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The photojournalist Brian Harris, who passed away at the age of 73 of cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became one of the most respected UK documentary photographers of his era.

A Global Professional Journey

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a employee for major British titles, documenting major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced poetic landscapes of the rural areas around his Essex home.

According to his estimates he shot more than 2m photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he made that count some years back. He continued posting historical and new images each day on social media up to a short time before his death, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his life and work.

Memorable Projects

Tales from a rollercoaster career included an costly premium flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from heatstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been used to preserve the body.

His 1983 images of the then Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling 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 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an irritated John Major striking him with a folded briefing paper.

Career Milestones

He was appointed as the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based around the world for almost ten years, including coverage of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he considered editing of his strongest images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was put together to create a major newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for press images and broadsheet design, in striking images covering multiple pages. Among many awards, he was honoured as 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 capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which led to an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Early Life and Start

Harris was born in eastern 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 eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in carpentry and metalwork, before departing at 16.

At a central London agency, he quickly advanced from delivery boy to photographer, and began his professional career at east London local papers before moving on to national publications.

Peers and Legacy

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as astonishing. A colleague, who worked with him in the early days, called him “a superb and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a generation of junior colleagues. Tim Dawson, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris reconnected through a online service with Nikki, whom he had first met as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they embarked on a driving tour in Europe, posting bright images of fine dining and good wine, and returning to important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, finished a few weeks before his death, was to transfer his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a permanent home. Among his preferred historical photos he reflected on a very young Harris drinking generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a fortunate life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, each union ended in divorce.

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