đ Share this article Brian Harris Obituary: A Life Behind the Camera The photojournalist B. Harris, who passed away aged 73 from cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become one of the most respected UK photojournalists of his era. An International Career He journeyed the world as a independent or a staffer for major British titles, documenting such events as 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 conflict and four US election campaigns. He also created lyrical scenic views of the rural areas around his home county of Essex home. According to his estimates he shot more than 2m images, averaging 100 a day, but he made that count some years back. He continued posting archive and recent images daily on social media until a short time before his passing, and had been arranging to give a talk on his career and experiences. Notable Assignments Tales from a turbulent career featured an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to reach the funeral in India of the assassinated leader Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from sunstroke 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, toppling into the tide on Brighton beach were published across multiple columns of a front page, and are often reprinted as a striking example of staged photo hubris. His 2016 memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an irritated John Major striking him with a rolled-up briefing paper. Professional Highlights He was appointed as the a major newspaperâs youngest ever 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 coverage of the end of the civil war in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He eventually resigned over what he saw as censorship of his most powerful images of famine in Africa. In 1986 Harris was made head photographer as the team was assembled to create a new newspaper. He was instrumental in forming the style of journalistic photography that the paper was famous for, helping raise the bar for news photography and broadsheet design, in striking images filling front and back pages. Among many awards, he was named the What the Papers Say photographer of the year in 1990 for his work in the former Eastern Bloc documenting the collapse of communism. He worked as a freelance after being let go in 1999, and major projects thereafter included a year spent photographing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which resulted in an exhibition launched in London â where he gave a private viewing to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh â and a emotional book, Remembered. Background and Start Harris was born in east London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an technician who later assisted him build a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated farther east â and to a better area â to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in carpentry and metalwork, before leaving at 16. At a central London agency, he rose rapidly from messenger boy to photographer, and launched his working life at eastern London local papers before progressing to national publications. Colleagues and Impact Other photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as astonishing. Nick Turpin, who collaborated with him in the early days, called him âa superb and brave photographerâ, an inspiration to a cohort of young colleagues. Another associate, a union representative, said he âreimagined the possibilities of news photography during newspapersâ last golden ageâ. Personal Life In 2001 Harris made contact through a online service with Nikki Bertroya, whom he had initially encountered as a toddler in infant school, and they became close companions through his remaining years. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they embarked on a road trip in Europe, sharing sunny images of fine dining and good wine, and revisiting significant sites including Dresden and Ypres. His final project, finished a few weeks before his demise, was to donate his extensive collection of five decades of work to a long-term repository. Among his favourite historical photos he commented on a youthful Harris drinking large glasses of wine with the actor Helen Mirren: âWhat a blessed life Iâve had â no remorse and no âMust Doâsââ. He was married twice, each union ended in divorce. He is survived by Nikki, his son Jacob, from his later union, Nikkiâs daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.