Well-known portrait photographers, at home and abroad

Well-known portrait photographers

A good portrait goes further than a good-looking image: it catches the essence of a person. The best portrait photographers in the world have each developed a style of their own, leaving a recognisable signature in portraiture. From iconic names in the history of photography to present-day masters, these photographers are a source of inspiration for anyone who wants to go deeper into the craft.

I look at these heroes with admiration. They give me a point on the horizon, and to get there I gladly lose myself in portrait sessions, at home or in the studio. By studying their work you learn not only about technique and composition, but above all about how to make a connection with the person in front of your lens. That is exactly what I try to pass on in my one-to-one portrait workshop: the art of making portraits that really say something.

Whether you are just starting with portraiture or have years of experience, the work of gifted portrait photographers keeps inspiring you to develop.

Here is part of my list of portrait heroes:

1. Stephan Vanfleteren (1969-present, Belgium)

Stephan Vanfleteren brought together portraits of famous and unknown people in Portret, 1989-2009 (2009). The Belgian photographer was born in Kortrijk and grew up in Oostduinkerke. His earlier books included Flandrien (2005) and Belgicum (2007). The latter was exhibited at Fotomuseum Antwerpen in 2007 and 2008. He photographed for publications including De Morgen and de Volkskrant.

Stephan Vanfleteren worked almost exclusively in black and white: understated, direct and respectful of the person in front of him. His portrait of Rem Koolhaas won him the Nationale Portretprijs in 2012. In 2013, he won first prize for staged portraits at World Press Photo. As a photographer, that direct gaze makes me wonder how much you actually need around a face.

3. Richard Avedon (1923-2004, US)

Richard Avedon worked on In the American West between 1979 and 1984, commissioned by the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth. The book and exhibition followed in 1985. The American photographer made the portraits against a white background. His earlier books included Observations (1959), with text by Truman Capote, and Nothing Personal (1964), with text by James Baldwin.

Richard Avedon left out the surroundings in these black and white portraits, giving the face and posture all the space. His conversations with the people he photographed could be probing and uncomfortable. In 1991, he received the Hasselblad Award. For me, his importance to portrait photography lies in that bare approach: a white backdrop seems simple, but it makes every gesture visible. Those gestures keep me looking.

4. Irving Penn (1917-2009, US)

For Corner Portraits (1948), Irving Penn placed people in the narrow corner between two screens. Martha Graham, Duke Ellington and Truman Capote were among those who stepped inside. The American photographer made the series for Vogue. For Small Trades (1950-1951), he photographed people at full length. His book Worlds in a Small Room was published in 1974.

Irving Penn used plain backgrounds and simple arrangements, such as that corner between two screens. He said the enclosed space seemed to calm people. I like that detail: apparently, a tight corner can be a comfortable place too. Penn received the Hasselblad Award in 1985. His work shows me how much room you can give someone with very little in the frame.

5. Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002, Canada)

Yousuf Karsh made his portrait of Winston Churchill, known as ‘The Roaring Lion’, on 30 December 1941 in the Speaker's Chamber of the Canadian House of Commons. The Armenian-Canadian portrait photographer was born in Mardin, then part of the Ottoman Empire, and became a Canadian citizen in 1947. He also photographed Ernest Hemingway in 1957. His book Portraits of Greatness was published in 1959.

Yousuf Karsh used dramatic lighting and props suited to the sitter's profession. He researched people beforehand and spoke to them before taking their photograph. In 1989, the National Gallery of Canada devoted an exhibition to his portraits. His photos showed how preparation and light could give a face authority. That conversation beforehand reminds me that my work as a photographer starts before I take the photo.

6. Peter Lindbergh (1944-2019, Germany)

Peter Lindbergh photographed Linda Evangelista, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz, Christy Turlington and Cindy Crawford for the January 1990 cover of British Vogue. That cover was seen as the beginning of the supermodel era. The German photographer had previously made the series White Shirts (1988) in Malibu. Later books included A Different History of Fashion by Lindbergh (2016) and Shadows on the Wall (2017).

Peter Lindbergh often chose black and white and valued looking real over looking polished. In his photos, famous women remained people. Kunsthal Rotterdam devoted a major exhibition to his fashion photography in 2016-2017. For me, his portraits show that even a photo of a supermodel needn't be solely about beauty.

