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Visual
Photographer Jane Bown 14 Sep 2007
Jane Bown - Self Portrait
Talks about the work she has done for The Observer for over half a century.

The photographer Jane Bown has had a career spanning more than fifty years. She claims she became a photographer almost by accident – she took it up at the end of the Second World War after leaving the Wrens. Over the years, the revealing portraits she has taken for The Observer have become legendary. She works in black and white, avoids artificial lighting and has a tremendous knack for capturing the personality of her sitter. She has photographed just about everyone – from politicians to actors, musicians to writers. Louise Adamson went to meet Jane Bown at her home and they began by looking at a photograph of Elizabeth Taylor, Richard Burton and Noel Coward.

An exhibition of largely unseen photographs by Jane Bown will be on display at the Guardian Newsroom on Farringdon Road, London, from Friday 28th September.
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