Jane Bown is widely acknowledged as one of the finest portrait photographers of her generation.

The photographs are of a time gone by representing her early work. The candidness of the images underpin her gift of capturing the moment and thus her pictures are an inspiration even for todays photographer. Whilst similarities to Henry Cartier Bresson are often cited these are purely coincidental.

“The Observer” published its first Jane Bown photograph in December 1949, beginning a romance between Britain’s oldest Sunday paper and the country’s most loved photographer that still flourishes. Through the 1950’s her role developed. She was not employed purely for portraiture. Her love is for reportage.

‘The best pictures are uninvited. They’re suddenly there in front of you. But they are there one minute and gone the next. I mean it is quite easy to take a photograph, but difficult to get the shot.’

By 1980, she was renowned enough for the National Portrait Gallery to hold a one-person exhibition of her work and there have been no fewer than seven published collections of her photographs. This first ever collection of Bown’s non-portraiture stretches back to her student days and includes many previously unpublished and some previously unseen images.

When asked whether she felt excitement taking photographs she replied: “Oh yes! For a moment when I look through the lens, when absoluteley everything is exactly right, love is the only way to describe what I feel.”

As a current manufacturer’s advert says: timing is everything, and with Jane Bown you feel that everything about her photography is taken with timely precision and sensitivity to the story conveyed - an art she has developed to perfection.

With an introduction by germaine Greer - a great book to browse for inspiration.

The observer £20 ISBN No. 978-0-85265-076-9

Link to the Observer Gallery:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/observer/gallery/2007/sep/20/photography

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bown-Jane/dp/0852650760/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1209850058&sr=1-1
http://www.guardian.co.uk/observer/gallery/2007/sep/20/photography

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