Criado em 2010 pelo fotógrafo americano Brandon Stanton com a intenção inicial de criar apenas um catálogo fotográfico dos habitantes da cidade de Nova York, o Humans of New York acabou em certo momento assumindo um caráter muito diferente. Brandon começou a incluir nas fotografias citações e histórias curtas das pessoas que conhecia. A partir daí, estas fotos e legendas tornaram-se a atração principal de um vibrante blog. Hoje, com milhões de seguidores nas mídias sociais, HONY oferece a uma audiência mundial vislumbres diários na vida e na história de desconhecidos na cidade de Nova York.

E eu acompanho diariamente, as histórias alegres me divertem e as tristes me lembram que os meus problemas não são tão grandes como eu às vezes penso e me dão uma sacudida pra eu parar de reclamar e ir em frente. Pra mim, inspiração pura.

Se você quiser saber um pouco mais da história de Brandon, dá uma olhada nesta matéria no jornal The Huffington Post.

“There was a time in 8th or 9th grade when I felt really alone. I lived in Virginia at the time and it seemed like I was the only Asian in the county. I was gay. I wasn’t religious. It seemed like I was the only one who didn’t have John 3:16 written on my locker. I joined the marching band and felt like I’d finally found my clique, but then not long afterward my mom told me that we were moving again. It started to feel like I didn’t belong anywhere, and of course my teenage hormones had me wondering if I belonged on earth. Around this time I made the mistake of reading my adoption papers from China. My parents had left me in an alley. They didn’t even bother to bring me to an orphanage.”

Uma foto publicada por Humans of New York (@humansofny) em Abr 13, 2015 às 9:51 PDT

“My mom grew up in a poor village in Nigeria. Her parents sent her to live with her aunt, who basically treated her like a maid. She said that every day she would pray for her children to be great. Growing up, she’d always address me with the word ‘great.’ When I wanted to be a computer scientist, she’d refer to me as her ‘great computer scientist.’ When I decided I’d rather be an engineer, she called me her ‘great engineer.’ Then, ‘my great CEO.’”

Uma foto publicada por Humans of New York (@humansofny) em Abr 11, 2015 às 7:08 PDT

“She always has something exciting planned for us.”

Uma foto publicada por Humans of New York (@humansofny) em Abr 7, 2015 às 7:24 PDT

“When I came out of the closet, everything came out of the closet.”

Uma foto publicada por Humans of New York (@humansofny) em Abr 6, 2015 às 3:35 PDT

“I came to study in America so that I could improve my English, but I’ve been here for a few months, and I’ve really only spoken to other Brazilians. Believe it or not, this is the first conversation I’ve had in English. The first moment speaking to a new person is very hard. In Brazil, people seem very open to speaking to new people. They make the first moment very easy. But here, the first moment seems much harder. It seems like everyone is in a group, and they only talk to people inside of their group, and I’m not sure how to get in a group. I told myself that I had to come to Central Park and talk to someone today. But I ended up just sitting here.”

Uma foto publicada por Humans of New York (@humansofny) em Abr 1, 2015 às 8:52 PDT