也許你和我一樣，當一個人坐在路邊咖啡廳或餐廳看到街上時而走過的行人時，偶爾會情不自禁地想：“他（她）是誰？從哪裡來？到哪裡去？ 去年聖誕節兒子從美國回來給我帶來一本精裝版的書：《Humans of New York: Stories》，作為節日禮物。接過書後，我講“你的心意我領了，但我最近沒時間看閒書”。他告訴我這不是普通的書不需要讀，主要是照片只要翻翻就可以 了。"你會喜歡的”。原來，這本書似乎回答我前面的問題。

以下照片均來自網絡。

這確實不是一本普通的書，說起這本書來需從書的年輕作者講起。布蘭登·斯坦頓（Brandon Stanton）1984年出生於美國佐治亞州，亞德蘭大市郊。後來到芝加哥從事金融方面的工作。2010年因做期貨生意失敗由芝加哥來到紐約。窮困潦倒 之際他突然產生了一個靈感，用利用自己的攝影愛好做一件很酷的事。於是他拿着一台佳能相機走上紐約大街，在爭得同意後給陌生人拍照。之後，把照片放在自己 的博客里。隨着照片的數量的迅速增多，他的粉絲隊伍也不斷擴大。不久他便成了一名名副其實的著名街頭攝影師。 斯坦頓的照片的特點是沒有條條框框，照片中的人物可以是在紐約街頭上的任何你我，兒童、老人；學生、工人；乞討者者與銀行職員；土生土長的紐約人，移民與 遊客，甚至有監獄的犯人，應有盡有。當然也少不了華人。他通過自己這個“非常酷”的想法及努力，用相機把本來與我們毫不相干的“陌生人”帶到我們視野及生 活，向我們展示紐約的人間百態。在讀這些陌生故事時，你也許會找到自己的影子。其實，這些陌生人何曾不是生活中的你和我呢？

“你好，介意我為你拍幾張照片嗎？我在經營一個很受歡迎的博客叫《人在紐約》”，Brandon Stanton 就是這樣開始自己的拍攝項目的。三年後他已經拍了6000多個人。作品一開始只是單純的照片沒有文字，後來他又將與人們聊天過程中有意思的片段記錄下來與 照片並置。成為一個簡短的人物自述故事。

他的第一本畫冊“人在紐約”《Humans of New York》2013出版，一炮打響，之後連續26周榮登紐約時報最暢銷紀實書刊。2013年12月被時代周刊評為世界最有影響有影響力的30個30歲以下的年輕人之一 （one of Time Magazine's 30 Under 30 People Changing The World）。繼第一本書成功出版後，2014及2015年斯坦頓的另外兩本書先後出版：《Little Humans of New York》（紐約的孩子）及《Humans of New York: Stories》。

斯坦頓把大量攝影出版成功換來的財富財富用於慈善事業。2015年1月他被邀請到白宮採訪奧巴馬總統。目前他在全球範圍內已有幾千萬粉絲。作為他的新粉絲，我希望他成功的故事會影響其他年輕人，期待看到《人在北京》、《人在天津》、《人在多倫多》的類似博客及圖片出版物。

“Who has influenced you the most  in your life?” “My mother. She had me when she was 18 years old, and my  father left when I was one year old, so I never really knew him. Like a  lot of single moms, she had to struggle to work, and eventually she also  struggled to go to school. And she’s really the person who instilled in  me a sense of confidence and a sense that I could do anything. She  eventually went on to get her PhD.  It took her ten years, but she did it, and I watched her grind through  it. And as I got older, like everyone else, I realized that my mother  wasn’t all that different than me. She had her own doubts, and fears,  and she wasn’t always sure of the right way of doing things. So to see  her overcome tough times was very inspiring. Because that meant I could  overcome tough times too.”

My kids are teenagers, and they're going off on their own. ... The relationship tends to ebb between 'help me' and 'leave me alone'.  But lately it's been ,much more 'leave me alone'.

A camera shy girl.

“I'm a graphic designer, and I'm trying to be more assertive at work. My bosses tell me that I need to use my voice more. Whenever my work gets criticized, I have a tendency to say: 'You're right.' Or 'I agree." I don't really stand up for my own decisions, even though I had good reasons for making them. Whenever I'm around my friends, I can be sarcastic and obnoxious and say things without thinking about them. But for some reason that confidence doesn't transfer to the workplace. It's especially frustrating because I know that there's this stereotype of quiet, agreeable Asian females. And I feel like I'm fulfilling it.”

I graduated college early because I was eager to get into the real world, but the job search is tougher than I imagined. I think people are afraid to hire me because I'm young. I've probably applied to over two hundred jobs. I've found that for every ten applications, I get one call back. And for every five call backs, I get on in-person interview. I've had seven of those so far. Brandon says, "Do you wish you hadn't graduated early?" She says, "I try not to think about it. I could apply to ten more jobs in the time I spent thinking about that."

I want to make life easier for people in China who have disabilities. I know what it’s like, because I lived in a Chinese orphanage until the age of ten, and I wasn’t able to go to school because I couldn’t walk. But that’s just a small part of who I am. I want to be a diplomat, and travel, and do all sorts of things that have nothing to do with being disabled. I don’t want people to pity me. I don’t want to be another ‘poor her.’ I don’t want to inspire people. ‘Inspiration’ is a word that disabled people hear a lot. And it’s a positive word to you. But to us, it’s patronizing. I’m not living a wonderful life for a disabled person. I’m living a wonderful life, period. This morning I got accepted into the London School of Economics. Now hold on, let me put on some lip gloss before you take the photo.”

這張照片中的女子是一名來自巴基斯坦的家庭暴力受害者，照片公布後引起很大社會反響

“I'm homosexual and I'm afraid about what my future will be and that people won't like me。”  在恐懼與苦惱中生活的同性戀少年。照片發布後引起很大反響，希拉里克靈頓親自寫信安慰。

“It’s been twelve hours a day, six days a week, for the last thirty years. My goal during all these years was to help all I could help. I’ve given 200%. I’ve given transplants to over 1200 kids. I’ve published as many papers as I could. I’ve contributed to some major achievements here. I feel happy because I’ve done my part. But now I’m almost finished. It’s time for the young people out there to finish the job. They’re going to be smarter than us. They’ll know more. They’re going to unzip the DNA and find the typo. They’re going to invent targeted therapies so we don’t have to use all this radiation. Me? My goal for the remainder of my life is to not be useful. I want to learn Portuguese. I want to play the guitar. I want to eat, drink, and enjoy the company of my friends. I recognize these are selfish things. But at some point we must treat ourselves as well.”

I've been a fan of Humans of New York for a long time now. Seeing Brandon's pictures in my facebook feed or on tumblr is one of my favorite things. He's himself stated that the blog didn't truly take off until he started adding the quotes and the commentary to the pictures, and I can understand why. It adds so much extra depth to a picture. It tells us a little snippet of someone's story and leaves us to imagine the rest.