Some may find approaching strangers on the street intimidating, but not Brandon Stanton, a blogger and author of the #1 New York Times Bestseller “Humans of New York.” Stanton has been photographing and interviewing people on the street for years. And recently he did it on the streets of Ukraine too.
Stanton started his extremely popular “Humans of New York” blog in 2010 after being fired from his job in finance. Since then his photography blog that features short stories of the people of New York has gained over 9.6 million followers and evolved into a bestseller book.
Recently, Stanton spent time in Ukraine profiling local people. It was part of his world tour to 10 countries, backed by the United Nations. He visited Kyiv, Bila Tserkva and Odesa.
“Out of all the countries that I’ve been to, Ukraine reminded me the most of home,” Stanton said after the trip.
Many in Ukraine were pleasantly surprised when Stanton wrote his first post featuring a Ukrainian on Sept. 6. However, by that time he was already in India. He has published 20 posts about Ukrainians so far. In an email interview with the Kyiv Post, Stanton recalled his favorite subjects in Ukraine.
“There were times I was interviewing a fashionable old lady in Odesa, which felt very much like interviewing a fashionable old lady on the Upper East Side. I also interviewed a father and son on a park bench, and I remember thinking it felt very much like an interview I’d do in Central Park,” Stanton wrote.
His photo of a young Ukrainian mom and her little son from Odesa collected 260,547 likes, becoming one of his most popular posts about Ukraine. In an interview, the boy said he wanted to grow up to become a dad and then buy himself a skateboard.
“Ukraine has such a good-looking population,” Joel Galbraith from Canada commented on the photo, collecting more than 4,000 likes.
The stories and quotes that go with the photos on Stanton’s blog are always very short, carrying a brief emotional message that captures a person’s individuality.
“I think part of the charm of “Humans of New York” is that the selection process is entirely random. If anything, I’m looking for someone who is alone so that I can talk to them,” Stanton says.
The story that Stanton remembers the most out of those he picked up while in Ukraine is about the two veterans of the World War II that he met in Bila Tserkva. According to Stanton, having major in history, he was very much interested in listening about the war from a prospective of a Ukrainian veteran, since U.S. entered the war later.
Regardless of the current situation in Ukraine, Stanton says that he barely felt it, as he was visiting mostly western and central Ukraine. “Granted, I realize it is much harder to escape the shadow of war when you live in the afflicted country than when you are just visiting,” Stanton notes.
Stanton says that Ukrainians and Ukraine left a very enjoyable impression on him and was sorry he was “only able to spend a short time” in Ukraine.
“There was so much I didn’t get to see,” he said.
