Humans of New York, the photographic archive of the amazing people roaming around the streets of the Big Apple, was started by Brandon Stanton in the summer of 2010. What began as a journey for a young photographer, exploded into a visual story, twisting its way through the tourist-filled streets, traffic-packed asphalt and winding subway tunnels of this manic city that millions of unique and beautiful individuals call home. Here are the 25 most romantic photos and stories throughout the history of HONY.
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“What’s your favorite thing about your wife?”
“She’s sexy.”
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Girl-in-black was explaining how much she enjoyed the fact that girl-in-white always wrote her handwritten notes. As she was explaining this, I noticed that girl-in-white’s eyes were lighting up. She turned to girl-in-black and said: “Can you cover your ears for a second?”
Then she leaned toward me and whispered: “She doesn’t know this yet, but it’s our anniversary this weekend, and I’ve just covered the entire house in sticky notes.”
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“I love her randomness.”
“Tell me about a time she was random.”
“Three hours ago. I went to pick her up, and I found her double-dutching on the sidewalk with some kids. Then she went inside and came out wearing this.”
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“What’s your favorite thing about her?”
“Her laughter. I can’t live without that sunshine.”
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“We met when I left a funny comment on a blog post. I was living in Australia when I wrote the comment, and it made her laugh in Austria. So she sent me an email, and we began writing to each other everyday. Eventually we met. I was afraid the excitement would fade when we met face-to-face, but it never did. We got married last week, on the seventh anniversary of that comment.”
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“We just got back from the prom.”
“Did you have dates?”
“Um, yeah.”
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“What’s the best day you’ve ever spent together?”
“Probably that day on the Ponts des Arts.”
“What’d you do?”
“Just held hands.”
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“We’re coming up on a year of marriage.”
“Tell me your favorite thing about each other.”
“Her ability to intuit my moods.”
“Her living room choreography of every song that comes on the radio.”
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“I started off asking him about his service: his rank (Chief Petty Officer), his ship (USS Michael Murphy), etc. He was quite comfortable with the line of questioning. Then I suddenly asked: “What’s your favorite thing about your wife?”

His eyes bulged ever-so-slightly, he swallowed once, and without missing a beat, answered: “Her drive and determination.” Well done, Sailor. Steady under fire.”
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“My favorite thing about her is how consistent she’s been.”
“And that’s my answer too. For 56 years he has been amazingly supportive of everything I’ve wished to do.”
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Me: “Are you married?”
Man: “No, we’re lovers.”
[laughter]
Woman: “He wasn’t joking.”
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“16 years.”
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“I always ask couples what their favorite things about each other are…”
“Well we aren’t a couple. We’re just friends. I’m helping him walk.”
“Oh, um…..”
“But we can still answer. I love his honesty.”
“And she’s my favorite person to have next to me.”

“Everything I’ve given her, she’s given me back, and more. It started when we first met. We were living in the same building at the time. I told her that I was going to hire someone to clean my apartment, and she volunteered to do it. When she finished, I tried to pay her, but she took the money and bought me things. I tried to pay her again and again, but each time she used the money to buy me more things.”
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“This man was from Israel and had a very thick accent, so he was a little difficult to understand. He was standing alone when I found him, but he kept telling me he wanted to take a picture with “his bike.” I couldn’t see a bike anywhere, so I kept asking him to repeat himself. “My bike,” he said, “my bike.” Just when I was about to give up, his bike walked up.”
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“What’s your favorite thing about her?”
“She’s sensitive. I always say she’s like a flower, you have to be delicate because she’s easily ruffled.”
“What’s your favorite thing about him?”
“He doesn’t take ‘no’ for an answer.”

“I was in line at the City Clerk’s Marriage Bureau, waiting for Brandon and Melody to register, when I spotted these two. They were from Dallas, but had decided to marry in New York. When I asked for their photograph, they told me they needed a witness for their marriage. So my name is actually on their marriage certificate.”

“What’s your favorite thing about your wife?”
“I can’t say that in public!”