Taylor Wessing

The National Portrait Gallery has named the four photographers shortlisted for the £12,000 Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize, the top such prize in the world. The photos couldn't be more diverse. They range from an amusing naked cherub, through a group of five girls failing to interact, to a close up of a black beauty taken in a London street (CLICK). For me, the outstanding photo is Amira and her Children (2014) by Ivor Prickett, taken inside her tent in Northern Iraq when he was working for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. The sombre and dignified matriarch with protective arms round her children says it all.