'Humans of New York' has helped make me decide that i definitely want to focus on street photography. There are so many untold stories waiting to be shared and i want to try and find at least a few of them. I have an idea to travel up to London and uncover stories there, as it's rich with people from all different walks of the earth.London can be my New York for a day. I plan to try and do a test shoot some point beforehand however.


Siegfried Hansen- Extract from 'Street Photography Now'

Talking about narrative and wanting to go out and find stories i looked around the library for a Street Photography book that would hold such stories so i could get a bit of inspiration. I came across 'Street Photography Now'. Reading through it, i was already drawing inspiration as it was a mix between imagery and writing. Extracts from artists research or the stories of their work would accompany each image, giving it context and making the book much more immersive. Every so often, there's a double page spread about an artist with an enlarged quote to set the premise of their work. I really like this because it basically gives an overview of what their work is about and how they go about it, so i know who i'd want to research. One quote for the artist Siegfried Hansen particularly caught my attention- 'Normally i see the street scene as a stage'. I love this because calling a street a stage immediately sets it up for a story. The stage is the birthing place for narrative- it's where everything comes to life. Calling the street a stage just opens up endless creative possibilities because it's almost saying you have the creative freedom to create whatever story you want. Even though you can't order civilians in the street around, you can instead watch them and come up with a story based on their actions. You observe and see how the story unfolds. If you're lucky enough, you'll meet someone who's actually willing to give you a story of their own. Hansen isn't specifically a portrait photographer but his photos are a beautiful example of the stories you can create just by being on the street at the right time. An example of perfect timing is pictured below:

Unedited and just wonderfully convenient, this photo has so much potential for narrative especially as you can't identify the people. A person's face can tell you so many things about them so not being able to see it means you can interpret this image in any way possible.

The story behind this image is the wonder of what they are carrying, where they are carrying it to and why? It's also just beautifully composed and full of interesting shapes and angles. 

He's playing with perspective in this image and it works beautifully. It's so delicate and the timing is spot on. I like how there are just little  bursts of colour, both in the foreground and background. It's not overwhelming but instead compliments the image. He's clearly having fun with this image and it really reinforces his view that the street is a stage. He's using what he can to create a quirky scene. The street is definitely his stage with this photograph. Siegfried Hansen's images, although they're not portraits, give me the inspiration to think of the street as my stage because he shows that there is so much potential out there.