By Analisa Novak,David Begnaud
Copyright cbsnews
Brandon Stanton has spent over a decade persuading strangers to share their deepest vulnerabilities for his wildly popular “Humans of New York” photography project. But the man behind the camera rarely opens up about his own struggles.In a recent interview, Stanton revealed a troubled past that shaped his work. At 19, he flunked out of college and battled drug addiction, specifically to Adderall.”I flunked outta college. I was a drug addict, very much so. And I kind of hit rock bottom…. I was working as a host at Applebee’s, watching all my other friends go to college and just feeling very much like a failure,” said Stanton.After getting clean, Stanton landed a finance job in Chicago. But when he was fired at 26, the loss of identity proved devastating.”When I got that job, I clung onto that job and that title and that identity,” he said. “And when it started going bad, my mental health really started going down because I needed that to cover up so much shame about who I was.”The setback became a turning point.”When I finally got fired, I had this moment where I was like, okay, all of this thought energy that I had trying to be somebody is now dissipated, and I can ask myself, what do I want to do?” Stanton said. “I got the camera as kind of a life preserver.”Raising millions, changing livesStanton moved to New York at 26 with an ambitious goal: to photograph 10,000 people who live in the city.”I’d only been photographing for six months,” he said. “A year later, millions of people were following it.”The project has raised $20 million for various causes. During the COVID-19 pandemic, he featured Mary O’Halloran, owner of Mary O’s pub in Manhattan’s East Village. A fundraiser selling her homemade scones generated $1 million in orders, allowing her to open a successful scone shop.”It’s so important what he did,” O’Halloran said.New book, familiar missionStanton’s fifth book, “Dear New York,” will be published on Oct. 7 with all proceeds donated to charity.”It’s my love letter to New York, I guess, through the stories of its people,” he said.After approximately 10,000 interviews, Stanton sees his work as a spiritual calling.”For me, a big thing is what does God want me to do?” he said. “And my answer to that is use my work to somehow provide comfort to somehow improve the lives of other people, to create moments of connection as opposed to as how far am I? How much further can I go?”Reflecting on his journey, Stanton believes personal struggle unlocks a unique perspective.”If you can find somebody’s struggle, you can find their genius because you find the thing that they’ve pushed up against, they’ve thought about that has kept them awake the most at night,” he said. “When you find that spot in somebody, you normally find the thing that they can tell the world that’s different than everybody else.”David Begnaud loves uncovering the heart of every story and will continue to do so, highlighting everyday heroes and proving that there is good news in the news with his exclusive “CBS Mornings” series, “Beg-Knows America.” Every Monday, get ready for moments that will make you smile or even shed a tear. Do you have a story about an ordinary person doing something extraordinary for someone else? Email David and his team at DearDavid@cbsnews.com
