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The photojournalist B. Harris, who has died at the age of 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become among the most esteemed UK photojournalists of his era.

A Global Professional Journey

He travelled the world as a independent or a staffer for major British titles, documenting such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and across Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and four US election campaigns. He also created lyrical scenic views of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he shot more than two million photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. He kept sharing historical and new images each day on online platforms up to a few weeks before his passing, and had been planning to give a talk on his life and work.

Notable Assignments

Tales from a turbulent career included an costly premium flight in 1991 to reach the funeral in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from heatstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been employed to cool 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 eight columns of a front page, and are regularly reproduced as a hideous 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 Milestones

He became the Times’ youngest ever 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 later stepped down over what he saw as censorship of his most powerful images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was assembled to launch a new newspaper. He played a key role in shaping the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for press images and newspaper design, in striking images filling multiple pages. Among many awards, he was honoured as the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe documenting the fall of communism.

He worked as a freelance 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 display 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 Start

Harris was raised in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later helped his son construct a photo lab in the garage. In the 1950s, the family moved farther east – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning useful skills in woodwork and metal crafting, before leaving at 16.

At a Fleet Street agency, he quickly advanced from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at eastern London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Peers and Impact

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the initial stages, described him as “a great and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort of junior colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, 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 Bertroya, 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 embarked on a road trip in Europe, sharing bright images of good meals and quality drinks, and returning to significant sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, finished a few weeks before his death, was to donate his extensive collection of 55 years’ work to a permanent home. Among his favourite historical photos he commented on a very young Harris consuming generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a blessed life I’ve had – no regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was wed twice, both marriages concluded with divorce.

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