by Jerome D.
Introduction
Brandon Stanton (b. 1984, Marietta, Georgia) is the creator of Humans of New York — the most followed street portrait project in history, and one of the most significant acts of documentary photography produced in the social media era. His project, known universally as HONY, has accumulated approximately 30 million followers across social media platforms, generated three New York Times bestselling books, spawned a Facebook Watch series, inspired hundreds of imitation projects across dozens of cities worldwide, and raised millions of dollars for charitable causes through the stories it has told.
None of this was planned. Stanton graduated from the University of Georgia with a degree in History and went to work as a bond trader in Chicago. In 2010, at 26, he was fired. With a small amount of savings, he packed his bags, moved to New York City, bought a camera, and set himself the initial goal of photographing 10,000 New Yorkers and plotting them on a map of the five boroughs — a kind of photographic census of the city's population. He was entirely self-taught. He had never studied photography. He walked the streets of New York alone, approaching strangers.
The project's transformation from photographic census to storytelling phenomenon happened almost accidentally. Stanton began adding quotes from his subjects alongside their portraits, and the combination of image and personal narrative produced something that resonated with a global audience in a way that the photographs alone had not. The quotes — often confessional, sometimes funny, frequently heartbreaking — gave each stranger in the frame a specific, irreplaceable humanity. The project grew from thousands of followers to millions.
His subjects have included Barack Obama and Pope Francis, as well as inmates on Rikers Island, Syrian refugees, cancer patients, homeless veterans, schoolchildren in Iran and Pakistan, and thousands of anonymous New Yorkers who stopped for a stranger with a camera on a city street. He has conducted portrait series in more than forty countries.
In a remarkable detail confirmed by Popular Photography, Canon's social media arm approached Stanton about a promotional deal — and he turned them down because they wanted him to promote a camera he doesn't use. This act of gear integrity, from a photographer who had built one of the largest photography audiences in the world, is characteristic of the man and the project.
As he has described his approach: "The first thousand fans you gain by the quality of your work."
Camera Gear Used by Brandon Stanton
Stanton's gear philosophy is one of the simplest documented on this site. He started with one camera and one lens, and he has maintained that essential simplicity throughout a project that has reached tens of millions of people. What follows is sourced from a direct interview with B&H Photo, a Popular Photography feature in which he was observed at work on the streets of Chelsea, and Shutterbug's profile of his practice — all primary or firsthand sources.
Early Career Camera: Canon EOS 7D
Canon EOS 7D with Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens — His confirmed original kit, stated verbatim in a B&H Photo interview: "Canon EOS 7D. Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens. That's it. All from B&H, of course." The EOS 7D is an APS-C sensor DSLR — a capable semi-professional body chosen, in all likelihood, for its combination of affordability and image quality at the start of a project funded by personal savings. The 50mm f/1.2 on an APS-C body produces an equivalent field of view of approximately 80mm — a flattering portrait length that gives a slight compression to facial features and a smooth background separation at f/1.2.
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| Canon EOS 7D |
Primary Career Camera: Canon EOS 5D Mark III
Canon EOS 5D Mark III with Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens — His confirmed camera for the core years of the HONY project, documented by two independent primary sources. Popular Photography observed him using it directly on the streets of Chelsea: "Canon EOS 5D Mark III (with a 50mm f/1.2 lens) clutched in his hand." Shutterbug independently confirmed: "Stanton has always used a Canon digital camera and today has a Canon EOS 5D Mark III with a 50mm f/1.2 lens."
The move from the APS-C 7D to the full-frame 5D Mark III is a natural progression — the full-frame sensor produces significantly better low-light performance, which matters for a photographer working outdoors in the variable light of New York streets across all seasons and times of day. The 50mm lens on a full-frame sensor now produces a natural, approximately normal perspective — the focal length that most closely matches the way the eye sees a scene at conversational distance.
It is worth noting that Stanton turned down a Canon promotional deal because they wanted him to promote a camera he does not use — demonstrating that despite his Canon loyalty, his gear choices are genuinely his own rather than sponsored. No more recent primary source confirms a change of body, and consistent with this site's editorial policy, no newer Canon body is listed here.
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| Canon EOS 5D Mark III check price on Amazon |
Lens
Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM — His sole confirmed lens, used on both the 7D and the 5D Mark III, and unchanged across his entire documented career. The 50mm f/1.2L is Canon's fastest standard prime — a lens with a specific character at wide apertures: smooth, slightly dreamlike background blur, a rendering of skin tones and natural light that flatters without being clinical, and a wide maximum aperture that allows available-light shooting in the shade and overcast conditions that are unavoidable in a city street project.
