  jane bown (born 1925) is a british photographer who has worked for the observer newspaper since 1949. her portraits of famous people have received critical acclaim. == personal life == bown was born in dorset, and first worked as a chart corrector, which included a role in plotting the d-day invasion. she studied photography at guildford college under ifor thomas. she started out as a child portrait photographer, but got a break in 1949 when she met mechthild nawiasky, an observer picture editor, who asked her to photograph the philosopher bertrand russell. bown married martin moss, the fashion retail executive, who died in november 2007. in 1985, she was awarded an mbe and in 1995, she was "upgraded" to the cbe. == professional life == bown works primarily in black-and-white, using available light, and a forty-year-old film camera. she has photographed hundreds of subjects, including orson welles, samuel beckett, sir john betjeman, woody allen, cilla black, quentin crisp, p. j. harvey, john lennon, truman capote, john peel, the gangster charlie richardson, field marshal sir gerald templer, jarvis cocker, bjÃ¶rk, jayne mansfield, diana dors, henri cartier-bresson, eve arnold, evelyn waugh, brassai and margaret thatcher. she took queen elizabeth ii's eightieth birthday portrait. bown's extensive photojournalism output includes series on hop pickers, greenham common evictions, butlin's holiday resort, the british seaside, and in 2002, glastonbury festival. her social documentary and photo journalism was mostly unseen before the release of her book unknown bown 1947-1967 in 2007. in 2007 her work on the greenham common evictions was selected by val williams and susan bright as part of how we are: photographing britain, the first major survey of photography to be held at tate britain. bown was awarded an honorary fellowship of the royal photographic society in 2000.{{cite web| url = http://www.rps.org/awards/awar
1925_births Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire English_photographers Living_people People_from_Dorset Women_photographers