7. Platon (1968-present, UK)

Platon brought together his portraits of world leaders in Power (2011). The British portrait photographer with Greek roots had previously published Platon's Republic (2004). Service (2016) focused on American military personnel and their families. With The Defenders: Heroes of the Global Fight for Human Rights (2024), he turned his attention to human rights defenders. He gave a face to both power and the people who stood up to it.

Platon photographed people directly, with little distraction and sometimes only thirty seconds for a session. He seated his subjects on a wooden apple box, even when the person in front of him was a world leader. He has been a staff photographer at The New Yorker since 2008. His portrait photography connected powerful people and human rights activists through the same understated approach. That wooden apple box makes me think about what he leaves out as a photographer: even for a world leader, that simple seat is enough.

8. Zanele Muholi (1972-present, South Africa)

Zanele Muholi began Faces and Phases in 2006, a portrait series that was also published as a book in 2010. The South African photographer used the term ‘visual activist’ to describe themselves and referred to the people in the portraits as participants. In Somnyama Ngonyama, Muholi stepped in front of the camera. Aperture published the book of these self-portraits in 2018, alongside the work centred on other people.

Zanele Muholi had participants look straight into the camera. The portraits formed an archive of people from a persecuted community, recorded with names and faces. This gave activism a concrete form in portrait photography. Tate Modern held a solo exhibition in 2024-2025, and Muholi received the Hasselblad Award in 2026. As a photographer, that direct gaze keeps me looking at the person in front of the camera.

9. Bettina Rheims (1952-present, France)

Bettina Rheims photographed androgynous young people for Modern Lovers (1989-1990). The French photographer then worked on Chambre Close (1990-1992), her first colour series, with text by Serge Bramly. In 1995, she also made the official portrait of president Jacques Chirac. Gender and identity recurred in her work, including Gender Studies, exhibited at the NRW Forum in Düsseldorf in 2012.

Bettina Rheims made no secret of staging her portraits. Pose and styling were part of how she explored gender and identity. Rheims received the Grand Prix de la Photographie de la Ville de Paris in 1994. A retrospective at the Maison Européenne de la Photographie followed in 2016. Her use of pose and styling teaches me that an obviously directed photo can still tell you something about a person.

10. Vincent Peters (1969-present, Germany)

Vincent Peters published his first photography book, The Light Between Us, in 2014, featuring photos of actors, models and musicians. The German portrait photographer also published Personal, which included Penélope Cruz, Linda Evangelista and Irina Shayk. Most of the photos in that book had not been published before. His work also appeared in magazines including Vogue, Numéro and The Face.

Vincent Peters made black and white portraits that felt like stills from a film. He used light and shadow to decide what became visible and what stayed hidden. Kunsthuis Amsterdam held his first Dutch retrospective in 2017. The exhibition Inner Light followed at Fotografiska Tallinn in 2019. His use of shadow reminds me that, as a photographer, I don't have to show everything for a portrait to work.

11. Rineke Dijkstra (1959-present, the Netherlands)

Rineke Dijkstra made the series Beach Portraits between 1992 and 1994. The Dutch portrait photographer often focused on young people growing into adulthood. Other series included Tiergarten Series (1998-2000) and Almerisa. Alongside photos, she made videos: in 2019, her three-channel video Night Watching was shown at the Rijksmuseum.

Rineke Dijkstra stood out for her understated approach: people often faced the camera at full length against a minimal background. This gave their posture and vulnerability plenty of room. She received the Hasselblad Award in 2017 and the Johannes Vermeer Award in 2020. As a photographer, I see something of growing up in those postures, without it having to look like a neatly finished process.

12. Helmut Newton (1920-2004, Germany/Australia)

Helmut Newton published Helmut Newton: Portraits in 1986, with Klaus Honnef. Alongside celebrity portraits, the Berlin-born photographer produced a great deal of fashion work, including for Vogue and Harper's Bazaar. His books White Women (1976) and Sleepless Nights (1978) preceded the portrait book. The large-format book Sumo was published in 1999.

Helmut Newton worked with stylised black and white, eroticism and references to fetishism. In Big Nudes, nude models faced the camera against a neutral background. His work gave power and eroticism a prominent place in portrait photography. Newton established his own foundation in 2003, which found a home in Berlin's Museum für Fotografie. The museum opened in 2004. Those frontal nudes make me uncomfortable as a photographer, and for me that is part of the work.