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| Canon EF 50mm f/1.2L USM check price on Amazon |
The consistency of this lens choice is itself a statement. Stanton did not add a wide angle for environmental shots or a short telephoto for more intimate framing. He photographed every subject with the same lens from a consistent working distance, producing a visual unity across the project that a variable lens approach could not have achieved. The HONY aesthetic — the quality of spatial relationship between subject and background, the consistent bokeh, the specific rendering of skin in natural light — is inseparable from the 50mm f/1.2.
Post-Processing
Minimal — no significant post-processing. Confirmed by Shutterbug: "He does a minimal amount of post-production work, mainly because he doesn't know Photoshop that well." This is not false modesty or affectation — it is consistent with his entire approach. Stanton's photographs succeed because of the quality of human connection he achieves before pressing the shutter, not because of technical refinement afterwards. The post-processing serves colour correction and basic exposure adjustment. Nothing more is needed or wanted.
Technique and Style
Brandon Stanton's photography is defined by a quality that has nothing to do with equipment and everything to do with character: the ability to make a stranger trust him within seconds of meeting, deeply enough that they will share something genuine, personal, and often painful with a man they have never seen before and will probably never see again.
His portraits are not technically complex. They are typically made in natural light, on city streets, with the subject standing or sitting in whatever position they occupied when he approached them. The composition is considered but not elaborate — subject centred or slightly off-centre, background blurred to irrelevance by the f/1.2 aperture, environment present enough to locate the person without distracting from their face. The photography is in the service of the story, and the story is always in the face.
He walks approximately six miles per day, confirmed by Popular Photography, and estimates about one mile per subject — a pace that reflects the genuine rarity of the connection he is seeking. He is not photographing everyone he passes. He is looking for something specific: a face, an expression, a posture, or a quality of presence that suggests a story worth pursuing. When he finds it, he approaches — and the conversation that follows, typically lasting between thirty minutes and an hour and a half, produces both the portrait and the quote.
He describes the subjects he is drawn to with characteristic honesty: "I don't have a pattern. But if you could discover a pattern, it's probably kids and old people." The self-awareness behind this observation — the acknowledgement that even his instincts have a logic he cannot fully articulate — is part of what makes his project feel genuine rather than formulaic.
His approach to intimacy with strangers is the subject of considerable analysis by journalists and communications scholars. The basic mechanics are simple: he asks permission before photographing, he interviews as he shoots rather than after, and he shares what people tell him as directly and unedited as possible. The effect is to make the subject feel heard rather than observed — a fundamental distinction that separates his work from most street portrait photography.
He has also been consistently direct about what HONY is not: "The first thousand fans you gain by the quality of your work. You reach a point where people give you a chance because so many other people are following you." This distinction — between the initial growth driven by genuine quality and the subsequent growth driven by social proof — reflects a clarity about the mechanics of his success that most photographers with large followings do not acknowledge.
How to Imitate His Style in Post-Processing
Stanton's images have a specific, clean character: natural colour rendition, smooth background separation, and a quality of light that feels observed rather than managed. Since his own post-processing is minimal, the goal in editing is not transformation but refinement. Pixlr is an excellent tool for this approach:
Correct white balance for skin accuracy.
His portraits succeed because the skin tones of his subjects look natural and accurate — not warm-filtered, not cool-graded, but true. In Pixlr's White Balance tool, adjust until the skin tones look as they would in person in natural light. This is the single most important adjustment for portrait photography in the HONY tradition.
Expose for the face, not the background.
His subjects are consistently well-exposed even when the background is brighter or darker. In Pixlr's Curves tool, adjust exposure with attention to the midtone values on the subject's face. If the background is blown out, leave it — the face is what matters.
Do not add stylistic colour grading.
HONY has no tonal signature — no warm vintage cast, no cool cinematic grade. The absence of stylisation is itself a style: it communicates that the image is about the person, not the photographer's aesthetic. Resist the temptation to add colour character in Pixlr. The neutrality is the point.
Leave the background soft.
The 50mm f/1.2 at close range produces a specific background bokeh — smooth, circular, present but unreadable. If you are shooting at a smaller aperture and the background is distractingly sharp, use Pixlr's Blur tool selectively on the background area to approximate this quality. The subject should be the only thing in focus.
How to Shoot Like Brandon Stanton
Talk before you shoot.
Stanton photographs and interviews simultaneously — he does not photograph a stranger and then ask them a question. The conversation and the portrait are a single act. Before raising the camera, introduce yourself, explain what you are doing, and ask permission. The quality of the portrait depends entirely on the quality of the moment before it.
