“A quiet, moving portrait of Jane Bown, the longstanding Observer photographer who has taken all those iconic portraits you know, but probably didn’t know she’d taken.” — Deborah Ross, The Spectactor
An excellent, intelligent, and unfussily traditional documentary about a gifted artist who photographed many key 20th-century figures.
Screened as part of NZIFF 2014
Looking for Light: Jane Bown 2014
Celebrity photographer Jane Bown has worked for the London Observer for an unrivalled 65 years, making unforgettable images of hundreds of subjects – from Jayne Mansfield to John Lennon. Using basic equipment and often relying on available light, she has honed a deceptively simple technique to produce her highly distinctive and indeed iconic photographs. This film by Luke Dodd and Michael Whyte respectfully celebrates her by allowing her to tell her own story – lucid and candid today at 89, and in a revealing interview from a decade ago – while we are treated to a host of her portraits.