#1241 - Jane Bown

Mick Jagger, 1973
#1241 - Jane Bown

“For that second when I look through the lens I absolutely love the sitter and then I’m gone"

~ Jane Bown
(1925-2014)

 

“I have never wanted to give up performing on stage, but one day the tours will be over”

~ Mick Jagger

 

Well Mick announced that The Stones will be back touring again in 2024 so I guess the show is still going on. I think this is the greatest shot of Mick. It was taken by the vastly under-rated British portrait photographer Jane Bown, who had a long and productive career working for The Observer newspaper in the UK. Her photos were the main reason I bought the paper growing up there in the 1960’s /1970’s. She was small in stature and carried minimal camera equipment which enabled her to put her distinguished sitters quickly at ease. Deeply intuitive, she worked quickly because she knew that the best photographs were those where she was able to capture the initial spontaneity of her subject. An ideal shoot was one where she exposed no more than a roll and a half of film often in just 15 minutes.

 

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Michael Hulett