Jane was, and is, a very shy person: one of her favourite expressions is, "Photographers should neither be seen nor heard."
- The Guardian

Words of Jane Bown. Brilliant photographer who refused to use artificial lights or make her subjects pose. And hesitantly she believed her pictures told the truth.

Am just starting with photography. something that has persistently lurked in my conscious. i did a short course in photography in 1999 and since then gave in to procrastination. now that there's a camera here's list of things i want to work at - low lights, b&w largely, portraits & obscurity. glad to have come across jane bown therefore. links to her gallery:
gallery 1
gallery 2

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here's an interesting read from David Levi Strauss essay on images & democracy. taken from a blog called (notes on) politics, theory & photography. this is maintained by a blogger called Jim, a political theorist.

essay:
Click Here to Disappear: Thoughts on Images and Democracy

my take: internet may have made information ubiquitous & the user less involved in critical studies. but has it taken away from democracy? i don't think so. it has empowered everybody. as egotistic as it sounds, critical thinking has often been the pleasure of a few. so have we really trenched ourselves from an imaginary history Strauss proposes? still Strauss' essay is well written & often anti-Panglossian (the pro of which he seems to abhor).