🔗 Share this article Esteemed Photographer Brian Harris Obituary: A Life Behind the Camera The photojournalist B. Harris, who has died at the age of 73 from cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to work as a courier, and eventually became one of the most respected British photojournalists of his generation. An International Professional Journey He journeyed the world as a independent or a employee for Fleet Street titles, covering major happenings including the collapse of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and several US presidential campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the countryside around his Essex home. According to his estimates he shot over two million images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he made that count several years ago. He kept sharing archive and recent images each day 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 Stories from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from heatstroke and pneumonia and was treated 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, falling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across multiple columns of a front 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 exasperated John Major hitting him with a folded briefing paper. Professional Highlights He was appointed as the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and worked around the world for nearly a decade, including coverage of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he considered editing of his most powerful images of famine in Africa. In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was assembled to launch a new newspaper. He was instrumental in shaping the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for news photography and broadsheet design, in dramatic 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 worked as a freelance after being let go in 1999, and significant projects thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which led to an display launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to the Queen 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 technician who later assisted him build a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated farther east – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended a local secondary modern school, learning practical skills in carpentry and metalwork, before departing at 16. At a Fleet Street agency, he quickly advanced from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at east London local papers before moving on to national publications. Colleagues and Legacy Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who worked with him in the initial stages, called him “a great and brave 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 reconnected through a online service with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had first met 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 road trip in Europe, posting bright images of fine dining and quality drinks, and returning to significant sites including Dresden and Ypres. His final project, completed a few weeks before his demise, was to donate his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a permanent home. Among his favourite historical photos he commented on a very young Harris drinking generous servings 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, 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.