above: Untitled, United States, 1970-1975 © Jacob Holdt

With £30,000 up for grabs, this year Deutsche Börse Photography Prize soars even higher than the Tate’s notoriously silver-gilded offerings. The Photographer's Gallery hosts this internationally revered competition and round twelve sees Esko Mannikko, Fazal Sheikh, John Davies and Jacob Holt kneel before the seven-strong panel on 5 March. Here they are for your perusal:

Esko Männikko

Untitles (3), 2005 © Esko Mänikko

Esko used to be a hunter in Finland before falling in love with it's palette of startling jay blues, indecent greens and corvine, slippery blacks. Through blown-up portraiture he exploits detail to the maximum, choosing to explore the features of animals as intricately as landscapes, leaving sweeping horizons to be miniaturised in a reflective, bulbous wet eye. A photographer of "fish, dogs and old men", you can’t help but feel personal with Mannikko’s subjects and the stories they whisper. I hope this strange alchemy of modernist alienation, caught between ancient epic narrative and isolated heroes will coax £30,000 from the Borse judges.

Kuhmo, 1994 © Esko Mänikko

Fazal Sheikh

Krishna, from the Ladli series, 2007 © Fazel Sheikh

Fazal Sheikh is an artist-activist who documented contemporary India through his series of uniquely haunting portraiture. Softly bloomed portraits of women and children lace together delicate, muffled browns and pigeon greys to distil a vacant harmony in each. So I was shocked upon finding that these graceful qualities harboured a secret violent history, with marital abuse and social injustice as the central themes of Fazal’s narrative. The truth of these women’s horrific injuries was further expounded in accompanying wall text where needed. For others, obvious graphic injuries or the suggestiveness of a scar was explanation enough.

John Davies

Agecroft Power Station, Salford, 1983 © John Davies

If Turner had ‘shot’ Sheffield in the early 80s instead of languidly dashing strokes and dribbles onto canvas way back in long-forgotten century, I’m certain he’d have produced photographic works akin to the excellence of Davies. He nurtures his greyscale panoramas with the same soft bloom as Fazal, but turns industrial hinterlands into silvery masterpieces that etch midday kick-abouts against goliath, fume-guzzling chimneys.

 “An important aspect of my work is exploring the cultural landscapes, particularly the way they affect people’s lives.” Davies has a progressive, painterly eye, but most of all he convinces me that Birmingham’s New Street Station is a wonder of natural beauty…

New Street Station, Birmingham, 2000 © John Davies

Jacob Holdt

Untitled, United States, 1970-1975 © Jacob Holdt

Jacob’s documentation of social injustice throughout 1970s America is extraordinary. Not only because this son of a Dutch minister produces an 80-strong slideshow depicting varying states of poverty, prejudice, sex and murder, but because he had the brawn and determination to tread those same paths while risking life and limb for their stories. The result is a feverish tale of mainly dystopian, post-Luther King communities, but occasionally his relationships threw up millionaire venture capitalists, political galas and casual K-K-K meetings. Importantly, his more tortured subjects remain dignified and almost elevated, where, as below, the red of a milk carton becomes a symbol of life in a room full of darkness.

Untitled, United States, 1970-1975 © Jacob Holdt

The Deutsche Börse Photography Prize runs in association with The Photographer's Gallery until April 6. The Award will be announced on March 5. Find out more at www.photonet.org.uk