Walk further than feels necessary.
Six miles per day, one mile per subject. The subjects that produce the most resonant portraits are not waiting on the nearest street corner. They are found through the patience and physical commitment of sustained walking — of being present in a large number of environments over a long period of time. Walk more than you think you need to.
Use one lens and master its working distance.
Stanton's consistency of lens choice produced a consistency of spatial relationship across his entire project. Choose a single focal length for a sustained portrait project and learn exactly how close you need to stand for the background separation you want, the face size you want, and the environmental context you want. That knowledge becomes instinctive very quickly, and the images become more consistent as a result.
Listen as much as you look.
The most valuable skill in Stanton's practice is not photographic — it is conversational. His ability to ask a question that produces a genuine, personal answer is what separates HONY from the thousands of street portrait projects that post a face without a story. Study interviewing technique as seriously as you study photography. Spend time listening to people you would not normally stop to talk to.
Publish regularly and without excessive curation.
HONY's consistency — a steady stream of portraits and stories published regularly over years — built a habit of attention in its audience. The project never waited for the perfect portrait. It published the human encounter, even when the photograph was technically imperfect. Build a regular publishing practice rather than waiting until you have a body of work you consider finished.
Refuse commercial deals that compromise the work.
Stanton turned down Canon's promotional offer because they wanted him to promote a camera he does not use. This integrity — the willingness to sacrifice a commercial relationship to protect the authenticity of the project — is part of why 30 million people trust his work. Commercial relationships that require you to misrepresent your practice cost more than they pay.
Legacy
Brandon Stanton's legacy is the demonstration that a single person, with a simple camera and one lens, walking the streets of a city and asking strangers for their time, can build one of the most significant documentary photography projects in the history of the medium — and do it in under fifteen years.
HONY's influence on street portrait photography is enormous and largely unmeasured. The hundreds of "Humans of [city]" projects that have followed it represent the most widespread adoption of a single photographer's format in the medium's history. More importantly, it established a template for combining photographic portraiture with oral storytelling — the image and the quote as a unit — that has become one of the dominant forms of social media documentary content.
His fundraising work through HONY has raised millions of dollars for causes including a New York middle school (he raised $1 million in three days), Syrian refugee families, cancer patients, and veterans. The photographs and stories that generated these contributions were the same portraits he was making anyway — the fundraising was a consequence of the audience's trust in his work, not a separate enterprise.
His three books — Humans of New York (2013), Humans of New York: Stories (2015), and Humans (2020) — are all New York Times bestsellers. His Facebook Watch series brought the project into long-form video. His continued presence on the streets of New York, more than fifteen years after the project began, demonstrates a commitment to the work that no amount of commercial success has eroded.
He is, in the most literal sense, a photographer who changed what photography is for.
Books by Brandon Stanton
Humans of New York (2013, St. Martin's Press) — His debut book, based on the blog. A New York Times bestseller that was initially rejected by publishers who felt photography books did not sell and that the work was too regional. It sold more than a million copies.
Humans of New York: Stories (2015, St. Martin's Press) — His second book, focusing specifically on the longer-form interview subjects that had become the defining format of the evolved project. A New York Times number-one bestseller.
Humans (2020, St. Martin's Press) — His third book, expanding the HONY format to portrait subjects from more than forty countries around the world. Another New York Times bestseller, and the most geographically ambitious volume of the three.
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| see it on Amazon |
Dear New York (2025, St. Martin's Press) — His fourth book and most personal work to date, an instant New York Times number-one bestseller. A love letter to the city he has spent fifteen years photographing, Dear New York spans nearly 500 full-colour pages of portraits and stories — more than 75 percent of which had never been published online before. Unlike his previous books, which were curated from his existing blog archives, this volume was conceived and shot specifically for print. To mark its release, Stanton transformed Grand Central Terminal into a large-scale immersive public art installation of the same name, running from 6 to 19 October 2025.
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| see it on Amazon |
Conclusion
Brandon Stanton began Humans of New York with a Canon EOS 7D and a Canon 50mm f/1.2 lens. He subsequently moved to a Canon EOS 5D Mark III, keeping the same 50mm f/1.2 lens. He does minimal post-processing, turned down a Canon promotional deal because they wanted him to promote a camera he does not use, and has built one of the most followed documentary photography projects in history with this simple, consistent, unchanged kit.
His photographs succeed not because of their technical sophistication but because of the quality of human encounter that precedes them. The camera records what the conversation makes possible. The conversation is the work.
"The first thousand fans you gain by the quality of your work."
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