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The photographer B. Harris, who passed away aged 73 from cancer, left school at 16 to work as a courier, and went on to become among the most esteemed UK photojournalists of his generation.

A Global Professional Journey

He journeyed across the globe as a freelance or a staffer for major British 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 Balkans and throughout Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and several US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced lyrical scenic views of the countryside around his Essex home.

According to his estimates he took over 2m photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he made that count some years back. He kept sharing historical and recent images daily on social media up to a few weeks before his death, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his life and work.

Notable Assignments

Tales from a turbulent career included an costly business class flight in 1991 to attend the burial in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from sunstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been employed to cool the body.

His 1983’s images of the then Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the tide on Brighton beach were published across eight columns of a leading page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an exasperated John Major striking him with a folded briefing paper.

Professional Highlights

He was appointed as the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he started there in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based 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 editing of his most powerful images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to create a new newspaper. He played a key role in shaping the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for press images and broadsheet design, in dramatic images filling multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe recording the fall of communism.

He operated independently after being let go in 1999, and significant projects thereafter included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which resulted in an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Background and Start

Harris was raised in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him build a darkroom in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended a local secondary modern school, learning practical skills in carpentry and metalwork, before departing at 16.

At a central London photo agency, he rose rapidly from delivery boy to photographer, and launched his working life at eastern London local papers before moving on to national publications.

Peers and Impact

Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, remembered his work as remarkable. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort of junior colleagues. Another associate, a union representative, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris made contact through a website with Nikki, whom he had first met as a toddler in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his final decades. After learning of his illness, they embarked on a driving tour in Europe, posting sunny images of fine dining and good wine, and returning to significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, completed a short time before his death, was to donate his extensive collection of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite archive images he commented on a youthful Harris drinking 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, both marriages concluded with divorce.

He is survived by Nikki, his son Jacob, from his later union, Nikki’s daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.