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The photographer B. Harris, who has died aged 73 of cancer, ended his schooling at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected British documentary photographers of his era.

An International Career

He journeyed the world as a freelance or a employee for Fleet Street publications, covering such events as the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the conflict in Northern Ireland, battlefields in the Balkan region and across Africa, the consequences of the Falklands war and several US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced lyrical landscapes of the countryside around his home county of Essex home.

By his own calculation he took over two million photographs, averaging 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He continued posting archive and recent images daily on online platforms up to a short time before his death, and had been planning to give a talk on his career and experiences.

Notable Projects

Tales from a rollercoaster career included an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to reach the funeral in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he fainted from heatstroke and pneumonia and was treated with ice that had been employed to cool the body.

His 1983 images of the then Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, falling into the sea on Brighton beach were carried across eight columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, took the title from an irritated John Major hitting him with a folded briefing paper.

Career Milestones

He became the Times’ most youthful staff photographer when he joined the paper in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based around the world for nearly a decade, including reporting of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he considered editing of his strongest images of famine in Africa.

In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was put together to launch a new newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of editorial photography that the paper became known for, helping raise the bar for press images and broadsheet 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 eastern Europe recording the collapse of communism.

He operated independently after being made redundant in 1999, and significant projects thereafter included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which led to an exhibition launched in London – where he gave a private viewing to the Queen 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 helped his son build a photo lab in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated eastwards – and to a better area – to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to Chase Cross secondary modern school, acquiring practical skills in carpentry and metalwork, before departing at 16.

At a central London photo agency, he rose rapidly from messenger boy to photographer, and began his working life at eastern London local papers before progressing to major publications.

Peers and Legacy

Fellow photographers, often scooped by him, remembered his work as astonishing. A colleague, who worked with him in the early days, described him as “a great and brave photographer”, an inspiration to a generation of young colleagues. Tim Dawson, a union representative, said he “reimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapers’ peak era”.

Private World

In 2001 Harris made contact through a online service 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 embarked on a driving tour in Europe, sharing sunny images of fine dining and good wine, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres.

His last task, finished a short time before his death, was to transfer his extensive collection of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his preferred historical photos he reflected on a very young Harris drinking generous servings of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: “What a fortunate life I’ve had – no remorse 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.