🔗 Share this article Esteemed Photographer Brian Harris Life Story: An Existence Through the Lens The photographer B. Harris, who passed away aged 73 from cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become among the most esteemed British documentary photographers of his generation. An International Career He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a employee for major British titles, documenting major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkans and across Africa, the consequences of the Falklands conflict and four US election campaigns. He also created lyrical scenic views of the countryside around his home county of Essex home. By his own calculation he shot more than 2m images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He kept sharing archive and new images daily on online platforms until a short time before his passing, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his life and work. Memorable Projects Stories from a rollercoaster career included an costly premium flight in 1991 to attend the burial in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was treated 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 tide on Brighton beach were carried across multiple columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an exasperated John Major hitting him with a rolled-up briefing paper. Career Milestones He became the Times’ youngest ever staff photographer when he started there 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 strongest images of starvation in Africa. In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was assembled to create a major newspaper. He played a key role in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for press images and broadsheet design, in striking images filling multiple pages. Among many awards, he was named 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 let go in 1999, and major 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 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered. Early Life and Beginnings Harris was raised in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him construct a darkroom in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning practical skills in woodwork and metalwork, before leaving at 16. At a central London agency, he rose rapidly from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his working life at east London local papers before progressing to national publications. Peers and Impact Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, remembered his work as astonishing. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the early days, described him as “a great and brave photographer”, an influence to a generation of young colleagues. Another associate, a freelance organiser, said he “transformed the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”. Personal Life In 2001 Harris reconnected through a website with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had initially encountered as a toddler in primary school, and they became close companions through his final decades. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they went on a driving tour in Europe, posting bright images of good meals and good wine, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres. His last task, finished a few weeks before his demise, was to donate his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred 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 remorse and no ‘Must Do’s’”. He was wed twice, each union concluded with divorce. He is remembered by Nikki, his son Jacob, from his later union, Nikki’s daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.