Interview with Danny Santos

An interview with Danny Santos, great street photographer. I find that his street photos have a fashion appeal. And I also find that many times his photographs are cinematic. It is his style, it is recognizable.
Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Danny Santos:

Hello Danny, can you say us how did you get started in street photography?

I got my first camera on mid 2008.. back then I didn't know what I wanted to shoot, I just knew that I wanted to shoot. So I shot everything from cats, flowers, and sunsets. But none of these really piqued my interest, until I discovered street photography in Flickr - that's when I thought "sh*t, I want to do this." Then I researched on the masters of the genre, like Garry Winogrand, William Klein, Daido Moriyama, Trent Parke, Philip-Lorca DiCorcia, to name a few. Though I didn't really get to adopt their style, their work showed me what was possible in the streets. Then I started shooting every weekends on Orchard Road.

Your street is very oriented to the type candid portraits. It is also not uncommon to find eye contact photos in your production. What do you think about eye contact in street photography?
For the photographer, eye contact from the subjects is a challenge that adds a risk of confrontation, and an adrenaline rush. For the viewer, I'd like to think it makes the candid portrait more interesting as if the viewer was looking at the subject straight in the eyes, or vice versa. Plus, I like the mystery for the viewer wondering how the subject reacted right after the shot.

Recently, a design agency in San Francisco, commissioned you a work that's a reinterpretation of your famous street portraits. Bypassed the problem of the model release.

Yeah, they originally wanted to buy some of the photos I took for my "Portraits of Strangers" project. But since I didn't have any release forms for any of the photos, they couldn't use it for commercial purposes. So instead, they commissioned me to create a new set of portraits, this time with a cast of their choice, and with signed release forms. The hardest part was the casting... eventually, I showed them 70+ candidates in total, and they were able to select 17. The variety in nationality was great: they came from Spain, India, Ukrain, Russia, Hungay, Brazil, Philippines, Singapore, and Japan. It was a great experience photographing all these personalities. In the end, it's true what they say: "Personal projects win commercial jobs".

You do workshops. How do you think are important for those who participate. And do not think they are a real growth opportunity also for us as we teach?

I think workshops are important as a starting point. It can arm you with good information and basic skills to motivate you to be better. But I think what's most important is what you do AFTER the workshop... will you just go about your usual style and hope that the workshop has rubbed in on you? or will you actually push yourself apply and test what you've learned? I've attended quite a few workshops and I can say that it has significantly changed my workflow for the better.

What power has a photo with people?

The effect of a photograph towards people will depend on the individual viewer. I think it is all very subjective, depending on the experience and opinions of that viewer. One man's trash can be another man's treasure.

We are both big fans of Daido Moryama. Want to talk about this photographer? He takes photos with a point & shot, using the shoot from the hip, and his photos seem to make you fall into a dream, even disturbing, like the David Lynch movies...

I love his stuff, man. Each shot is just surreal... it looks so abstract yet so familiar. And I agree with the similarity with David Lynch movies. The first book I got of him was Shinjuku 19XX-20XX, and it just blew me away. If there's one book that you need to see of him, it's this one.

If I asked you to choose a single lens, what would your answer be?

That's a hard one. My 85mm f1.4 lens has been my workhorse for the past few years, but I'm recently also putting my 24mm f1.4 lens to good use. I can't choose between these 3, coz they all serve different purpose.

You use both color and black and white. Do you have a preference?

Oh man, another tough choice. I like both... sometimes a photo works better in color, sometimes it works better in black & white. So yeah, I'm very flexible between the two, so there's really not strict preference.

On your blog I read an absurd story of a photo stolen...

Yeah, that was a crazy experience. In one of the blogs that interviewed me, somebody called me a 'copycat' claiming that one of the rain photos I featured belonged to his friend... and that they had the RAW file to prove it. It was a very unpleasant experience. But after some quick investigation online, I eventually figured out that the photo thief was a photography enthusiast who showed my photo to her husband claiming she took it herself. The husband was so proud that when he saw that same photo in my blog, he freaked out! I sent them a cease & desist notice... eventually, the thief came clean and posted a public apology. So in the end, it was a case of a girl who wanted to impress her peers by stealing my work.. and the boy fighting for the girl's rights without knowing any better.

What makes a candid portrait a great portrait?

You know, I'm still trying to figure that out. But from what I've been seeing so far, aside from the aesthetics of getting the right subject with the right background, the right framing, and the right light, I think the portrait should convey a sense of mystery so the viewer would at least start asking who, what, or why.

Your next project?

I'm still trying to come up with project ideas, I have a few in mind. I haven't been able to have the time to work on personal projects lately, but I'm hoping to do so very soon.



You can see Danny Santos work here:


http://www.flickr.com/photos/dannysantos/

his blog:

http://www.dannyst.com/

All images courtesy by Danny Santos