“One Photograph at a Time”

Real people. Real mistakes. Real dreams. These are the stories that Humans of Stuy brings to light. Founded by Keshara Senanayake (‘14) in September 2012, Humans of Stuy is a Facebook page that pairs photographs of Stuyvesant students and faculty with a short interview that pieces together the “majestic mosaic of the brightest students in the city,” as Senanayake described. He mentioned that the mission of the club is “to capture the diversity and uniqueness in Stuyvesant High School [...] one photograph at a time.” The page was inspired by Brandon Stanton’s Humans of New York, where photography is used to highlight the stories of New Yorkers. An interview, ranging from a single sentence to multiple paragraphs, accompanies each photo and gives a small glimpse of their life.

Senanayake described how the beginnings of the club started to form once he got his first camera. “Initially I was walking down Brooklyn one day as some guy approached me. He's like, ‘Hey wanna buy one of my cameras?’, so I bought my first DSLR for like 40 bucks off the street,” he explained. “I always consider myself a social nomad. I love meeting new people and I think a big part of high school is not just grades but the creation of meaningful connections. And so I said, ‘Hey, let's make it happen.’” And so the fated Facebook page was created.

For the students currently involved in the club, photography is an impactful medium for preserving memories and presenting them to others. Senior and Humans of Stuy President Allison Eng explained, “Photography is really good for capturing these moments and [for putting] a face to a story. You hear stories every single day but [without photos]. You don't feel connected.” Eng was inspired in her freshman year to pursue photography within Stuyvesant by a group of sophomores who took photographs of their friends and scenery to post on Facebook.

She recognized the significance of snapshotting meaningful moments to remember. “Recently, I was writing my senior portrait for English class so we had to reflect on everything,” she recalled. “I found that a lot of the moments I remember are [in] photos. If I didn't take a photo of this moment, if I didn't take a photo of that moment, I would have just kind of forgotten it.”

Junior and Humans of Stuy Vice President Eugene Seo explained how photography has also formed a community within Stuyvesant, in which each photographer can become very close to students of the same interests. “The photography community at Stuy is really, really tight-knit, so everyone knows each other,” Seo said. “The incoming freshmen get to know the upperclassmen, and that has made it a lot easier for us to get photographers because we know them from other communities like the Indicator and Spectator.”

Sophomore Frances Sy is also involved in the club. She took photographs for her middle school yearbook and also takes photos to simply have fun with her friends. “I just really like taking pictures because it captures the moment. I know that sounds really cliche but it's true,” Sy explained. “If my mom hadn't taken pictures of me when I was younger, [the memories] would [...] be different.” A unique practice Sy uses when photographing and interviewing people for Humans of Stuy is reaching out to people who are shy. “I try to get people who don't really talk as much to write for me,” she explained. “A good majority of the people that [other Humans of Stuy members] interview are people who are really outspoken, so for me it's a way to output [the quieter kids’] views on things.”

With passion comes the struggle when finding people to interview. “I would get a lot of rejections and they would be like ‘Oh, I don't have anything’ and they tell me, ‘Oh, maybe later on or something,’ admitted Eng. Despite this, she found that “if you go up and ask enough people they always have something to say even if it's a short quote,” she said. When members of Humans of Stuy are able to conduct an interview, it is often a very meaningful experience. Sy described a particularly memorable story that she heard from a senior about his uncle whose parents passed away early, causing the uncle emotional trauma. “It was really unfortunate because [the uncle] was so smart [and he] just had a, really, high education. It was really upsetting because you know the potential people like him have,” Sy described. “It was different from the stories I encountered with other people because he wasn't talking about himself. He was a vessel for someone else's story, which I thought was really cool.”

Each photographer is chosen by the President and Vice Presidents through the submission of a portfolio and a form at the beginning of each semester. Generally, the applicants already have experience with using a camera or taking photos with their iPhones, if the quality is good enough. For those without experience, a lesson is provided to teach the proper usage of cameras.

For the future, Eng discussed plans to expand their sale merchandise and consider a new idea proposed by Seo—a donation fund, similar to that of Humans of New York, where donations would be collected to help interviewees facing financial hardship regarding extracurriculars, for example. Seo also mentioned, “Our future goal for Humans of Stuy, statistics-wise, [is] to reach, by the end of next year, 12,000 followers on the page. We're currently at 9,200.”

For Sy, her personal goals for the future are to interweave her interests in photography with psychology to capture different stories. Sy sums up her passions for photography best when she says, “The [emotions] are still there even though it's frozen in frame.”

In essence, Humans of Stuy is about slowing down and observing. Senanayake explained, “Humans of Stuy really emphasizes the importance of [...] stopping and looking around you. In the four years of Stuy, it's very geared towards a career path, like getting into a good college, getting a good job, and so on. But I think [Humans of Stuy] showed me, as corny as it sounds, that what's really valuable is the people you meet.”