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The photographer Brian Harris, who passed away at the age of 73 of cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and went on to become among the most esteemed UK photojournalists of his generation.

An International Professional Journey

He journeyed across the globe as a freelance or a staffer 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 throughout Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and four US election 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 images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He kept sharing historical and new images daily on social media until a short time before his passing, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his life and work.

Memorable Projects

Stories from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding 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 employed to cool 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 carried across eight columns of a leading page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an exasperated John Major hitting him with a folded briefing paper.

Career Highlights

He became 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 later stepped down over what he considered editing of his most powerful images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a new newspaper. He played a key role in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for press images and newspaper design, in striking images filling multiple pages. Among many awards, he was named the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe recording the collapse of communism.

He worked as a freelance after being made redundant in 1999, and major projects after that included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which resulted in an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a personal tour to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a moving book, Remembered.

Early Life and Start

Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later assisted him construct a photo lab in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning useful skills in woodwork and metalwork, before departing at 16.

At a Fleet Street photo agency, he quickly advanced from messenger boy to photographer, and began his working life at east London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, remembered his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the initial stages, called him “a superb and fearless photographer”, an influence to a generation of young colleagues. Another associate, a union representative, 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 initially encountered as a toddler in infant school, and they became inseparable partners through his remaining years. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they went on a driving tour in Europe, posting bright images of fine dining and good wine, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, finished a few weeks before his demise, was to transfer his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred historical photos he commented on a youthful 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 married twice, each union ended in divorce.

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