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The photographer B. Harris, who passed away aged 73 of 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 Professional Journey

He travelled across the globe as a independent or a employee for major British 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 Balkans and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US presidential campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home.

According to his estimates he shot over 2m photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. He kept sharing historical and recent images daily on online platforms up to a short time before his passing, and had been planning to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Memorable Projects

Stories from a turbulent career featured an costly business class flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been employed to cool the body.

His 1983’s images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the tide on Brighton beach were carried across multiple columns of a leading page, and are often reprinted as a hideous example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an irritated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Professional Milestones

He was appointed as the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he started there in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based around the world for almost ten years, including coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he considered censorship of his strongest images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a new newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for press images and newspaper design, in striking images filling front and back pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc recording the fall of communism.

He worked as a freelance after being made redundant in 1999, and major projects after that included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, 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 emotional book, Remembered.

Background and Start

Harris was raised in eastern 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 eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning useful skills in carpentry and metal crafting, before leaving at 16.

At a Fleet Street photo agency, he quickly advanced from delivery boy to photographer, and began his professional career at eastern London local papers before progressing to national publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Other 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 inspiration to a generation of junior colleagues. Another associate, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris reconnected through a website with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had first met as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they embarked on a driving tour in Europe, sharing bright images of good meals and good wine, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, finished a few weeks before his death, was to transfer his extensive collection of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his preferred archive images he reflected on a youthful Harris drinking 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 ended in divorce.

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