13. David LaChapelle (1963-present, US)

David LaChapelle published his photography book LaChapelle Land in 1996, followed by Hotel LaChapelle in 1999 and Heaven to Hell in 2006. The American photographer started at Interview and worked for publications including Vanity Fair, Vogue and Rolling Stone. Alongside his photography, he made music videos and the film Rize, released in 2005.

David LaChapelle made staged portraits with bold colours, kitsch and references to art history. Consumption and redemption were recurring subjects. His survey exhibition Make Believe was shown at Fotografiska New York. In his hands, a celebrity portrait could become an entire invented scene. As a photographer, that shows me how much room such a portrait has for something beyond a likeness.

14. Sally Mann (1951-present, US)

Sally Mann published Immediate Family in 1992, a book of 65 black and white photos of her three children. The American photographer had previously published At Twelve: Portraits of Young Women (1988). Her immediate surroundings recurred in her work: her children, her husband and the landscape of the American South. Hold Still: A Memoir with Photographs was published in 2015.

Sally Mann worked in large-format black and white and, from the mid-nineties, also used wet collodion glass plates. With Immediate Family, she prompted debate about intimacy and consent in family portraits. The National Gallery of Art opened Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings in 2018. In 2021, she received the Prix Pictet. Her work makes me think about intimacy and consent when I consider fine art portraits as a photographer: something as familiar as your own family can raise difficult questions.

15. Gregory Crewdson (1962-present, US)

Gregory Crewdson made Twilight between 1998 and 2002, followed by Beneath the Roses (2003-2008). The American photographer built his photos around staged situations in suburban interiors and landscapes. Later series included Cathedral of the Pines (2013-2014) and Eveningside (2021-2022). Ben Shapiro made the documentary Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounters (2012) about his work.

Gregory Crewdson used cinematic lighting, a large crew and weeks or months of preparation for each photo. His scenes were psychologically charged. Crewdson received honorary doctorates from Montserrat College of Art in 2012 and SUNY Purchase in 2013. His quiet scenes make me wonder how much direction a portrait can take before, as a photographer, I mainly see the staging.

16. Juergen Teller (1964-present, Germany)

Juergen Teller published the photography book Go-Sees: Girls Knocking on My Door in 1999. The German photographer moved to London in 1986 and has worked on campaigns for Marc Jacobs since 1997. He also took photographs for Kylie Minogue's album Let's Get to It (1991). His book Donkey Man and Other Stories was published in 2021.

Juergen Teller made room for imperfection: his photos were raw, often funny and deliberately unpolished. He also regularly appeared in his own work. Teller received the Citibank Prize for Photography in 2003 and an ICP Infinity Award in 2018. That combination appeals to me: apparently, a famous face doesn't have to look immaculate in a photo.

17. Tim Walker (1970-present, UK)

Tim Walker published his first photography book under the title Pictures. The British photographer worked for publications including Vogue and W. In 2019, his work was shown in the exhibition Tim Walker: Wonderful Things at the V&A.

Tim Walker made staged photos with elaborate sets and romantic motifs. This gave his portraits something of a fairy tale. Walker received the Isabella Blow Award for Fashion Creator in 2008 and an ICP Infinity Award in 2009. His sets teach me how much of a part an invented setting can play in a portrait.

18. Anton Corbijn (1955-present, the Netherlands)

Anton Corbijn published Famouz in 1989 and U2 & I in 2005. The Dutch photographer worked extensively with musicians, including Tom Waits, Bob Dylan and Björk. He has made music videos for Depeche Mode since 1986 and designed their stages since 1993. His collaboration with Tom Waits also became a book: Waits/Corbijn '77-'11 (2013).

Anton Corbijn became known for his black and white photography and has also worked in colour, using filters, since 1989. His portraits helped shape the image of U2 and Depeche Mode for years. C/O Berlin devoted a retrospective to him in 2015, followed by Fotografiska Berlijn in 2026. His portraits of U2 and Depeche Mode show me how much influence a photographer can have on the face of a band.

19. Mary Ellen Mark (1940-2015, US)

Mary Ellen Mark spent six weeks on the ward for Ward 81 (1979). For Falkland Road: Prostitutes of Bombay (1981), the American photographer spent three months on the street of the same name. She made that series in colour. Later publications included the portrait books Twins (2003) and Prom (2012).

