Beautiful Portraits of Strangers

Beautiful Portraits of Strangers

Danny Santos II is a weekend photographer who likes to shoot strangers in the streets of Singapore. He’s been shooting street for about 2 years now.

More beautiful portraits of strangers can be found in Danny’s Flickr set or his website dannyst.com. Simply love his shots!

Found on the 30th of June 2010.

77 Comments

  1. why are all the men photographed darker in complexion, and all of the women are lighter in complexion slash mainly white?

  2. Hi Sean, these are just my picks, the ones that I liked most when I browsed through his pictures. Without intention to pick only lighter skinned women and darker skinned men. If you look at his Flickr set you’ll find different and equally beautiful portraits. For example this one or this one. :)

  3. 3.
    Stewart
    Jun 30th, 2010

    First shot is truly captivating! Nice work…

    Plus, I have no idea where the first commenter was coming from.

  4. 4.
    K Rajasekharan
    Jun 30th, 2010

    Very nice photos
    Please add more with those from east like Kerala

  5. so many ugly people

  6. 6.
    Not A Rick
    Jun 30th, 2010

    Rick, you’re an effin troll.

    I like the portraits a lot! Thanks for posting.

  7. I was engaged by each of the portraits. At the same time, while I didn’t pick up on the lighter/darker dichotomy I did notice that the women more clean cut than the men.

  8. 8.
    RICK A FAN
    Jun 30th, 2010

    the photo’s are nice but the ppl are ugly as hell

  9. 9.
    Beyondthesenses
    Jun 30th, 2010

    Hmm.. what’s ugly about them, other than your perception?
    The universe tends to reflect things back at you.. :)

  10. Rick A,Not A Rick,andRick A Fan are all probably the same ass*ole

  11. Rick must be nuts – the first photo is quite simply stunning!

  12. 12.
    penelope
    Jun 30th, 2010

    Keep working on features. Freckles aplenty! I love it. Looks aren’t everything. So likes and dislikes? Who cares? you are right. What goes out comes back 3x. Watch mere opinions!If ugly is ugly, then what makes beauty beauty?

  13. All of these photos are incredibly beautiful. One of the reasons is the diversity .. Everyone is beautiful in their own unique way and you did a wonderful job of capturing that…. :)

  14. 14.
    Danny St
    Jul 1st, 2010

    Hi Stefan, thank you for featuring my works in your wonderful blog. It’s really very much appreciated. I’m flattered you guys liked my photos :)

    This site is awesome, btw! Definitely a great place to look for inspiration – you have a new follower :)

  15. Ha ha, Sean! I had the same exact thought as you!! Great photos, though!

  16. 16.
    emaneff
    Jul 1st, 2010

    That surely looks like Elizabeth Banks.

  17. Hot chicks, and creepy dudes. Wacky.

  18. In defense of Sean, I, too, wondered where are the people with truly African features…with truly dark skin, beautifully kinky hair, etc. I don’t mean those with some European features like straight hair (many Somalians, Ethiopians, or Morrocans) or thin noses. I mean those who embody what it means to look African.

    People with African features can’t seem to get a break anywhere, unfortunately…

    @ Stewart, it is difficult to get where someone is coming from if you have no compassion and understanding about what may be hurtful for them to see or feel. Unlike me, he did not voice an opinion. He merely asked a valid question that Stefan answered with grace.

    @ Stefan….this set is stunning. I hope you do more. What do you charge for these?

  19. Beautiful set of photos!

  20. @DannySt Thank you for making these portraits, really dig them! And I’m flattered you like my blog and find it follow-worthy. :)

    @CJ They are not my work, as mentioned in the posting, they’re made by DannySt, you have to ask him for pricing details and follow him for updates.

  21. Beautiful! I love these!

  22. 22.
    Also not rick
    Jul 1st, 2010

    The blonde with the black glasses (4th picture) is actually quite beautiful.

  23. 23.
    Gustavo
    Jul 2nd, 2010

    The first one is painfully beautiful!

  24. 24.
    The Spoon
    Jul 2nd, 2010

    Beautiful pictures… I have always loved pictures like this (that is, of people in their daily lives) and these are just captivating… personal vulnerabilities are captured in every portrait…

    Thank you.

  25. Love them. Makes me think of all the unique faces of all 6 billion+ living on our Pale Blue Dot..

  26. 26.
    Melotto
    Jul 2nd, 2010

    Firts is the best…nice girl

  27. 27.
    Chris Miller
    Jul 3rd, 2010

    Great photography, very clear

  28. Your portraits are amazing and inspiring,keep up the great work!

  29. 29.
    Throckmorton Jones
    Jul 3rd, 2010

    Beautiful photos! Their faces are all very engaging, and they all have their own type of attractiveness. I especially love the freckled girl and the dark haired, bearded man.

  30. Wow, really interesting faces of people :P

  31. 31.
    Rebecca
    Jul 3rd, 2010

    These are all beautiful and very interesting. How do you go about getting pictures of these people? Do you just ask them if you can take their picture?

  32. 32.
    RICKSBROTHER
    Jul 5th, 2010

    Guys, I am very sorry about my brother Rick. He has Tourette’s.

  33. i think the second picture is absolutely beautiful. and the others are quite stunning too. very nice work indeed.

  34. So many beautiful faces! To encounter so many interesting people in one city!

  35. 35.
    adamantixx
    Jul 5th, 2010

    all great pics in their own way but the first two are gorgeous…love the freckles!

  36. I agree with Rick in that these people obviously aren’t going to sell mainstream magazines. But perhaps that was a motivation. The title says “Beautiful Portraits,” not “Beautiful People.” I’d say the range goes from unattractive to average. Who knows, maybe a couple of the women are butter face and might actually rate higher.

