On Wednesday, February 11, Brandon Stanton of the popular Facebook blog Humans of New York spoke at the Institute of Politics. Although I only follow HONY infrequently, I always enjoy seeing Stanton’s photos whenever they come across my newsfeed, so I was really excited when I got the lottery to attend this highly anticipated event.
Stanton spoke for the first twenty minutes. He encouraged all of us in attendance to do what makes us happy and not let other people’s opinions of our actions bring us down. He brought an example from his own life: he got fired from his job trading bonds and decided to move to New York to take photos of strangers and collect their stories, despite his lack of experience in photography. Stanton didn’t sound bitter when he shared the fact that his friends from home had no confidence in him and questioned his life choices. He said his early years in New York weren’t easy, sleeping on mattresses on the floor and skipping meals because he couldn’t afford to eat, but he had a mission and was determined to accomplish it.
He shared some of his HONY posts, showing how they evolved from his early photos. Although he joked that the quality is still poor, he now strives to only include the subject’s voice as commentary and exclude his own whenever remotely possible. Considering that I didn’t even know Brandon Stanton’s name or what he looked like before he came to the IOP, he’s doing a pretty good job at keeping himself out of the frame. The idea of creating artwork and completely keeping the focus on the art instead of the artist really struck me. It shows such humility for Stanton defer to what’s in front of the camera and not insert himself at all, even though it wouldn’t have been possible without his input.
For nearly an hour, people from the audience asked really insightful questions. Many self-identified as New Yorkers; as a Manhattanite, I wasn’t surprised that many HONY fans would be from the City, since the blog showcases varied sides of New York that no one person would ever naturally see. However, the amount of people there who were not from the Big Apple just show how HONY is not just about the humans of New York, but about the condition of humankind. The fact that fans of Stanton’s work have created so many HONY-inspired Facebook pages in the past few years can also attest to this. It’s not only about the City; it’s about the people, the emotions, the stories.
Overall, Stanton urged us to follow our dreams and do what feels right to us. As Harvard students, we have a lot of privilege and a lot of opportunities to take advantage of; it’s imperative that we don’t just mindlessly go into whatever profession will bring home the most money, but do what will make us happy and feel most fulfilled. Stanton’s been interviewing random people on the street for the past several years, and been gleaning a lot of life experience from it. If anyone’s qualified to give advice, I think it’s him.