The character arc of Brandon Stanton
A life drawn by Character Arc from the public record
Born on 1 March 1984 and raised in Marietta, Georgia. Between then and now sit school finished in 2002, a history degree, a camera bought in 2010 while bond trading in Chicago, the loss of that job, a move to New York on unemployment cheques, a Facebook page started in November 2010, a first book in October 2013 that reached number one, crowdfunding campaigns raising millions, four more books, and a self-funded installation in Grand Central Terminal in 2025. The line below draws the story so far, in order.
Tap the line to pluck it. Hover or tap any mark for its card. Drawn from the public record of his life; the sources are at the foot of the page.
Who is Brandon Stanton?
The trading job went, and he bought a camera.
He grew up in Marietta, a suburb of Atlanta, finished secondary school in 2002 and read history at the University of Georgia. In 2010 he was working as a bond trader in Chicago and bought a camera, photographing downtown at weekends. Then he lost the job. He decided to do photography full time and moved to New York with a plan that sounds absurd written down: to photograph ten thousand New Yorkers and plot their portraits on a map of the city. He lived on unemployment cheques that, in his own account, almost paid the rent, and borrowed from friends and family.
The plan changed in the doing. He put the photographs on a Facebook page in November 2010, added a quote from one woman he had photographed, and the captions grew into full interviews. That is the whole invention: a stranger, a portrait, and a few sentences of what they actually said. He has since photographed people in more than forty countries.
The first book came out in October 2013, sold thirty thousand copies in preorders alone and reached number one on the New York Times non-fiction list, staying on it for twenty six weeks and topping it again the following December. Four more books followed. He has used the page to raise money at a scale most charities cannot: 2.3 million dollars towards ending bonded labour in Pakistan, 1.4 million in a two-week campaign, and over 3.8 million for childhood cancer research after posting stories from a hospital. In 2025 he mounted a two-week installation in Grand Central Terminal, with work by six hundred public school pupils and performances by conservatoire students, and paid for it himself with most of the savings of fifteen years.
The moments
Brandon Stanton's timeline.
The 1980s
Born in Marietta
Everyday. A history degree, in a suburb of Atlanta.
The 2010s
A camera at weekends
Milestone, and it changed his direction. A hobby bought with a trader's salary.
He loses the job
Setback, and it changed everything. The job went, and instead of finding another he went the other way.
Find another trading job
Crossroads, decided.
The paths laid out: go and photograph, taken, or get back on a desk. The first book reached number one on the New York Times list in November 2013.
Ten thousand New Yorkers
Milestone, and it changed everything. A plan with a number in it, and no money to do it with.
The quotes arrive
Milestone, and it changed everything. The photographs were the plan. The talking turned out to be the thing.
Number one
Milestone, and it changed everything. Three years from losing a trading job to the top of the bestseller list.
Thirty under thirty
Milestone. A list of people changing the world, three years after the redundancy.
Millions raised
Milestone, and it changed everything. A page of portraits, raising money faster than institutions could.
The 2020s
Humans, from forty countries
Milestone, and it changed his direction. The same idea, carried to forty countries, and it worked in all of them.
Cancer research funded
Milestone, and it changed his direction. Stories from a children's ward, and nearly four million dollars behind them.
Dear New York
Milestone, and it changed everything. He spent fifteen years of savings on a two-week exhibition and gave it away free.
New York is still where he stops people, and they still tell him things. What it has set moving is an idea that has been copied in hundreds of cities: that an ordinary stranger, photographed properly and quoted accurately, is more interesting than almost anything else you could point a camera at.
What he wrote
Books by Brandon Stanton
- 2013
Humans of New York
The first one, thirty thousand copies sold before it was even out.
- 2014
Little Humans of New York
The same idea, for children, and it works just as well.
- 2015
Humans of New York: Stories
Where the interviews take over from the portraits.
- 2020
Humans
Portraits and stories from forty countries, and it went straight to number one.
- 2022
Tanqueray
His first long piece of writing about one person, written with her.
- 2025
Dear New York
The companion to the installation he paid for out of fifteen years of savings.
Your turn
Every line draws a unique story.
His began when a bond trading job disappeared and a camera he had bought for weekends became the work. Yours is already further along than you think, and drawing it takes about five minutes.
Brandon Stanton: frequently asked questions
What people ask about his line.
What is Brandon Stanton's character arc?
How did Brandon Stanton start Humans of New York?
Why does Humans of New York have quotes by Brandon Stanton?
How much money has Brandon Stanton raised?
What books has Brandon Stanton written?
What is Dear New York by Brandon Stanton?
Where does this timeline of Brandon Stanton's life come from?
More character arcs
Lives that rhyme with his.
Sources
- Brandon Stanton, English Wikipedia biography, filed under living people.
- New York Times non-fiction bestseller lists, 2013, 2014 and 2020.
- Publisher records for the Humans of New York books and Dear New York.