Brian Harris Life Story: A Life Through the Camera

The photojournalist B. Harris, who has died aged 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to work as a courier, and went on to become one of the most respected UK photojournalists of his era.

A Global Professional Journey

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a staffer for Fleet Street publications, covering major happenings including 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 several US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced poetic scenic views of the countryside around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he shot over two million images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. He continued posting archive and new images daily on online platforms up to a short time before his death, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his career and experiences.

Memorable Projects

Tales from a turbulent career featured an costly business class flight in 1991 to reach the funeral in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from heatstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been used to preserve the body.

His 1983’s images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across eight columns of a leading page, and are often reprinted as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an exasperated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Professional Highlights

He became the Times’ most youthful staff photographer when he started there in 1976, at the age of 26, and worked around the world for almost ten years, including reporting of the end of the internal conflict 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 put together to create a new newspaper. He was instrumental in shaping the style of journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for news photography and broadsheet 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 eastern Europe recording the collapse of communism.

He operated independently after being made redundant 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 exhibition 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 eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later assisted him construct a photo lab in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated farther east – and up in the world – to the Rise Park housing 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 quickly advanced from delivery boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at eastern London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as remarkable. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the early days, called him “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 made contact through a website with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had first met as a toddler in primary school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they went on a driving tour in Europe, posting sunny images of good meals and quality drinks, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, completed a short time before his demise, was to transfer his extensive collection of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his favourite archive images he commented on a very young Harris drinking 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 married twice, each union ended in divorce.

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