🔗 Share this article Brian Harris Obituary: A Life Through the Lens The photographer B. Harris, who passed away at the age of 73 from cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and eventually became one of the most respected UK photojournalists of his era. An International Professional Journey He journeyed the world as a independent or a staffer for Fleet Street titles, covering such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war and several US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced lyrical landscapes of the countryside around his Essex home. By his own calculation he took more than two million images, averaging 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He kept sharing archive and new images daily on social media until a short time before his death, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his life and work. Memorable Assignments Stories from a turbulent career featured an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to attend the funeral in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from heatstroke 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 published across multiple columns of a leading page, and are regularly reproduced as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an irritated 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 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 internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he considered censorship of his strongest images of famine 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 journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping set new standards for press images and newspaper design, in striking images filling multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc 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 war memorial organisation, which led to 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 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 farther east – and to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring practical skills in woodwork and metal crafting, before leaving at 16. At a central London agency, he rose rapidly from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at east London local papers before moving on to major publications. Peers and Impact Other photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as remarkable. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the initial stages, called him “a great and brave photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort of young colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, said he “transformed the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”. Private World In 2001 Harris reconnected through a online service with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had first met as a three-year-old 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, sharing bright images of good meals and quality drinks, and returning to important sites including Dresden and Ypres. His last task, finished a short time before his death, was to donate his extensive collection of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite historical photos he reflected on a very young Harris drinking large glasses of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no remorse and no ‘Must Do’s’”. He was wed 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.