🔗 Share this article Brian Harris Obituary: An Existence Behind the Lens The photographer Brian Harris, who passed away aged 73 from cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected UK photojournalists of his generation. A Global Career He travelled the world as a freelance or a employee for major British titles, covering such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkans and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and four US election campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the rural areas around his Essex home. According to his estimates he took over 2m images, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He kept sharing archive and new images daily on social media up to a few weeks before his death, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his life and work. Memorable Assignments Stories from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding 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 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 sea on Brighton beach were published across multiple columns of a leading 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 irritated John Major hitting him with a rolled-up briefing paper. Career 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 nearly a decade, including reporting of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he saw as censorship of his strongest images of famine in Africa. In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was assembled to launch a new newspaper. He played a key role in forming 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 front and back pages. Among many awards, he was named the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe documenting the fall of communism. He operated independently after being made redundant in 1999, and significant projects thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which resulted in an display launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered. Background and Start Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later helped his son build a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, learning practical skills in woodwork and metalwork, before departing at 16. At a central London photo agency, he quickly advanced from delivery boy to photographer, and began his working life at east London local papers before progressing to major publications. Colleagues and Impact Other 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 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’ peak era”. Personal Life In 2001 Harris reconnected through a website with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had first met as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions 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 important sites including Dresden and Ypres. His last task, completed a few weeks before his demise, was to transfer his extensive collection of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred archive images he reflected on a youthful Harris consuming 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, each union concluded with divorce. He is remembered by Nikki, his son Jacob, from his later union, Nikki’s daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.