Occasionally I’m invited to colleges and seminars to explain the story behind Humans of New York. I bring along a very amateurish PowerPoint presentation, which I’m constantly tweaking because I never quite know where to begin the story. That’s because Humans of New York did not result from a flash of inspiration. Instead, it grew from five years of experimenting, tinkering, and messing up. I always say that if I’d waited until I had the idea for Humans of New York, I’d never have begun Humans of New York.
The simplest way to describe the development of HONY over the past five years is this: it’s evolved from a photography blog to a storytelling blog. In its early years, HONY represented an effort to photograph thousands of people on the streets of New York City—10,000, to be exact. But after cataloguing thousands of people, I stumbled upon the idea of including quotes from my subjects alongside their photographs. The quotes grew longer and longer, until eventually I was spending fifteen to twenty minutes interviewing each person I photographed. These interviews, and the stories that resulted from them, became the new purpose of Humans of New York. The blog became dedicated to telling the stories of strangers on the street.
The first Humans of New York book was published in the midst of this transformation. The book included some quotes and stories, but largely it represented the photographic origins of HONY. It provided an exhaustive visual catalogue of life on the streets of the city. But soon after it went to print, it became obvious that another book was waiting to be made—one that includes the in-depth storytelling that the blog is known for today. This is that book.
For those of you who may have picked up this book on a whim, I want to address one last element of Humans of New York. There are more than 15 million people who follow the blog every day on social media. If you are one of those people—thank you. Thank you for the positivity and kindness you bring to the comments section. Thank you for every time you’ve said hello to me on the street, and told me how much the blog means to you. Thank you for every time you’ve shared a post or told a friend about HONY. Thanks for all the money you’ve donated to the causes we’ve supported. I’m always asked in interviews how such a positive and uplifting community was created. The truth is that I’m not exactly sure. But the greatest group of people in the world seems to follow Humans of New York. And thank you so much for being a part of it.