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The photographer Brian Harris, who passed away at the age of 73 from cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became among the most esteemed UK documentary photographers of his generation.

An International Career

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a staffer for major British titles, covering such events as the collapse of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US election campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the countryside around his home county of Essex home.

According to his estimates he shot more than two million images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He kept sharing historical and recent images daily on social media up to a few weeks before his passing, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his life and work.

Memorable Projects

Stories from a turbulent career included an costly premium flight in 1991 to attend the burial in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed 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 tide on Brighton beach were published across eight 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, was named after an irritated John Major hitting him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Professional Milestones

He became the a major newspaper’s 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 coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down 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 assembled to create a major newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for news photography and broadsheet design, in striking images covering 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 fall of communism.

He operated independently after being let go in 1999, and major projects after that included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which resulted in an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a moving book, Remembered.

Early Life and Start

Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later assisted him construct a darkroom in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family relocated farther east – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, acquiring practical skills in woodwork 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 major publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as astonishing. A colleague, who worked with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and fearless photographer”, an influence to a cohort of junior 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 online service with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had initially encountered as a three-year-old in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his final decades. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they went on a driving tour in Europe, sharing bright images of fine dining and quality drinks, and returning to important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, finished a short time before his demise, was to transfer his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred historical photos he reflected on a youthful Harris consuming large glasses of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a fortunate life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, both marriages concluded with divorce.

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