    But yeah, the photos are nice, pretty much in focus, bokeh, all that.

  37. 37.
    Eldrick
    Jul 6th, 2010

    2nd picture . Girl is an absolute doll.

  38. I think the girl in the seventh photo has the most beautiful eyes i’ve ever seen. Lovely collection of photos. They all show real people and real beauty. Nice work :)

  39. There is only one picture of a person who is clearly over 30, let alone 40+. Apparently there are no such “beautiful” people in Singapore.

  40. id love to bang the blonde with the glasses

  41. a pictures worth a thousand words and she just looks to me like shes saying “oh what? yes i…i did spill that milk. oh you want me to clean it? how about you punish me first? oh daddy i hope you dont…..hurt me. please dont go so rough this time. ouch daddy stop it! daddy no! ahh fuck me im cumming!” and then i shoot jizz on her glasses

  42. Wait. #1 *isn’t* Alia Shawkat (circa 2005)???

  43. When you stare someone in the face this close, it almost makes you look away. It also makes you want to get to know everyone. Strange feeling.

  44. Henry – I feel the opposite. When I look at photos of people staring straight at me like these, I can’t help but wondering “what is their story”. Beautiful photos!

  45. If you use a fast prime lens at this distance anyone will look cool, it doesn’t take any particular talent.

  46. the first one must be irish!!!
    nice portraits thanks

  47. 47.
    Munger2k
    Jul 7th, 2010

    Lol @Ruddles, nobody mentioned who was ugly just that some of them were so why stand up for the first girl if you dont secretly think she’s ugly.
    You fail!

  48. 48.
    ceallaig
    Jul 8th, 2010

    Absolutely stunning!! I don’t know how he does it (I’m one of those people that can’t take a decent picture no matter how hard I try) — perfectly ordinary folks are made glamorous or mysterious. Whoever said some were ugly has a limited view of life — at the risk of sounding cheesy ‘everyone is beautiful in their own way.’ And I think this artist has just given definitive proof of that.

  49. 49.
    Kristina
    Jul 8th, 2010

    S-T-U-N-N-I-N-G! These took my breath away. So natural and beautiful. Thought-provoking and heart-warming. Honest and real. Thank you for sharing them!

  50. 50.
    iPacman
    Jul 8th, 2010

    The girl in the 11th photo is beautiful.

  51. Great photos – all of them – it would be fun to sit them all down together for supper, and see what they have to say – would their image match the perception of what they are really like?

  52. 52.
    aristippos
    Jul 9th, 2010

    I enjoyed the pictures (Danny) and the presentation of them as well (Stefan).
    They are just to be taken in as they are and I find one has mostly 2 possibilities:

    - judge them – which is futile and unnecessary, in which case “ugly” may occurr to some

    or just

    - appreciate them – which is in my eyes what the fotographer was doing through the lense: being appreciative of each individual face.

    Thanks to both of you!

  53. @aristippos thank you! :)

  54. Hi, just wanted to say that I am so impressed with these shots that I have decided to take my photography seriously again. Can you remember what camera and lenses you were using?

    Thanks for the visual tastiness.

  55. Nothing about any of these pictures is special to me… maybe I’m hard to please…

  56. 56.
    David Hardwick Photography
    Jul 13th, 2010

    Excellent portraits. Love the colours and the high contrast.

  57. their heads are cut off

  58. Ha, no fatties I see.

  59. Hi, I’m about to upgrade from a point-and-shoot to a DSLR,
    so I was wondering about which camera and lens combination do you use.

    Amazing portraits btw. I’d like to do a similar series of photos of my dispersed wider family members.

  60. These photos are stunning. They say that the eyes are the gateway to the soul, and I am desperate to know the stories, and the memories hidden behind each pair of eyes.

    Beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and if you feel they are not beautiful, or the photos aren’t representative of a particular type of people, just move on. There are plenty of photos on the internet for you to find what you are looking for. I went to Danny’s Flickr site and there is a huge variety of strangers, this is obviously only Stefan’s selections.

    Well done to both Danny and Stefan

  61. @Darren & @ Supalin If you have a look at the photos on flickr you can see that Danny uses a Nikon d300 with a 85mm lense.

    @Emeliy thanks :)

  62. 62.
    Doug Orchard
    Jul 13th, 2010

    These are great pictures, beautiful!!

  63. 63.
    Federico
    Jul 16th, 2010

    Love your portraits, I wish I could take the same.

  64. None are beautiful.

  65. very beautiful people, they are all very beautiful in their own features and spirit. I felt each and every one of them.

  66. These are all quite nice. I have a hard time believing that they are strangers. It looks like you had them on a set! Nice job either way.

  67. 67.
    Mira Vejvoda
    Jul 25th, 2010

    There is my good friend Shaun!!!! We met in Czech Rep too. But all portraits are great.

  68. 68.
    Nicola B.
    Jul 28th, 2010

    Simply amazing. The human face is so genuinely captivating. And, what camera are you shooting on?

  69. 69.
    sir jorge
    Aug 1st, 2010

    i notice something new often

  70. 70.
    Katherine
    Aug 2nd, 2010

    Beautiful people!!! … and personally I love seeing freckles!

  71. 71.
    Justagirlsd
    Aug 14th, 2010

    Beautiful faces all of them!

  72. I love the second one i think she’s beautiful. i like freckles.

  73. do you know their names.

  74. I’ve got to visit Singapore some time

  75. Very cool photos. I’d like to buy each of them a drink and hear about their lives up to this point. Thanks for sharing! :-)

  76. second ones my favorite the colors and contrast are awesome. the portrait along with the person is beautiful.

  77. 77.
    Katrina
    Sep 3rd, 2010

    Wow!!! I love your pics! They prove in the best way that beauty knows no age, race or color!! Keep up the good work!