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The photographer B. Harris, who has died aged 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and eventually became among the most esteemed UK documentary photographers of his generation.

An International Career

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a employee for Fleet Street publications, documenting major happenings including the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the consequences of the Falklands conflict and four US election campaigns. He also created lyrical scenic views of the countryside around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he shot more than two million photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He continued posting historical and new images each day on social media up to a short time before his death, and had been arranging to give a talk on his life and work.

Notable Projects

Stories from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding business class flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the assassinated leader 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 at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the tide on Brighton beach were published across multiple columns of a leading page, and are regularly reproduced as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an irritated John Major striking 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 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 saw as editing of his strongest images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a major newspaper. He played a key role in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper was famous for, helping set new standards for press images and newspaper design, in striking images covering front and back pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc recording the collapse of communism.

He worked as a freelance after being let go in 1999, and major projects thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which resulted in 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 born in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him construct a darkroom in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning useful skills in carpentry and metal crafting, before departing at 16.

At a Fleet Street photo agency, he quickly advanced from delivery boy to photographer, and began his working life at eastern London local papers before moving on to national publications.

Colleagues and Impact

Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as astonishing. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and brave photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort of junior colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, said he “transformed the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris made contact through a website with Nikki, whom he had initially encountered 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, posting sunny images of good meals and good wine, and returning to important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His final project, completed a short time before his demise, was to transfer his extensive collection of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred 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 regrets and no ‘Must Do’s’”.

He was married twice, each union ended in divorce.

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