An unashamedly partial list of our favourite photographers, most of whom live or work or exhibit in London, or maybe just came to visit once.
Everyone loves a bit of photography. And with the proliferation of digital cameras these days everyone thinks they're good at it. But, alas, they're not. Below is a list of photographers who we genuinely love – there's no theme or criteria really, it's just people we think are great. Some are photographers in the usual sense, but most are artists whose medium just happens (more or less often) to include photography. Anyway, scroll down – we hope you like the pictures.
Stephen Gill
Although he has taken portraits of the likes of Chris Ofili, Lisa Stansfield, Hugo Speer and Ron Mueck that now hang in the National Portrait Gallery, Hackney-based Stephen Gill is probably best known for his detailed documentation of the bland, the everyday and the otherwise overlooked. Gill's photography conveys a delight in the kind of boring non-events that nobody else would notice.
Toby Smith
Toby Smith takes some of the most eerily beautiful images you could imagine - nuanced views of industrial structures (mines, tunnels, piers, turbines) bathed in rich cold phosphorescent light. There's something of Edward Burtynsky in the combination of environmental awareness and powerfully seductive aesthetic. 
Noemie Goudal
We first saw Noemie's work at the Crystal Bennes-curated SALON (LONDON) presents – Secret exhibition back in June. Her large-scale theatrically staged images are powerfully alluring. Crisply composed and dramatic, they drag you in with the promise of a story, and never quite give you one, or at least not one that makes much sense. 
Annabel Elgar
Annabel Elgar is one of our favourite contemporary photographers. Macabre images such as hanging puppets, jet black ravens and burning sheds inject a frisson of mystery into the otherwise blandly suburban. There's always something unsettling or ritualistically weird going on: kind of like if M Night Shyamalan was a photographer rather than an egotistical twat. 
Jane Ward
Jane Ward's work – which we first saw at ROLLO Contemporary Art – involves complex digital collages, incorporating hundreds of photographs of flowers, coastal landscapes, model villages and the like. The resulting works are visually dense and consistently enthralling. Not quite photography, not quite painting – but fascinating nonetheless.
Tom Hunter
Another Hackney-based photographer, whose work we were introduced to at the now closed Arts Gallery. Hunter produces lushly beautiful images of urban decay, uncertain narrative, loneliness and alienation – often with strong art historical references to the likes of Vermeer or Millais.
Richard Cook
We first saw Richard Cook's work at the Saatchi/Channel 4 New Sensations exhibition in 2009 and were impressed by his graphically composed photographic works with their contrast between nature's roundness and the hard edges of human involvement. He actually lives in Leeds, but hey ho.
Jonny Briggs
Jonny Briggs' work has lingered in our minds ever since we saw some at the Chelsea degree show back in 2007. His dark, twisted and ritualistic images revolve around gender, identity and the artist's relationship (or lack thereof) with his father. Definitely one to watch.
Frances Blythe
France Blythe came to our attention at the 2009 Bloomberg New Contemporaries exhibition, which featured intimate little black and white photos of the exterior of various houses – is Frances the Peeping Tom of Surbiton? Certainly there's something uneasy at work. Another non-London entry to this list...
James Sparshatt
We interviewed James Sparshatt back in February – he's an expert on Cuba and Latin America, whose work seeks to capture the incredible vibrancy, energy and freedom of the people there. But his images are also about identity, economics and cultural difference. James also runs the brilliant Capital Culture photography gallery just near Covent Garden.
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