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

An International Professional Journey

He travelled the world as a independent or a employee for Fleet Street titles, covering such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkans and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war and several US presidential campaigns. He also created poetic scenic views of the countryside around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he took over two million photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he made that count several years ago. He kept sharing historical and new images each day on social media up to a few weeks before his death, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his career and experiences.

Notable Projects

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

His 1983 images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the sea on Brighton beach were published across eight columns of a front page, and are regularly reproduced as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from 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 was based around the world for almost ten years, including coverage of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he saw as censorship of his strongest images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was put together to launch a new newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for press images and broadsheet design, in striking images filling front and back pages. Among many 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 worked as a freelance after being made redundant in 1999, and major projects after that included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 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 eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later assisted him construct a photo lab in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring practical skills in woodwork and metal crafting, before departing at 16.

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

Peers and Impact

Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as remarkable. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and brave photographer”, an inspiration to a generation of junior colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.

Private World

In 2001 Harris reconnected through a website with Nikki, whom he had first met as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they embarked on a driving tour in Europe, sharing bright images of fine dining and quality drinks, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, finished a short time before his death, was to donate his extensive collection of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his preferred archive images he commented on a youthful Harris consuming large glasses of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no remorse and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, both marriages ended in divorce.

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