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The photojournalist Brian Harris, who has died aged 73 from cancer, left school at 16 to work as a courier, and went on to become among the most esteemed UK photojournalists of his generation.

An International Career

He travelled across the globe as a freelance or a staffer for major British publications, documenting major happenings including the collapse of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and four US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced poetic 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 made that count several years ago. He kept sharing archive and recent images each day on social media until a few weeks before his death, and had been arranging to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Notable Assignments

Tales from a turbulent career featured an costly business class flight in 1991 to reach the funeral in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from sunstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been used to preserve 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 often reprinted as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016’s 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 Highlights

He became the a major newspaper’s youngest ever staff photographer when he started there in 1976, at the age of 26, and worked around the world for almost ten years, including reporting of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he considered censorship of his most powerful images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was assembled to create a new newspaper. He played a key role in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for news photography and broadsheet design, in dramatic images covering multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe documenting the collapse of communism.

He worked as a freelance after being let go in 1999, and major projects after that included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, which led to an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a personal tour to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a moving book, Remembered.

Early Life and Beginnings

Harris was born in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later helped his son build a darkroom in the garage. In the mid 1950s, the family moved eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to Chase Cross secondary modern school, learning useful skills in woodwork and metal crafting, before leaving at 16.

At a central London photo agency, he rose rapidly from delivery boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at east London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Colleagues and Legacy

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as astonishing. A colleague, who collaborated with him in the initial stages, described him as “a superb and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a generation of junior colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, said he “transformed the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris reconnected through a website with Nikki, whom he had first met as a toddler in primary 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, completed a short time before his demise, was to donate his extensive collection of five decades of work to a permanent home. Among his preferred historical photos he commented on a youthful 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 ended in divorce.

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