🔗 Share this article Brian Harris Life Story: A Life Through the Camera The photojournalist B. Harris, who passed away at the age of 73 from cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to become a messenger boy, and eventually became one of the most respected UK documentary photographers of his era. An International Professional Journey He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a employee for Fleet Street publications, documenting such events as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US presidential campaigns. He also created lyrical scenic views of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home. According to his estimates he shot over two million photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He continued posting archive and new images each day on online platforms until a short time before his death, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his life and work. Memorable Projects Tales from a rollercoaster career included an costly premium flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from heatstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been employed to cool the body. His 1983 images of the then Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across eight columns of a leading page, and are regularly reproduced as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an irritated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper. Professional Milestones He became the a major newspaper’s most youthful 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 civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he saw as censorship of his strongest images of starvation in Africa. In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a new newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for press images and newspaper design, in striking images covering 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 documenting the fall of communism. He worked as a freelance after being let go in 1999, and major projects after that included a year spent photographing 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 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered. Early Life and Beginnings 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 mid 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in woodwork and metal crafting, before leaving 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 progressing to national publications. Peers and Impact 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 great and fearless photographer”, an influence to a cohort of young colleagues. Another associate, a union representative, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”. Private World In 2001 Harris made contact through a website with Nikki, whom he had initially encountered as a three-year-old 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 fine dining and good wine, and revisiting 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 long-term repository. Among his preferred archive images he reflected on a youthful Harris consuming generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no remorse and no ‘Must Do’s’”. He was wed 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.