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The photojournalist 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 documentary photographers of his era.

An International Professional Journey

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a employee for Fleet Street titles, documenting such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkans and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war and four US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced lyrical scenic views of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he shot more than 2m photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he made that count some years back. He kept sharing archive and new images daily on social media until a few weeks before his passing, and had been arranging to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Notable Assignments

Stories from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from sunstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down 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 published across eight columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an irritated John Major striking him with a folded briefing paper.

Career Milestones

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 reporting of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he considered censorship of his strongest images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was assembled 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 news photography and newspaper design, in dramatic images filling multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised 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 significant projects thereafter included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which led to an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Background and Start

Harris was born in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him build a photo lab in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in carpentry and metalwork, before leaving at 16.

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

Peers and Impact

Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, remembered his work as remarkable. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the initial stages, described him as “a great and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort of junior colleagues. Another associate, a freelance organiser, said he “transformed the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Private World

In 2001 Harris made contact through a online service with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had first met as a toddler in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his remaining years. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they went on a road trip in Europe, sharing sunny images of fine dining and quality drinks, and returning to significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, completed a few weeks before his death, was to transfer his vast archive of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred archive images he reflected on a very young Harris consuming large glasses 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 second marriage, Nikki’s daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.