Luminous Landscape Forum
The Art of Photography => Discussing Photographic Styles => Topic started by: Rob C on April 27, 2018, 08:28:23 am
-
https://gerryco23.wordpress.com/2014/12/22/jane-bown-looking-for-the-light/
Minimalist; a woman after my own photographic heart.
Rob
-
Thanks, Rob. I'd never heard of her. I agree with you. She understands the medium.
-
Prefer James.
Seriously, photography pales by comparison.
-
Thanks, Rob. I'd never heard of her. I agree with you. She understands the medium.
Yes, she did seem to spend a lot of time keeping a low profile, perhaps because she held a pretty secure place within her newspaper and had no need for the publicity that other photographers might have found essential just to stay active in the industry.
But one thing seems to repeat itself over and over again: those who can weave magic with minimal fuss and equipment eventually do end up having a more valid portfolio of their life's work.
Not only do I see this in the newspaper business, where most all of the big names worked with basic but dependable equipment, but also in the fashion world too, where simple lighting and a lack of fussing about leads to the memorable shots whereas the overly complex pictures are instantly forgotten because they allow their own complexity and pyrotechnics to overwhelm the poor old subject.
You only have to look at Penn then or Bailey both then and today, to see they work/worked very simply; the many memorable shots are memorable because the frame was allowed to be dominated by the subject and not by the snapper's ego.
I guess most of us try too hard to be too clever.
Rob
-
Looking for the Light is also the title of a good TV documentary on Jane Bown. We loved it here. I think she mostly depended on an always second-hand Oly and one or maybe two lenses set to f2.8 and a roll of Tri-X. If I recall, often all brought along in a plastic bag. It could not have been simpler. But she really really knew how to size up her subject, hence her remarks in the article about one T Blair. The rest of the week she was Mrs Moss or something living a conventional life in the Home Counties. A great one-off, I think.
-
Looking for the Light is also the title of a good TV documentary on Jane Bown. We loved it here. I think she mostly depended on an always second-hand Oly and one or maybe two lenses set to f2.8 and a roll of Tri-X. If I recall, often all brought along in a plastic bag. It could not have been simpler. But she really really knew how to size up her subject, hence her remarks in the article about one T Blair. The rest of the week she was Mrs Moss or something living a conventional life in the Home Counties. A great one-off, I think.
Romantic sitiations aside, I think that's a power most females have that's far better developed than in the male counterpart.
Another interesting power that my own mo 'n' lo had, was the ability to tell somebody's age very accurately. Maybe because she was married to a surveyor. Go figure...
Glad you enjoyed the link.
Rob