Wet and tired UAlbany students and Alumni crammed into SEFCU Arena to cap off homecoming weekend. The dampened spirits of the crowd, who just watched their football team’s perfect season come to an end, were in need of a big pick-me-up. As a part of the annual UAlbany Speaker Series, founder of Humans of New York, Brandon Stanton, took to the stage.

About five years ago Stanton was jobless. He ventured from Chicago to New York City, camera in hand. his goal was to capture 10,000 New Yorkers on the street. Little did he know that in five years’ time, he would have visited the White House, the Middle East, and 20 other countries.

Stanton had previously been a bond trader while in Chicago. To him, it became evident that he needed to work harder or he would be fired. Stanton pushed himself mightily. He began to put his job over the things that he loves. “I could be in the front row of my favorite bands, at a concert, and I would be thinking about what the markets are going to do Monday morning.”

Stanton escaped the obsession that he had with his job through taking pictures. This is where the initial plan of taking the pictures of 10,000 New Yorkers came about. The deciding factor in the history of Humans of New York was him ultimately being fired from a job he was so invested in.

“One day I was fired, and surprisingly it was a good day,” he said. “For the first time in two years, I could think ‘what is it that I want to do?’”

Stanton traveled with his camera, gaining experience by taking photos of people on the street in different cities. He eventually made his way to New York City. “There were so many people,” he jolted forward, eyes widened. “Not only so many people, but such diversity. There is no diversity and density like there is in New York City, so I just realized it would be the perfect place to do this kind of project.”

Soon, through social media, Stanton’s pictures blew up. The Humans of New York page has almost 18 million likes on Facebook. Stanton has written three books; Humans of New York, Little Humans of New York, and Humans of New York: Stories. With the UN he traveled to Iraq and Pakistan, among others. All of this over the course of a five-year span. The more prominent pieces that Stanton has worked on comes from the numerous series that he does. Recently, he did pieces on Pediatric Cancer and Syrian Refugees.

Stanton focused more on the story of how he became successful. The idea of ‘what is it that I want to do?’ was prominent throughout his presentation. Humans of New York was completely made from the ground up. Stanton came to New York with money he borrowed from family and friends and the desire to photograph. That’s it.

Stanton talked about how people can’t wait for the perfect idea when it comes to what they want to do in life. “Do you know how many people told me Humans of New York was a good idea? None.” There was a small chuckle from the crowd as he continued. “You have got to start before you are ready. You have got to start before your idea is perfect. You have got to trust that through working every single day…you become what you need to be.”

UAlbany student Josh Gomez was inspired by Stanton’s speech. “I don’t look at him just as a photographer, and I don’t look at him for just putting up the stories. I see him as somebody who dedicated his whole life to tell stories of people that never would’ve been exposed if he never went up to them.” Gomez, a junior, works for a mobile app called Youni. Youni is a spin-off to Humans of New York, that focuses on college campuses. Gomez says that he looks for the most unique people on campus and listens to their stories and ideas. “It’s like a therapeutic session,” He said. “Like Brandon mentions, its therapeutic to them, but also for us too because we can relate to their struggles.”

Stanton offered some advice towards the end of his speech: “The reality is that the idea grew out of the work. I just photographed every single day, and kept tinkering and innovating until I eventually built to what Humans of New York became.”

Stanton is currently looking into finding his next project. He also said that his next book will be of stories from his recent international travels.