Bryan Sheffield

I like how neutral the colours are in this, with the bright green parrot in stark contrast.

Bryan Sheffield is easily my favourite photographer right now. Although he uses a digital camera, his pictures have a really retro, filmy quality to them.

He's worked for American Apparel, Vice Magazine and Nylon Magazine.

The use of grain and colour and flash in this shot is especially beautiful.

Laura Taylor

I find Laura Taylor's work to be interesting as she only uses ambient light in her shoots, which are part portrait and part fashion. The models she uses have a real natural beauty, which is well highlighted by the use of mostly natural light.

She also mostly photographs women, and her use of colour makes for very captivating and striking images.

(she probably used flash in this, despite her love of natural light)

Diane Arbus

Diane Arbus is one of my favourite photographers because she captures her subjects in a way that is not only interesting and new, but particular and personal to the subject. This is probably her most famous image. The expression on the child's face is brilliant.

The parallels between the poodle ornament and the woman's hair make this a humourous photograph. Although Arbus was often criticised for her subject matter - the unusual, the borderline and the strange, she approached her subjects with sensitivity and a fresh eye.

Arbus' images have a good range of mid tones. Most of her images have no black in them at all.