What is a portrait photograph? Does it have to be of a person? Could it be of a dog? I think it could. However, for this list I’m going to keep it simple. For me a successful portrait photograph shows us something of the person, something more than what they were wearing, where they were, or any ‘tricksy’ lighting/aesthetic or post production technique. The successful portrait has to have an honesty, it has to act as a bridge between the person and the photographer and subsequently the viewer. Eye contact can be important, but not essential, concepts can work, but more often don’t. And in my eyes any room with a photographer in it is a studio! So, let us not think that there needs to be specific setting for portraits. Just as artificial light is not a prerequisite, to define a portrait photographer’s practice. As a portrait photographer for the past twenty six years my first choice has always been ‘God’s light’, with a smattering of ‘cloud diffusion’. Anyway, here are my personal choices, which as always are in no specific order.

Further reading
https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2026/06/24/the-photography-canon-and-why-it-is-important-not-the-camera-brand/
https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2026/06/25/the-unp-top-20-photographers-working-with-colour/
https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2026/06/26/the-unp-top-20-landscape-photographers/
https://unitednationsofphotography.com/2026/06/28/the-unp-top-20-wandering-photographers/

Georges Hurrell https://georgehurrell.com

August Sander www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/august-sander

Nadav Kander https://www.nadavkander.com

Julian Broad www.julianbroad.com

Irving Penn https://irvingpenn.org

David Eustace www.davideustace.com

Jeanloup Sieff https://jeanloupsieff.com

Eve Arnold www.evearnold.com

Yousuf Karsh https://karsh.org

David Bailey www.instagram.com/bailey_studio/?hl=en

Chris Buck www.chrisbuck.com

Jake Chessum https://jakechessum.com

Mark Seliger https://markseliger.com

Anton Corbijn https://antoncorbijn.com

George Hoyningen Heune www.georgehoyningenhuene.org

Arnold Newman https://arnoldnewman.com

Annie Leibovitz https://www.instagram.com/annieleibovitz/?hl=en

Brian Griffin www.instagram.com/brian_griffin_photographer/?hl=en

Jane Bown www.camerapress.com/photographers/archive/jane-bown

Jeurgen Teller www.lehmannmaupin.com/artists/juergen-teller

Dr.Grant Scott
After fifteen years art directing photography books and magazines such as Elle and Tatler, Scott began to work as a photographer for a number of advertising and editorial clients in 2000. Alongside his photographic career Scott has art directed numerous advertising campaigns, worked as a creative director at Sotheby’s, art directed foto8 magazine, founded his own photographic gallery, edited Professional Photographer magazine and launched his own title for photographers and filmmakers Hungry Eye. He founded the United Nations of Photography in 2012, and is now a Senior Lecturer and Subject Co-ordinator: Photography at Oxford Brookes University, Oxford, and a BBC Radio contributor. Scott is the author of Professional Photography: The New Global Landscape Explained (Routledge 2014), The Essential Student Guide to Professional Photography (Routledge 2015), New Ways of Seeing: The Democratic Language of Photography (Routledge 2019), What Does Photography Mean To You? (Bluecoat Press 2020) and Inside Vogue House: One building, seven magazines, sixty years of stories, (Orphans Publishing 2024). His photography has been published in At Home With The Makers of Style (Thames & Hudson 2006) and Crash Happy: A Night at The Bangers (Cafe Royal Books 2012). His film Do Not Bend: The Photographic Life of Bill Jay was premiered in 2018.

© Grant Scott 2026

Image: Picasso by Irving Penn