In his ongoing series Beautiful Strangers, American portrait and documentary photographer Peter Zelewski loves to capture people on the streets of London from a diverse range of ethnicities, cultures and styles. His aim? To challenge the concept of traditional beauty by bringing out the uniqueness, personality and true individuality of the people he photographs.
Over the past 12 months, Zelewski – who is based in the capital – has snapped over 100 people for the project and one of his portraits, Nyaueth (see main picture), won third place in this year's prestigious Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize at the National Portrait Gallery in London.
Born in Detroit, America, he moved to London in the late '80s and studied graphic design and photography at North London University. Through his fascination and love of the city, he was drawn to the streets of London to take photographs of its citizens which has resulted in two award-winning projects ’The People of Soho’ and ‘Beautiful Strangers'. He divides his time between graphic design, commercial photography and his self-initiated personal street portraiture projects.
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