Mary Ellen Mark built lasting relationships of trust with the people she photographed, often on the margins of society. She received an ICP Infinity Award in 1997. For me, her six weeks on the same ward make it clear what commitment can mean in the work of famous documentary photographers.

20. Rankin (1966-present, UK)

Rankin's full name is John Rankin Waddell, and he was born in Glasgow. The British portrait photographer co-founded Dazed & Confused with Jefferson Hack and launched Hunger magazine in 2011. His books include Snog (2000) and Hunger The Book (2016). For the project Rankin Live (2009), he made around a thousand portraits, one every fifteen minutes.

Rankin made glossy, highly polished photos in which sexuality often featured prominently. He photographed people including Elizabeth II, Madonna and Kate Moss. His portrait photography was recognised with an Honorary Fellowship from the Royal Photographic Society in 2002 and a British Photography Awards Fellowship in 2019. With Rankin Live, I keep coming back to those fifteen minutes per person: how do you make a portrait of someone different each time, in so little time?

21. Bryan Adams (1959-present, Canada)

Bryan Adams photographed Queen Elizabeth II in 2002, during her golden jubilee. A photo from that session appeared on a Canadian postage stamp in 2004 and 2005. The Canadian singer also has a second career as a photographer. His first survey book, Exposed, was published in 2012. In Wounded: The Legacy of War (2013), he focused on the human consequences of war.

Bryan Adams photographed many celebrities and worked for fashion brands and on advertising commissions. Alongside those commissions came a book such as Wounded: The Legacy of War. He received Lead Awards for his fashion photography in 2006, 2012 and 2015. For me, the lesson is in his choice of subjects: celebrities, but also the human consequences of war.

22. Steve McCurry (1950-present, US)

Steve McCurry made the portrait that became known as ‘Afghan Girl’ in December 1984. The photo of Sharbat Gula appeared on the cover of National Geographic in June 1985. The American photographer has been a member of Magnum Photos since 1986. His book Portraits was published in 1999, followed by books including The Iconic Photographs (2012) and Afghanistan (2017).

You could recognise Steve McCurry's work by its vivid colours and his attention to what people from different cultures had in common. He won first prizes at World Press Photo in 1985 and 1992 and received the Lucie Award for Photojournalism in 2003. The portrait of Sharbat Gula shows me how one face can become a point of recognition for an entire body of work.

23. Nan Goldin (1953-present, US)

Nan Goldin published The Ballad of Sexual Dependency with Aperture in 1986. For it, the American photographer documented her own life, friends and intimate relationships. She also showed the photos as a slideshow. The work was exhibited at the Whitney Museum in 1985. The retrospective I'll Be Your Mirror followed there in 1996, again focusing on her personal photography.

Nan Goldin made candid portraits with the feel of snapshots. Her friends formed a kind of extended family, with their relationships and daily lives as her subject. In 2014, she received the Lucie Award for Achievement in Portraiture. For me, her importance to portrait photography lies in that closeness. Her portraits teach me to look close to home too, at my own life and the people in it.

24. Camille Vivier (1977-present, France)

Camille Vivier is a French photographer who lives and works in Paris. Her books include Couleurs du Spectre (2011), Sophie (2019) and H.R. Giger by Camille Vivier (2022). Female figures and bodies recurred in her work, including bodybuilders in unexpected settings. Think of Freud's study or Giger's studio.

Camille Vivier made staged figure studies that sat between art and fashion, with attention to the body and still life. She won the photography prize at the Festival de Hyères in 1998. Her first retrospective followed at the MEP in Paris in 2026. When I see a bodybuilder in Freud's study, I naturally look at the surroundings as part of the portrait.

25. Erwin Olaf (1959-2023, the Netherlands)

Erwin Olaf published the book Chessmen. An Attempt to Play the Game in 1988. With Chessmen, the Dutch photographer won the title Young European Photographer of the Year that same year. He later made the self-portrait series I wish, I am, I will be (2009) and the official portraits of the royal family in 2018. He died on 20 September 2023.

Erwin Olaf built staged scenes in which he was both director and photographer. His photos had a cinematic quality, with tension beneath a polished surface. In 2018, a core collection of more than 500 works went to the Rijksmuseum, which honoured him in 2023 with a display in the Eregalerij. That unease is what keeps me looking at his portraits as a photographer: something about that tidy appearance keeps nagging at me.