đ Share this article Esteemed Photographer Brian Harris Life Story: An Existence Through the Camera The photographer B. Harris, who has died aged 73 of cancer, left school at 16 to become a messenger boy, and went on to become among the most esteemed British photojournalists of his era. A Global Career He travelled the world as a independent or a employee for major British titles, covering major happenings including the fall of the Berlin Wall, famine in Ethiopia and Sudan, the Troubles in Northern Ireland, war zones in the Balkan region and throughout Africa, the aftermath of the Falklands conflict and four US presidential campaigns. Additionally, he produced poetic landscapes of the countryside around his home county of Essex home. By his own calculation he took more than two million photographs, taking an average of 100 a day, but he stated that figure several years ago. He continued posting archive and new images daily on social media up to a short time before his passing, and had been arranging to deliver a lecture on his life and work. Memorable Assignments Stories from a turbulent career featured an expenses-shredding premium flight in 1991 to reach the burial in India of the slain politician Rajiv Gandhi, where he collapsed from heatstroke and pneumonia and was cooled down with ice that had been employed to cool the body. His 1983âs images of the then Labour party leader Neil Kinnock with his wife, Glenys, toppling into the tide on Brighton beach were carried across multiple columns of a front page, and are regularly reproduced as a striking example of photo-opportunity hubris. His 2016âs memoir, ... And Then the Prime Minister Hit Me, was named after an irritated John Major striking him with a folded briefing paper. Career Highlights He became the a major newspaperâs most youthful staff photographer when he started there in 1976, at the age of 26, and was based around the world for almost ten years, including coverage of the end of the internal conflict in Rhodesia (now Zimbabwe). He later stepped down over what he saw as editing of his strongest images of famine in Africa. In 1986 Harris became chief photographer as the team was assembled to launch a major 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 newspaper design, in striking images filling front and back pages. Among many awards, he was honoured as the industry-recognised 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 thereafter included a year spent capturing cemeteries across the world in 2006 for the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, which led to an exhibition launched in London â where he gave a personal tour to the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh â and a emotional book, Remembered. Background and Start Harris was raised in eastern London, to Dorothy and Leonard Harris, an electrician who later helped his son build a darkroom in the garage. In the 1950s, the family relocated eastwards â and up in the world â to the Rise Park housing estate in Romford, Essex. Brian went to a local secondary modern school, acquiring useful skills in carpentry and metal crafting, before departing at 16. At a Fleet Street photo agency, he rose rapidly from delivery boy to photographer, and began his working life at eastern London local papers before progressing to national publications. Peers and Impact Fellow photographers, often outpaced by him, remembered his work as astonishing. A colleague, who worked with him in the initial stages, described him as âa superb and brave photographerâ, an influence to a generation of junior colleagues. Another associate, a freelance organiser, 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, whom he had initially encountered as a toddler in primary school, and they became inseparable partners through his final decades. After receiving his terminal diagnosis, they went on a road trip in Europe, sharing sunny images of fine dining and good wine, and revisiting important sites including Dresden and Ypres. His last task, completed a short time before his demise, was to donate his extensive collection of 55 yearsâ work to a permanent home. Among his favourite archive images he reflected on a very young Harris consuming 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 concluded with divorce. He is remembered by Nikki, his son Jacob, from his second marriage, Nikkiâs daughter, Holly, and by his sister, Jan.