Humans of New York and Walker Evans

Humans of New York is one of the most popular blogs and spots on Facebook. The photo blog began in 2010 when Brandon Stanton wanted to capture New Yorkers and their stories. Stanton has made thousands of portraits and his blog has some four million fans. Some of the portraits have now been published in a book.

Xinyu Du draws some interesting parallels between the Humans of New York portraits and the work of the great Depression-era photographer Walker Evans. As she rightly notes, Humans of New York focuses on ordinary people, just as the portraits of Evans did. I'm sure that Short would be thrilled to be mentioned in the same breath as Evans.

Quote of the Day

The new Times Insider feature in the New York Times puts readers behind the scenes at the one of the country's most respected news organizations. A recent story explained how the newspaper selects its long-running "Quote of the Day." The quote has been a feature of the Times since 1950.

On Internet Fragments, Ugh

Here's an interesting article about Internet slang that Sarah Olah sent me. Writer Teddy Wayne calls the single words or incomplete sentences ("This," "Preach," "Ugh") that often accompany links or photos on the Internet "fragments." And, he notes, they "are indicative of how quickly we pass judgment while on the Internet without investigating an issue too deeply. We share articles and videos that conform to our prejudices but rarely seek our opposing views, and hardly ever link to them unless it’s to mock them." It's an excellent point that we would all do well to remember.