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The photographer Brian Harris, who passed away aged 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected British photojournalists of his generation.

A Global Professional Journey

He journeyed across the globe as a independent or a employee for Fleet Street titles, documenting such events as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war and four US presidential campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home.

According to his estimates he took over 2m images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he made that count several years ago. He continued posting historical and new images daily on social media until a short time before his death, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his life and work.

Memorable Projects

Tales from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from sunstroke 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, toppling into the tide on Brighton beach were published across eight columns of a leading page, and are regularly reproduced as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an exasperated John Major striking him with a folded briefing paper.

Career Highlights

He was appointed as the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based around the world for nearly a decade, including coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he saw as censorship of his most powerful images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a major newspaper. He was instrumental in shaping the style of journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for press images and broadsheet design, in striking images filling multiple pages. Among many awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc recording the collapse of communism.

He operated independently after being made redundant in 1999, and significant projects after that included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which resulted in an display launched in London – where he gave a personal tour to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Background and Beginnings

Harris was raised in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him build a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family moved farther east – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, learning practical skills in carpentry and metal crafting, before leaving at 16.

At a central London agency, he rose rapidly from delivery boy to photographer, and launched his working life at eastern London local papers before progressing to national publications.

Peers and Impact

Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who worked with him in the initial stages, described him as “a superb and fearless photographer”, an influence to a generation of junior colleagues. Tim Dawson, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined 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 initially encountered as a three-year-old in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his final decades. After learning of his illness, they went on a driving tour in Europe, posting sunny images of good meals and quality drinks, and returning to significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, finished a short time before his death, was to transfer his extensive collection of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite archive images he commented on a youthful Harris consuming large glasses of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a fortunate life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, both marriages ended in divorce.

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