The photographer B. Harris, who has died aged 73 from cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected UK photojournalists of his generation.
A Global Professional Journey
He journeyed the world as a freelance or a employee for major British titles, covering major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkans and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war and four US election campaigns. He also created lyrical landscapes of the rural areas around his Essex home.
By his own calculation he took over two million photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. He continued posting archive and new images daily on online platforms up to a few weeks before his death, and had been planning to deliver a lecture on his career and experiences.Notable Projects
Tales from a turbulent career featured an expenses-shredding business class flight in 1991 to attend the burial in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been used to preserve the body.
His 1983’s images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the tide on Brighton beach were carried 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, took the title from an exasperated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper.
Career Milestones
He became the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he started there in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based 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 saw as editing of his most powerful images of starvation in Africa.
In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to create a major newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper became known for, helping set new standards for news photography and newspaper design, in dramatic images covering front and back pages. Among numerous awards, he was named the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe recording the fall of communism.
He operated independently after being let go in 1999, and significant projects after that included a year spent photographing 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 Queen Elizabeth II and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.
Early Life and Beginnings
Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him construct a photo lab in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring practical skills in woodwork and metalwork, before departing at 16.
At a Fleet Street photo agency, he rose rapidly from delivery boy to photographer, and began his professional career at east London local papers before progressing to national publications.
Colleagues and Impact
Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, recalled his work as remarkable. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the early days, called him “a superb and brave photographer”, an influence to a generation of young colleagues. Tim Dawson, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.
Private World
In 2001 Harris made contact through a online service with Nikki, whom he had first met as a three-year-old in infant school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they went on a road trip in Europe, sharing sunny images of fine dining and quality drinks, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.
His final project, finished a few weeks before his death, was to transfer his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite historical photos 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, 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.
