Humans of San Antonio
Along with the movement Humans of New York, a project to share the stories of New Yorkers, Humans of San Antonio is part of the Global Humans Project, a network of major cities around the world dedicated to capturing a glimpse into the lives of everyday citizens. From Amsterdam to Rio de Janeiro, San Antonio joins the ranks of cities photographed and shown through social media to the rest of the world.
Michael Cirlos is the photojournalist behind Humans of San Antonio, a social media project founded in 2012 that combines photography and storytelling to promote the spirit of San Antonio's growing downtown community. The book Humans of San Antonio is the culmination of more than four years of photographs highlighting the people, culture, and vibrancy of San Antonio. As a community that has weathered economic imbalance and proven itself a leader in urban redevelopment and twenty-first-century innovation, San Antonio embraces change while continuing to celebrate the diversity, history, and individuality that makes it unique. This book reflects the the city's heart and its melting pot of cultures. Through images and his subjects' own stories, Cirlos communicates not just vulnerability to fear, sadness, and anger but also resilience, strength, hope, tolerance, and perseverance.
Humans of San Antonio is uniquely individual as a photography collection while celebrating the international collaborative that forms its roots.
Michael Cirlos's passion for photography developed in 2006 when he relocated to Hua Hin, Thailand, to study international relations at Webster University. After two years studying and exploring Southeast Asia, he was awarded the travel scholarship to continue his education and photography in Amsterdam. He returned to San Antonio in 2009. After graduating from the University of Texas at San Antonio, he began reporting on inner city culture and founded Humans of San Antonio.
His work has appeared in regionally on Kens 5 and Univision 41 and in the San Antonio Express News, the Rivard Report, the Lake Front, Muze Collective Magazine, Centro San Antonio, and San Antonio Magazine. In 2015 he was selected to participate in the Mountain Workshops School of Photojournalism, where he studied under Rick Loomis, a Pulitzer prize-winning photojournalist of the Los Angeles Times.
