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The photojournalist B. Harris, who has died at the age of 73 of cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became one of the most respected UK photojournalists of his generation.

An International Professional Journey

He journeyed across the globe as a independent or a employee for Fleet Street publications, documenting such events as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and across Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and several US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced lyrical landscapes of the countryside around his Essex home.

According to his estimates he took over two million images, averaging 100 a day, but he made that count several years ago. He kept sharing historical and new images daily on social media until a few weeks before his passing, and had been planning to give a talk on his life and work.

Memorable Assignments

Stories from a rollercoaster career included an costly premium flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been employed to cool the body.

His 1983’s images of the then Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across multiple columns of a leading page, and are regularly reproduced as a hideous example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an irritated John Major hitting him with a folded briefing paper.

Professional Milestones

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 reporting of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he considered editing 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 new newspaper. He played a key role in shaping the style of journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping set new standards for press images and newspaper design, in striking images covering front and back pages. Among numerous awards, he was named the industry-recognised 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 significant projects after that included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which led to an display launched in London – where he gave a personal tour to Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Background and Start

Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later helped his son construct 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 attended a local secondary modern school, learning practical skills in carpentry and metal crafting, before leaving at 16.

At a central London agency, he quickly advanced from delivery boy to photographer, and began his working life at eastern London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Peers and Impact

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as remarkable. A colleague, who worked with him in the initial stages, called him “a superb and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort 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, whom he had first met as a three-year-old in infant school, and they became inseparable partners 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 returning to important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, finished a few weeks before his demise, was to transfer his vast archive of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred archive images he commented on a youthful Harris consuming generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was wed twice, both marriages concluded with divorce.

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