Humans of New York video series

Manuela Graf, Features Editor

Every single day, the residents of the most densely populated city in the United States make their daily commute to work, go to school, out for coffee with a friend, brunch, even a simple walk in the park. The huge melting pot of diversity that is the Big Apple is a place guaranteed never to be boring for a single second. Sights, sounds, and the fascinating stories of these approximately 8 million people are waiting to be shared with the eager world. And someone is doing just that.

In 2010, Brandon Stanton, an American best-selling author and creator of the Humans of New York photo blog, set out on what he would later find to be a tireless mission to recollect and tell the stories of thousands of people, each interesting in their own way. His latest addition, however, is a series of episodes with video footage of his encounters with random people and their life stories.

Making its debut on August 24, 2017, the HONY video series came out with an episode with a theme revolving around the vague word, “time”. In the latest episode, Stanton interviews his subjects about the journey of parenting and the wild, enriching experiences it can bring.

Named as one of the “30 Under 30” members for Time Magazine, Stanton has definitely earned his title, as he always seems to capture the subjects at their most honest and vulnerable moments, sitting down with them and having conversations as if he had known them all his life.

“Early on I realized that video would add a deeper layer to Humans of New York,” said Stanton in an interview with Time Magazine. And he’s right. In his previous photo blog he captured some pretty mesmerizing photographs of people, but the recent series lets the viewer feel on a profound level the emotions felt by the interviewee as they reveal their life and exposes their humanity in a way that photos cannot always achieve.

The raw, uncut footage of these video clips draws the viewer in and allows them to realize that every single person has a story, no matter whether they are sleeping on a park bench every night or going home to their comfortable Upper East side apartment. Stanton’s mission to strip all superficiality from his interviews makes a statement for anyone reading or watching. His many projects have focused on places outside of the cosmopolitan bubble of New York City, including Pakistan, Argentina, Russia, and Iran.

Stanton’s moving portrayal of each and every person he talks to are sure to provoke emotion in anyone following his content-and may even bring tears to some eyes.