Start Before You're Ready with Humans of New York Brandon Stanton

7 snips

Aug 22, 2018

Brandon Stanton, creator of Humans of New York, shares his inspiring journey from a stagnant finance career to documenting profound human stories through photography. He discusses how losing his job became a catalyst for personal growth. Stanton highlights the transformative power of storytelling in reshaping narratives, especially for marginalized groups. He candidly recounts the challenges of approaching strangers in New York for interviews and emphasizes the importance of embracing fear to connect authentically with others.

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ANECDOTE

Job Loss Sparked Creative Freedom

Brandon lost his bond-trading job and felt liberated rather than devastated.
That loss gave him mental freedom to decide how he wanted to spend his thoughts and time.

INSIGHT

Redefine Success As Time Over Money

Brandon reframed success as 'just enough money' to do what he loves rather than maximizing income.
He prioritized controlling time and mental energy over larger financial goals.

ANECDOTE

Train Photo That Changed Everything

On a Chicago train Brandon nervously photographed two strangers making the same face and got hooked.
That risky moment taught him that overcoming fear produced unique photos others might not capture.

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If you don't know Brandon, you definitely know his work. Brandon is the creator of Humans of New York which has accumulated over 20 million followers worldwide and turned into two NYT-bestselling books (Humans of New York and Humans of New York: Stories). It has also spawned an entire genre of similar blogs. Hundreds of aspiring documentarians have followed in HONY's footsteps, telling the stories of countries, cities, and communities across the world.

During a PhotoWeek session we had at CreativeLive, Brandon shared his story from getting fired at a job he hated to selling everything to move to New York to try to be a photographer. Brandon shares what he has learned along the journey of interviewing thousands of people and how they have shaped his storytelling.

If you love this episode, you might also want to check out the video version of this talk to see some of the photos he shares during his talk. You can do that by logging onto creativelive.com and searching "Brandon Stanton".

In today's episode:

There's a subtle but crucial mind shift that needs to happen if you want mental freedom. You need to consciously decide what you're going to spend your brain power on and consciously decide what you're not. Focus on the things that make you feel the way you want to feel and do the things you want to be doing.
You can plan all you want, but you won't know if your plan works until you start executing it. The original Humans of New York plan looks nothing like what the project has turned into today.
Choosing the work that you do is a better goal than not working at all. Following your dreams is hard work, but success is getting to spend every day doing what you want to be doing. Worth it.

Enjoy!

Today's episode is brought to you by CreativeLive. CreativeLive is the world's largest hub for online creative education in photo/video, art/design, music/audio, craft/maker and the ability to make a living in any of those disciplines. They are high quality, highly curated classes taught by the world's top experts -- Pulitzer, Oscar, Grammy Award winners, New York Times best selling authors and the best entrepreneurs of our times.