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The photojournalist B. Harris, who has died aged 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected British documentary photographers of his generation.

An International Career

He journeyed the world as a freelance or a employee for Fleet Street titles, covering major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, drought and hunger in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and across Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands war 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 took more than 2m photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he made that count some years back. He continued posting historical and recent images daily on online platforms until a short time before his passing, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his life and work.

Memorable Projects

Tales from a turbulent career included an costly business class flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from sunstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down 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 sea on Brighton beach were carried across multiple columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a hideous example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an exasperated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper.

Professional Milestones

He was appointed as 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 nearly a decade, including coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he considered editing of his most powerful images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was put together to launch a major newspaper. He played a key role in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for news photography and newspaper design, in dramatic images covering multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised 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 major projects thereafter 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 the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh – and a emotional book, Remembered.

Background and Start

Harris was raised in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later helped his son construct 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 attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in woodwork and metalwork, before departing at 16.

At a central London agency, he quickly advanced from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his professional career at eastern London local papers before moving on to national publications.

Colleagues and Legacy

Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who worked with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and fearless photographer”, an inspiration to a cohort of junior colleagues. Another associate, 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 Bertroya, whom he had initially encountered as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After learning of his illness, they embarked on a road trip in Europe, posting sunny images of fine dining and quality drinks, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, finished a few weeks before his death, was to donate his vast archive of 55 years’ work to a permanent home. Among his favourite archive images he reflected on a youthful Harris drinking 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, each union concluded with divorce.

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