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The photojournalist Brian Harris, who passed away aged 73 of cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and went on to become one of the most respected British documentary photographers of his era.

A Global Career

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a staffer for Fleet Street publications, documenting major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US election campaigns. Additionally, he produced lyrical landscapes of the rural areas around his 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 continued posting archive and new images daily on social media until a few weeks before his passing, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his career and experiences.

Notable Assignments

Stories from a turbulent career featured an expenses-shredding business class flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been used to preserve the body.

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

Career Milestones

He was appointed as the Times’ most youthful staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and worked around the world for almost ten years, including coverage of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down 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 create a new newspaper. He was instrumental in shaping the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for news photography and newspaper design, in striking images covering front and back pages. Among many 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 operated independently after being let go in 1999, and major projects thereafter 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 emotional book, Remembered.

Background 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 mid 1950s, the family relocated farther east – and to a better area – 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 launched his working life at east London local papers before progressing to national publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Other photographers, often scooped by him, recalled his work as remarkable. Nick Turpin, who worked with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and fearless photographer”, an influence to a generation of young colleagues. Tim Dawson, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.

Private World

In 2001 Harris made contact through a online service with Nikki, whom he had first met as a toddler in primary school, and they became close companions through his final decades. After learning of his illness, they went on a road trip in Europe, posting sunny images of good meals and quality drinks, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, completed a short time before his demise, was to transfer his vast archive of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his preferred archive images he commented on a youthful Harris drinking generous servings 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, each union concluded with divorce.

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