Exposures

by Jane Bown, David Bailey (Foreword by)

Presented here uncropped and in their full glory, these photographs show why Jane Bown has been hailed as the natural successor of Cartier-Bresson and as one of the UK's preeminent portrait photographers   In this new collection, Jane Brown's astonishingly candid photographs are artfully presented, and behind-the-scenes unpublished pictures that hit the newsroom floor are finally revealed. Working almost exclusively in black and white and with natural light, Jane produces images that reveal the private side of her famous subjects. She works quickly, unobtrusively, and decisively, often snatching great pictures under impossible circumstances. She has an unerring instinct for capturing the telling moment, even in the midst of a media assault or rushed in mid-interview. At every shoot, Jane takes numerous wonderful studies, but the "definitive" image is usually chosen by the Observer picture editor, sometimes on the basis of something as arbitrary as how much space was available on the page. Here, Jane's photos finally get to speak for themselves.

Genres: Photography

224 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 1990

Reviews

[Ian Russell · Rating 4 out of 5]

Some of her work was already familiar, the one of Samuel Beckett, and Mick Jagger, but it wasn't until I stumbled across a small exhibition tucked away in the basement of London's National Portrait Gallery whilst looking for lunch that I discovered the photographer responsible and how good they looked on the wall, large and in the flesh. Jane Bown should be a name readily on a par with David Bailey, Donovan, Duffy, Lichfield et al. She Is phenomenally good.

The book, Exposures (not "Portraits" as indicated on Goodreads) is a fine collection of her work and fairly well reproduced. Celebrity portraits in the main, not something I would ever aspire to myself - not bold enough - but they make excellent subjects for practising drawing and painting techniques when there isn't a willing model available - most times - and you're sick of painting yourself.