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The photojournalist B. Harris, who has died at the age of 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected British photojournalists of his era.

An International Career

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a staffer for major British titles, covering such events as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war and four US election campaigns. Additionally, he produced poetic landscapes of the rural areas around his Essex home.

By his own calculation he took more than two million images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he made that count several years ago. He kept sharing historical and recent images each day on online platforms up to a few weeks before his death, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his career and experiences.

Notable Projects

Stories from a turbulent career included an expenses-shredding business class flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was treated 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, falling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across eight columns of a leading page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an exasperated John Major hitting him with a folded briefing paper.

Professional Highlights

He became the a major newspaper’s 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 censorship 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 shaping the style of journalistic photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for press images and newspaper design, in striking images covering front and back pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc documenting the fall of communism.

He worked as a freelance after being let go in 1999, and major projects thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which resulted in an display launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a moving book, Remembered.

Background 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 to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended a local secondary modern school, learning useful skills in woodwork and metal crafting, before departing at 16.

At a central London photo agency, he quickly advanced from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at eastern London local papers before moving on to major publications.

Peers and Legacy

Other photographers, often scooped by him, recalled 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. Tim Dawson, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris reconnected through a online service 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 bright images of fine dining and quality drinks, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, finished a few weeks before his demise, was to donate his extensive collection of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred historical photos he reflected on a very young Harris consuming generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a fortunate life I’ve had – no remorse and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was wed 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.