The UNP Top 20 ‘Interesting’ Photographers

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The UNP Top 20 ‘Interesting’ Photographers

08/07/2026

I use the word ‘interesting’ here to describe photographers who stand outside the ‘mainstream’. Photographers who question what constitutes photography. In doing so, they follow no rules. They do not conform to preconceived ideas of photography. They travel their own road, in how and why they make work. This to me is interesting. You may not understand their work, or like it. You may find it too challenging, or consider it to be of no photographic worth. This is possible! However, don’t be too quick to judge, as there may be gold in them there hills! As always this personal list is in no particular order.

Nigel Shaffron http://nigelshafran.com

John Baldessari https://spruethmagers.com/artists/john-baldessari/

Larry Towell www.magnumphotos.com/photographer/larry-towell/

Gregory Halpern www.gregoryhalpern.com

Stephen Shore www.stephenshore.net

Tina Barney www.tinabarney.com

Richard Misrach www.pacegallery.com/artists/richard-misrach/

Alec Soth https://alecsoth.com/photography/

Jim Goldberg https://jimgoldberg.com

Vanessa Winship https://agencevu.com/en/photographer/vanessa-winship/

Jeurgen Teller www.juergenteller.co.uk

Francesca Woodman https://www.woodmanfoundation.org/francesca/works

Duane Michels www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/duane-michals

Dado Moriyama https://www.moriyamadaido.com

Minor White www.moma.org/artists/6342-minor-white

Mishka Henner https://mishkahenner.com

Tim Davis www.ohthattimdavis.com

Jason Evans https://jasonevans.info

Helen Sear www.helensear.com

Ralph Gibson www.ralphgibson.com

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.