Brandon Stanton, a local photographer most known for his photography website and blog, Humans of New York, has turned a sour situation into something quite refreshing and sweet:
Last year, Stanton was approached by DKNY for permission to use some of his photos in their marketing campaigns. Stanton declined.
Still, while on a trip in Bangkok, a friend of Stanton's emailed him pictures he had seen of a DKNY window display in which Stanton’s photographs were prominently displayed (aha DKNY! Bangkok is remote, but apparently not remote enough) with his permission or compensation.
Of course, Stanton could have sued them. Instead, he asked for them to donate $100,000 to the Bedford-Stuyvesant YMCA to allow 300 kids to attend summer camp for two weeks.
They agreed to give him $25,000. Stanton accepted, but didn’t stop there. He launched an indiegogo campaign two months ago to raise the remaining $75,000, asking the community to donate as little as $1 or as much as they could.
“In some neighborhoods, the YMCA plays a critical role of stability and community,” said Stanton. “My neighborhood is one of those neighborhoods. Let’s send everyone to camp!”
Of the $75,000 he’s trying to crowd source, he has successfully raised $58,000. He’s got less than 48 hours left to raise the remaining $17,000!
If you’d like to donate and help Stanton meet his goal, go here. If he does not reach $75,000 in the next day and a half, he loses all of the donations made so far.
It’s a race against the clock to see if this humble Bed-Stuy artist will have the opportunity to turn lemons… into lemonade.
