Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy and Cookie Statement and Your California Privacy Rights. These conversations speak about life harsh realities people face everyday burst resonate and sentimental emotion. Human’s Of New York initially was a private blog seen only for friends and family and posted the images with no context. Consider, instead, the ease of the boy’s sneakers against the sidewalk; his shy, smirking confidence; the preternatural calm with which he occupies the space within the frame. Stanton has collected portraits in nearly 20 different countries including Bangladesh, Iran, Iraq, and Pakistan.

One woman—a book open on her lap, a swatch of a purple sweater waving out over washed-out jeans, her face perhaps pointedly outside the frame—says only this to her would-be inquisitor: “These experiences were so meaningful to me that I don’t want you to soundbite them.The book included some quotes and stories, but largely it represented the photographic origins of HONY.

It’s fascinating how a simple photograph blog turned into a storytelling page that captivates the hearts of millions of people. Once an arrangement of events, real or invented, organized with the intent of placing a dagger—artistic, intellectual, moral—between the ribs of a listener or reader, a story has lately become a glossier, less thrilling thing: a burst of pathos, a revelation without a veil to pull away. Part of what makes this book so essential is the fact that it was written under a death sentence following the diagnosis that upended his life, just as he was preparing to end his residency and attract offers at the top of his profession. So he decided to set aside his doctoral dissertation and belatedly prepare for medical school, which “would allow me a chance to find answers that are not in books, to find a different sort of sublime, to forge relationships with the suffering, and to keep following the question of what makes human life meaningful, even in the face of death and decay. Humans of New York is distinct from other photo-coffee-table books because the cohesiveness of the photo and text relationship on each page.This series of events—Vidal’s travel, in the reckoning of HONY’s devotees, from photograph to popular phenomenon—is in many ways a perfect realization of the ethos of “Stories,” which recently débuted at No. Armed with his camera, he began crisscrossing the city, covering thousands of miles on foot, all in his attempt to capture ordinary New Yorkers in the most extraordinary of moments. Ever since Brandon Stanton began interviewing strangers on the streets of New York, the dialogue he's had with them has increasingly become as in-depth, intriguing and moving as the photos themselves. The series partnered with the nonprofit, Headstrong Project, to highlight the mental health struggles veterans experience. Stanton’s project began as a blog, and HONY’s photos can be viewed on Tumblr, Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and in print.