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The photographer 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 British photojournalists of his generation.

An International Professional Journey

He travelled the world as a freelance or a employee for Fleet Street publications, covering 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 across Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and four US presidential campaigns. He also created poetic landscapes of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he took over 2m images, averaging 100 a day, but he stated that figure some years back. He continued posting archive and recent images daily on online platforms up to a few weeks before his passing, and had been planning to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Notable Projects

Stories from a turbulent career included an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to attend 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 used to preserve the body.

His 1983 images of the at that time Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the sea on Brighton beach were published across eight columns of a leading page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an exasperated John Major striking him with a folded briefing paper.

Professional Milestones

He was appointed as the Times’ youngest ever staff photographer when he started there 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 later stepped down over what he considered editing of his strongest images of starvation in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was assembled to launch a new newspaper. He was instrumental in shaping the style of editorial photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for news photography and broadsheet design, in dramatic images filling multiple pages. Among numerous awards, he was named the industry-recognised photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in eastern Europe recording the collapse of communism.

He operated independently after being made redundant in 1999, and significant projects after that included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the war memorial organisation, 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 Beginnings

Harris was raised in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him construct a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and up in the world – to the Rise Park estate in Romford, Essex. Brian attended Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring practical skills in carpentry and metal crafting, before departing at 16.

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

Colleagues and Impact

Other photographers, often outpaced by him, recalled his work as remarkable. A colleague, who worked with him in the early days, described him as “a superb and brave photographer”, an influence to a generation of junior colleagues. Another associate, a freelance organiser, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ last golden age”.

Personal Life

In 2001 Harris reconnected through a website with Nikki, whom he had initially encountered as a three-year-old in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his final decades. After learning of his illness, they embarked on a road trip in Europe, sharing bright images of good meals and good wine, and returning to 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 consuming 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 concluded with divorce.

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