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The photojournalist B. 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 one of the most respected British documentary photographers of his generation.

A Global Career

He travelled across the globe as a independent or a staffer for Fleet Street titles, covering major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkans and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US presidential campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the rural areas around his Essex home.

By his own calculation he took over 2m photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He continued posting historical and recent images daily on online platforms until a few weeks before his passing, and had been arranging to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Notable Assignments

Tales from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding business class flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from heatstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been used to preserve the body.

His 1983’s images of the at that time 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 often reprinted as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an exasperated John Major hitting him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Career Highlights

He was appointed as 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 considered editing 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 played a key role in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for press images and newspaper design, in dramatic images covering multiple pages. Among numerous 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 thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, 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 moving book, Remembered.

Early Life and Beginnings

Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later helped his son construct a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning useful skills in woodwork and metalwork, before departing at 16.

At a central London agency, he rose rapidly from messenger boy to photographer, and began his working life at eastern London local papers before moving on to major publications.

Peers and Legacy

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as remarkable. A colleague, who worked with him in the early days, called him “a superb and fearless photographer”, an influence to a generation of young colleagues. Tim Dawson, a freelance organiser, said he “transformed the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris made contact through a website with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had initially encountered as a toddler in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they embarked on a driving tour in Europe, sharing sunny images of good meals and good wine, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, completed a few weeks before his death, was to donate his extensive collection of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite historical photos he commented on a very young Harris drinking large glasses of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, each union concluded with divorce.

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