The Queen selected Jane Bown to take a photographic portrait at the start of her eightieth birthday year. Bown (a fellow octogenarian) has worked as a professional photographer since the late 1940s. She has been one of the principal contributors to the Observer (the national Sunday newspaper) since December 1949. A large number of her portrait photographs have been acquired by the National Portrait Gallery, London, where an exhibition of her work was held in 1980. In 1995 she was awarded a CBE for her outstanding contribution to photography. Bown is known for her unpretentious technique, working at speed, using only available light, and for working in black and white rather than colour.