NEW YORK — As a photographer, Brandon Stanton is best known for collecting thousands of portraits on the streets of New York City as part of his famous Humans Of New York photoblog, which also became a bestselling book in 2013.
Humans Of New York has almost 15 million “likes” on Facebook, a sign of its resounding popularity, but New York isn’t the only place Stanton’s taken his human-oriented approach to photography. He traveled to Middle East last month to depict everyday life in Iran, showing Americans and the blog’s international following a side of that country rarely depicted in the mainstream media.
Though Stanton published his Iran photos during a national debate over the recent nuclear deal, the series does not directly address politics. According to a post on his blog, Stanton deliberately chose to avoid mentioning Iran’s government or history in the collection of portraits from the country, so as to focus on the common experiences shared by people regardless of their country.
Iran, as depicted by Stanton, comes across as a highly educated and modern culture, with citizens that largely bear no ill will toward Americans — a stark contrast to the anti-American rallies frequently covered in American media. In fact, Stanton reported the opposite to be true:
“Americans are especially loved. … You will be smiled at, waved at, invited to meals, and asked to deliver personal messages to Jennifer Lopez. … Like all countries, there are many different viewpoints, but the vast majority of people will associate you with a culture they admire and respect.“
This was actually Stanton’s second trip to Iran, as he revealed in a Facebook post dated Aug.19:
“I’ve always looked back at the collection with a tinge of regret, because HONY was still quite new and the work was pretty uncooked. … I always wished that I could return and do a better job telling the stories of ordinary Iranians, and I’m excited to have that opportunity.”
Detailing his more recent trip to Iran, he reports that his government-appointed guide became his friend and his trip felt relatively free of restrictions. “[F]or two weeks I mingled with the culture, people, and scenery of Iran, with almost no interference from the government,” Stanton reported.
His portraits of ordinary life in Iran seem to have touched the hearts of many, judging by the reaction from some of his millions of fans on Facebook. “When will we learn we are all human and we all bleed red!” Facebook user Shayna Lopez-Rivas wrote in response to a portrait of a mother and her daughter who survived heart surgery at the age of four.
Even President Barack Obama felt compelled to respond to the Humans Of New York phenomenon. On Sept. 3, HONY published a portrait of a father and his son on the son’s tenth birthday, accompanied by a story of the son giving away apricots to the hungry during a shopping trip five years ago. “I knew then that I was raising a humanitarian,” the father is quoted as saying.
The White House’s official Facebook account responded, in part:
“What an inspirational story. One of the most fulfilling things that can happen to you as a parent is to see the values you’ve worked to instill in your kids start to manifest themselves in their actions – and this one really resonated with me. I hope this young man never loses his desire to help others.”
The comment, signed by the president, had over 160,000 “likes” as of Tuesday afternoon.
Before traveling to Iran, Stanton visited Pakistan on the same trip, where he highlighted the plight of impoverished workers contracted into “bonded labor.” Forced to make bricks in thousands of kilns, they are essentially slaves, working continuously to pay off debts even as their captors charge them outlandish amounts for room and board to ensure they never get their freedom.
An IndieGogo-based crowdfunding campaign started by Stanton to support the Bonded Labor Liberation Front’s efforts to build a community center in Lahore, Pakistan, far surpassed its initial goal of $100,000 within days of launch, reaching over $2.1 million by Sept. 2 and continuing to climb ever since.