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The photojournalist B. Harris, who passed away aged 73 of cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became among the most esteemed UK documentary photographers of his era.

An International Professional Journey

He journeyed the world as a independent or a employee for Fleet Street publications, documenting such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and across Africa, the consequences of the Falklands conflict and several US presidential campaigns. He also created poetic scenic views of the rural areas around his Essex home.

By his own calculation he shot over 2m photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. He continued posting historical and recent images each day on online platforms up to a short time before his passing, and had been planning to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Memorable Projects

Stories from a rollercoaster career featured an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been employed to cool the body.

His 1983’s images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the tide on Brighton beach were published across multiple columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an exasperated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Career Milestones

He became the Times’ youngest ever staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and worked around the world for nearly a decade, including coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he saw as censorship of his strongest images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was assembled to launch a major newspaper. He played a key role in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for news photography and broadsheet design, in striking images filling multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was named the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe documenting the collapse of communism.

He operated independently after being made redundant in 1999, and significant projects after that included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which led to an display launched in London – where he gave a personal tour to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Early Life and Start

Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later helped his son build a photo lab in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated farther east – and up in the world – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in woodwork and metalwork, before leaving at 16.

At a Fleet Street photo agency, he rose rapidly from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at east London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, remembered his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and brave photographer”, an influence to a cohort of young colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris made contact through a online service with Nikki, whom he had first met as a toddler in primary school, and they became close companions through his final decades. After learning of his illness, they went on a driving tour in Europe, posting sunny images of good meals and good wine, and returning to important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, completed a few weeks before his death, was to transfer his vast archive of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite historical photos he commented on a very young Harris consuming generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, each union concluded with divorce.

He is remembered by Nikki, his son Jacob, from his second marriage, Nikki’s daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.