Four hundred portraits of ordinary New Yorkers, with the surprising stories they shared on the street
A city told one face at a time
In the summer of 2010, after losing his job as a bond trader in Chicago, Brandon Stanton moved to New York with a camera and an ambitious idea: to photograph ten thousand strangers and build a photographic census of the city. His blog became a worldwide phenomenon, and this book collects about four hundred full-color portraits, many with short quotes and stories.
Who will enjoy it
Anyone who loves photography, people-watching or New York, and readers looking for a beautiful gift book.
What you will get
A warm, moving and often funny portrait of a city through its people, showing how much a single photo and a few honest sentences can reveal about a life.
Humans of New York Facts: Pages, Genre and Setting
Genre
Nonfiction · Photography · Street portraits · New York City
Length
304 pages · ≈ 9 h
More about this book
Brandon Stanton studied at the University of Georgia and worked in finance in Chicago until he lost his job. He had just taken up photography and decided to spend his time walking the streets of New York, stopping strangers and asking to take their portrait. At first the idea was to plot ten thousand photos on a map of the city. Gradually he began asking people questions and posting their answers alongside the pictures, and the blog grew into one of the most followed storytelling projects online.
The book is arranged loosely, page after page of faces from every borough and walk of life: children in costumes, couples married for decades, street performers, commuters, elderly neighbors in extravagant outfits, people celebrating, grieving or simply waiting for the bus. Some photos stand alone; others carry a line or a short paragraph in the subject's own words, often unexpectedly funny or tender. Together they create a mosaic of the city and a reminder that every passer-by has a story. The hardcover comes with a distinctive translucent jacket.
Easy to browse in short sittings and hard to forget. About 304 pages of full-color photographs.
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