Observer photographer Jane Bown has died

Ricardo Miranda · Dec 21, 2014

Just saw this on BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-30570570

She was a lovely lady and a great photographer.

She was 89.

benjiboy · Dec 21, 2014

I met her about 25 years ago at the National Photography Museum where she was a guest lecturer, she was a very shy and modest little lady who I found hard to believe was and had been for many years a press photographer although I was already an admirer of hers and I was familiar with her work for The Guardian Newspaper.
Not many people know that in WW11 Ms. Bown was a naval officer in the W.R.E.N.S (Women's Royal Navy Service), who was involved in the preparation of maps and charts for the D Day Landings.
Rest in peace Jane, you were one of the best in the business.

cliveh · Dec 21, 2014

benjiboy said:
Rest in peace Jane, you were one of the best in the business.

I agree and a very sad loss.

Black Dog · Dec 21, 2014

cliveh said:
I agree and a very sad loss.

Yes, she produced some fine images, such as the classic one of a grumpy Samuel Beckett.

Jim Christie · Dec 21, 2014

I am sorry to hear as well. Her work lives on though, and will hopefully inspire generations to come.

benjiboy · Dec 21, 2014

She wasn't very interested in the technical side of photography or the equipment, but she had an amazing eye for a picture and the ability to put people at ease, she was one of the best British press photographers who emerged after WW11 and one I really admired, she spent all her career working for The Observer Newspaper, and she is a great loss to journalism and to the profession.

MattKing · Dec 22, 2014

Sad, but she certainly lived an interesting life.

I saw "Looking for Light: Jane Bown" at this year's Vancouver International Film Festival. I recommend it, although it certainly was more interesting for me than my non-photographer wife.

Here is a link: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt3103564/

resummerfield · Dec 22, 2014

RIP, Jane.

Chris Livsey · Dec 22, 2014

Whilst there is undoubtably some truth in the mentions so far of no interest it technical matters, which she did not discourage, it in fact like HCB or Winnogrand or Beaton, to take widely divergent examples, the technical matters were taken into account and the equipment pared down to what did the job. In fact as Eammon McCabe writes in The Gruinard there was more technique than meets the eye:

QUOTE: Jane hated fresh chemicals. I often went in on a Tuesday to discover the developer in my tank had gone down. She would let me use it fresh, which was good for sports photography, and then, after a few weeks, when I was about to throw it away, when it was all brown and oxidised and you wouldnt even put your hand in it, let alone your precious films, she would take it over.UNQUOTE
http://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2014/dec/21/jane-bown

There was someone who new what they were up to!!
A great eye for that most difficult of the branches of photography, portraiture. RIP.

Observer photographer Jane Bown has died

Moderator

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency