Meet the Humans of Housatonic
For a long time now, I’ve been a fan of Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York (HONY) blog. HONY is sometimes funny, often moving, and nearly always intimate and engaging.
Stanton pairs interesting photographs and quotations and short stories about his subjects, offering daily glimpses into the lives of strangers in New York City. Currently followed by about 12-15 million people, HONY has also spawned a New York Times bestselling book. Stanton has continued his work around the world, including a special project for the United Nations.
Earlier this semester, I met Brandon at the Wisdom 2.0 Conference in San Francisco, where he delivered a presentation and answered questions about the development of HONY and his creative process. He explained how he almost never looks for subjects to share opinions or philosophies for HONY. “What is unique to us is our stories,” he says. “When I’m on the street, I’m always looking for a story. Only then will I find something that only represents them and not anyone else.”
After we watched a recording of his presentation, I asked the Horizons staff to put Stanton’s ideas and the interviewing, reporting, and photography skills they’ve been learning and honing to work in their own, similar project. They set out to find some members of the HCC community willing to be photographed and to share their stories.
In the coming days, you’ll meet and get to know some of these people (including the guy below) in our own series, Humans of Housatonic. We’ll be adding a few new stories every day, so keep checking back. You can see all of the series so far here. Enjoy!
Photo by Celeste Burnett