Humans of Windsor (HOW), launched by Lam, 22, and his
partner Alesandra Collavino, has grown quickly since its first
appearance on July 3. From 60 followers on its first day, the site now
boasts more than 1,600 people interested in the project. Their goal is
to “show the people who make the City of Windsor unique,
multicultural and beautiful,” according to the website.
“The project has been overwhelmingly amazing so far,” said Lam,
sitting at a Starbucks prior to the Alley Art Show and Sale. “It was just
more of, ‘oh, maybe we can get a group of our friends to like it, follow
it and then go from there.’ But after that first day, it just grew, 1,000
(Facebook) likes over a weekend and so many people loved the first
story we did.”
The project was inspired by Humans of New York, a website
founded in 2010 by photographer Brandon Stanton to tell stories
about the residents of New York City. Previous projects, similar to Lam
and Collavino’s concept, have also been attempted in this area in the
past, but many of them didn’t last longer than a couple of weeks.
John Lam, co-founder of Humans of Windsor,
By mid-July, the HOW website had eight stories posted, ranging
looks through his set of photos from the Alley
from a story about a fisherman along the Detroit River, to a group of
Art Show and Sale
volunteers from the Sandwich Teen Action Group. On Facebook, some
of the posts have more than 50 likes each.
"My favourite story so far has been about a student who was
paralyzed and told he probably won't walk again, but persevered to
walk again independently," said Lam. "The story shows if you have a
goal and work hard towards it, in the end it will pay off. Put the input
in and output will be what you want."
Lam, a student at the University of Windsor taking a double
major in Business Administration and Computer Science, started
taking photos as a hobby a year ago. He discovered Humans of New
York in June when Collavino showed him the page. That’s when
Collavino, who Lam describes as an outgoing and exploring type of
person, suggested they start a similar website in Windsor. The two
became partners for the project and spent two weeks preparing the
website for its launch.
“I was like ‘yeah, that would be a pretty good idea,” said Lam,
referring to Collavino’s idea. “We’re consistent and we’re dedicated to
this vision and goal of showcasing Windsor. We drive towards meeting
that goal and we just happen to…both believe in this project and we
go out and take pictures, get people’s stories and now we’re seeing the
results.”
The project soon caught the attention of Ryan Brough. Brough,
who owns his own photography company, was hosting an art show at
Phog Lounge when he met Lam.
Brough had considered starting his own version of Humans of
Windsor, but has never found the time. He discovered an old HOW
project from 2014 and wasn’t impressed.
Brough liked the look of the Lam and Calavinno version of HOW
because of how it told stories of real people outside of the ones
published by media outlets.
“It’s about people who live on the streets. It’s not just the
“We want to build
a community for
people around
Windsor to
connect each
other and
showcase what
Windsor is.” –
John Lam
August 2015 - The HUB 15