🔗 Share this article Esteemed Photographer Brian Harris Life Story: An Existence Behind the Camera The photographer Brian Harris, who has died at the age of 73 from cancer, left school at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became among the most esteemed British documentary photographers of his era. A Global Career He travelled the world as a independent or a employee for Fleet Street titles, documenting major happenings including the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger 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 election campaigns. Additionally, he produced poetic scenic views of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home. By his own calculation he took over two million images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. 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 life and work. Notable Projects Tales from a turbulent career included an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to attend the burial in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from heatstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been used to preserve the body. His 1983 images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the sea on Brighton beach were published across multiple columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an exasperated John Major hitting him with a folded briefing paper. Career Highlights He was appointed as the a major newspaper’s most youthful 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 eventually resigned over what he saw as editing of his most powerful images of famine in Africa. In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a major newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for news photography and broadsheet design, in dramatic images covering multiple pages. Among many awards, he was named the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe documenting the fall of communism. He operated independently after being let go in 1999, and significant projects thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which led to 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 raised in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later helped his son construct a darkroom in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended a local secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in carpentry and metalwork, before leaving at 16. At a Fleet Street photo agency, he rose rapidly from delivery boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at eastern London local papers before progressing to national publications. Colleagues and Legacy Other photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the early days, called him “a superb and brave photographer”, an influence to a generation of young colleagues. Another associate, 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, whom he had initially encountered as a three-year-old in infant school, and they became inseparable partners through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they went on a road trip in Europe, sharing bright images of fine dining and good wine, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres. His final project, finished a short time before his death, was to transfer his extensive collection of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his preferred historical photos he reflected on a youthful Harris consuming 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 later union, Nikki’s daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.