Humans of New York: The Photo That Reduced This Photographer to Tears

Every day, Brandon Stanton scours the streets of New York City with his camera, taking photos of strangers. The 29-year-old self-taught photographer is the humble creator of Humans of New York, the wildly popular blog — and now book — that features portraits and stories of people across the city.

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Brandon meets thousands of people in his work, but there's one story that left him particularly moved. One rainy night in Columbus Circle, he spotted an older woman. "I see this 80-year-old woman coming towards me with this very bright umbrella," he says. Brandon took her photograph and asked her for her best piece of advice. "She said, 'I'll tell you what my husband told me when he was dying. I said, "Mo, how am I going to live without you?" And he said, take the love that you have for me and spread it around.'"

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Brandon's willingness to approach strangers has led to some pretty amazing moments of openness, "whether it's someone telling me about their battle with cancer, or somebody even telling me how they were molested as a child," he says of many "startlingly honest revelations."

To find out what special gift one of Brandon's subjects gave him, check out this episode of "Daily Shot."