也许你和我一样，当一个人坐在路边咖啡厅或餐厅看到街上时而走过的行人时，偶尔会情不自禁地想：“他（她）是谁？从哪里来？到哪里去？ 去年圣诞节儿子从美国回来给我带来一本精装版的书：《Humans of New York: Stories》，作为节日礼物。接过书后，我讲“你的心意我领了，但我最近没时间看闲书”。他告诉我这不是普通的书不需要读，主要是照片只要翻翻就可以 了。"你会喜欢的”。原来，这本书似乎回答我前面的问题。

以下照片均来自网络。

这确实不是一本普通的书，说起这本书来需从书的年轻作者讲起。布兰登·斯坦顿（Brandon Stanton）1984年出生于美国佐治亚州，亚德兰大市郊。后来到芝加哥从事金融方面的工作。2010年因做期货生意失败由芝加哥来到纽约。穷困潦倒 之际他突然产生了一个灵感，用利用自己的摄影爱好做一件很酷的事。于是他拿着一台佳能相机走上纽约大街，在争得同意后给陌生人拍照。之后，把照片放在自己 的博客里。随着照片的数量的迅速增多，他的粉丝队伍也不断扩大。不久他便成了一名名副其实的著名街头摄影师。 斯坦顿的照片的特点是没有条条框框，照片中的人物可以是在纽约街头上的任何你我，儿童、老人；学生、工人；乞讨者者与银行职员；土生土长的纽约人，移民与 游客，甚至有监狱的犯人，应有尽有。当然也少不了华人。他通过自己这个“非常酷”的想法及努力，用相机把本来与我们毫不相干的“陌生人”带到我们视野及生 活，向我们展示纽约的人间百态。在读这些陌生故事时，你也许会找到自己的影子。其实，这些陌生人何曾不是生活中的你和我呢？

“你好，介意我为你拍几张照片吗？我在经营一个很受欢迎的博客叫《人在纽约》”，Brandon Stanton 就是这样开始自己的拍摄项目的。三年后他已经拍了6000多个人。作品一开始只是单纯的照片没有文字，后来他又将与人们聊天过程中有意思的片段记录下来与 照片并置。成为一个简短的人物自述故事。

他的第一本画册“人在纽约”《Humans of New York》2013出版，一炮打响，之后连续26周荣登纽约时报最畅销纪实书刊。2013年12月被时代周刊评为世界最有影响有影响力的30个30岁以下的年轻人之一 （one of Time Magazine's 30 Under 30 People Changing The World）。继第一本书成功出版后，2014及2015年斯坦顿的另外两本书先后出版：《Little Humans of New York》（纽约的孩子）及《Humans of New York: Stories》。

斯坦顿把大量摄影出版成功换来的财富财富用于慈善事业。2015年1月他被邀请到白宫采访奥巴马总统。目前他在全球范围内已有几千万粉丝。作为他的新粉丝，我希望他成功的故事会影响其他年轻人，期待看到《人在北京》、《人在天津》、《人在多伦多》的类似博客及图片出版物。

“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.”

这张照片中的女子是一名来自巴基斯坦的家庭暴力受害者，照片公布后引起很大社会反响

“I'm homosexual and I'm afraid about what my future will be and that people won't like me。”  在恐惧与苦恼中生活的同性恋少年。照片发布后引起很大反响，希拉里克灵顿亲自写信安慰。

“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.