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The photographer B. Harris, who passed away at the age of 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became one of the most respected British photojournalists of his generation.

An International Professional Journey

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a employee for major British publications, documenting such events as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkans and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and four US election campaigns. He also created poetic landscapes of the rural areas around his Essex home.

By his own calculation he took over 2m photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he made that count some years back. He continued posting archive and recent images each day on social media until a short time before his passing, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his career and experiences.

Memorable Assignments

Tales from a rollercoaster career included an costly business class flight in 1991 to reach 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 used to preserve the body.

His 1983’s images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across eight columns of a front page, and are regularly reproduced as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an irritated John Major hitting him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Professional Milestones

He was appointed as the Times’ most youthful staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and worked around the world for almost ten years, including coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he considered editing of his most powerful images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was assembled to create a major newspaper. He played a key role in shaping the style of journalistic photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for press images and broadsheet design, in dramatic images covering multiple pages. Among many awards, he was named the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc recording the fall of communism.

He worked as a freelance 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 exhibition launched in London – where he gave a personal tour to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Early Life and Start

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

At a central London photo agency, he quickly advanced from messenger boy to photographer, and began his working life at eastern London local papers before progressing to national publications.

Peers and Impact

Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, recalled his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the initial stages, called him “a great and brave photographer”, an influence 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 online service with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had initially encountered as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions through his final decades. After learning of his illness, they went on a driving tour in Europe, posting bright images of good meals and quality drinks, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, finished a short time before his demise, was to donate his extensive collection of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his preferred 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, 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.