HUMANS OF NEW YORK REVIEW

Humans of New York is a book by Brandon Stanton, which portrays the lives of strangers Stanton has met in the street and asked about their story. I was drawn to this as it's simple concept feeds so much into theories about identity and judgement of others, by only knowing a small couple of lines in which we can resonate with a character. I think this approach to photographic books has changed peoples perspective about seeing others in the street, and taking into consideration the lives of strangers as well as our own. 

The book has been a massive success due to it's recognition in society and critiqued by the best writers. The formal elements in all of Stantons photographs captures an individual figure, all shot with a shallow depth of field to allow focus on that one subject in their entirety supported by a small conversation or explanation of circumstance. The book itself is divided into a few spreads and stories per page, which allows the reader to compare and contrast. I found it very useful as someone who is interested in street style and this format of photography. 

Stanton states that “Somewhere along the way, I began to interview my subjects in addition to photographing them. And alongside their portraits, I'd include quotes and short stories from their lives.” which I think is very important in finding more information to include that a simple photograph. The quotes supported give the audience an insight into the thoughts and feelings of a stranger, which we usually cannot identify with completely without communicating something about themselves. 

The book uses negative spacing to combine image and text, occasionally overlapping and sometimes using the rest of the spread to use a sans serif typeface for the copy. 

The main theme of the book is identification, Stanton reveals that “There’s a comfort, an affirmation, a validation in being exposed to people with similar problems.” Using himself as a source for knowledge and being the photographer, he's engaging with the subjects and asking personal and private questions that give the audience an insight into problems they may identify with themselves, or not. 

I like that although simplistic, this form of communication is incredibly sympathetic for someone to read and get to know people from a place they may not have visited with people they will more than likely never come across. Communication has always fascinated me, I particularly love that it's done through a book and can be more personalised. Stanton also does run a site for additions as this continuing display of meeting and identification will keep progressing as he meets more people, but the book is something more special and personal, as thought and decisions have been carefully made so each character is contrastive on the same spread as another.