Prompts

Write about an important person. Prompt #503

Write about someone who was, or is, important to you. Write how that person impacted you. Bonus points for a crazy coincidence . . . The unexplainable event . . . The hilarious accident. The outsized personality. Write about how that person impressed you or changed you. Today’s Prompt is inspired by Brandon Stanton and his Humans of New York project. I learned about Brandon Stanton around 2009 as he began his Humans of New York project. Intrigued, I pre-ordered his book, which is now a prized possession. From Brandon’s Humans of New York’s May 17 Facebook Page, about not being able to have personal interviews on the streets. I was initially worried about doing these interviews remotely. I thought that without the context of the street-—the stories might lose their sense of immediacy and randomness. But the experiment has been quite a success. These remote interviews have been a…

Quotes

Hard work got me here and only . . .

Hard work got me here and only hard work will keep me here.  —   Brandon Stanton, photographer and author of Humans of New York.  Brandon is the amazing young man who founded the Humans of New York Project. Q & A with Brandon and Lee Shearer: Why did you start Humans of New York? The idea for HONY came very organically from a love of photography. It wasn’t really modeled on anything. It emerged from many small evolutions rather than coming from a fully formed idea. For my first year or so of doing HONY full time, there weren’t even captions or interviews. It was just a photography blog. What kept you going in the first months of HONY? Obsession, really. I just truly loved doing it, and I thought the work was unique and important. Even early on, I had a lot of confidence that if I kept working,…

Book Reviews

Humans of New York Project

Do you like success stories?  The kind where the humble, modest guy brings all kinds of people together in a unique way with amazing results? Meet Brandon Stanton, photographer and creator of the Humans Of New York project. I love his story.  Even though I have never met him, I feel like I know him.  Here’s his story. Brandon Stanton worked as a bond trader until he lost his job in July 2010. He started taking photos of buildings in Chicago. Then he spent a week in Philadelphia, taking photos of bridges, and occasionally photos of people. He headed for New York, intending to stay for only one week. This time, he took photos of people on the streets and began asking them questions. He posted these photos and quotes on Facebook. The response was tremendous, lots of “likes.”  I mean LOTS of likes.  To date, he has over three…