foreign correspondent

Documenting Berlin Wall fall from a dump truck

Photographer Brian Harris remembers that it wasn’t clear the Berlin Wall would fall and that it took many by surprise. Luckily he was in East Berlin when the moment came, and he describes his long night covering the story as it unfolded.

Storyteller: Brian Harris

Date of Story: October-9 November, 1989
Location of Story: East Berlin, Germany
Location: Outside Cambridge, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

East German border guards hose people climbing the Berlin Wall the night it fell. Photograph by Brian Harris for The Independent © Taken from …and then the Prime Minister hit me… by Brian Harris.
East German border guards hose people climbing the Berlin Wall the night it fell. Photograph by Brian Harris for The Independent © Taken from …and then the Prime Minister hit me… by Brian Harris.
Documenting Berlin Wall fall from a dump truck
In the 1970s Brian Harris worked in the heart of London’s Fleet Street, freelancing for The Sun, The Times, News of the World, the BBC and United Press International, covering everything from IRA bombings to celebrity news, until joining The Times as its youngest ever staff photographer aged twenty-five. When The Independent launched in 1986, Brian became its first staff photographer, playing a key role in forming the renowned Indy style of intelligent editorial photography. In his fourteen years at The Independent Brian travelled the world to cover the stories that defined the era.
 
Since going freelance in 1999, Brian has staged several solo exhibitions, notably at Photofusion Photography Centre, and has contributed to exhibitions organised by the British Press Photographers’ Association. In 2006-7 he collaborated with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on Remembered, a major illustrated book of his photographs and series of international touring exhibitions chronicling the CWGC’s work caring for the graves of over 1.7 million Commonwealth war dead.
 
The BBC has made three short documentaries about his working methods and he has debated live on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze: ‘An experience more terrifying than walking through a minefield on the Falkland Islands.’
 
In the spring of 2016 Brian’s book ‘…and then the Prime Minister hit me…’ a 320 page hard back book of images and essays covering his life’s work. The book is currently being printed and bound in England and will be available from mid-late April 2016.

We missed the moment at Tiananmen

 
Photographer Brian Harris remembers journalist Michael Sheridan telling him about the crackdown against Tiananmen Square protests in early June, 1989 while the two of them were working together in Rome. They set off to China via Hong Kong, but it was difficult to reach Beijing, and despite having some great stories to tell about the trip, Harris struggled to find exceptional photos from the trip as he had largely missed the event itself.

Storyteller: Brian Harris

Date of Story: 5 June, 1989
Location of Story: Beijing, People’s Republic of China
Location: Outside Cambridge, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

We missed the moment at Tiananmen
In the 1970s Brian Harris worked in the heart of London’s Fleet Street, freelancing for The Sun, The Times, News of the World, the BBC and United Press International, covering everything from IRA bombings to celebrity news, until joining The Times as its youngest ever staff photographer aged twenty-five. When The Independent launched in 1986, Brian became its first staff photographer, playing a key role in forming the renowned Indy style of intelligent editorial photography. In his fourteen years at The Independent Brian travelled the world to cover the stories that defined the era.
 
Since going freelance in 1999, Brian has staged several solo exhibitions, notably at Photofusion Photography Centre, and has contributed to exhibitions organised by the British Press Photographers’ Association. In 2006-7 he collaborated with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on Remembered, a major illustrated book of his photographs and series of international touring exhibitions chronicling the CWGC’s work caring for the graves of over 1.7 million Commonwealth war dead.
 
The BBC has made three short documentaries about his working methods and he has debated live on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze: ‘An experience more terrifying than walking through a minefield on the Falkland Islands.’
 
In the spring of 2016 Brian’s book ‘…and then the Prime Minister hit me…’ a 320 page hard back book of images and essays covering his life’s work. The book is currently being printed and bound in England and will be available from mid-late April 2016.

An excuse to walk the Appian Way

 
Photographer Brian Harris traveled across Europe in 1989 to cover the European Parliament elections. While in Italy he walked the Appian Way and covered British politician David Steel’s campaign for the Liberal Democrats in Tuscany.

Storyteller: Brian Harris

Date of Story: late May 1989
Location of Story: Italy
Location: Outside Cambridge, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

An excuse to walk the Appian Way
In the 1970s Brian Harris worked in the heart of London’s Fleet Street, freelancing for The Sun, The Times, News of the World, the BBC and United Press International, covering everything from IRA bombings to celebrity news, until joining The Times as its youngest ever staff photographer aged twenty-five. When The Independent launched in 1986, Brian became its first staff photographer, playing a key role in forming the renowned Indy style of intelligent editorial photography. In his fourteen years at The Independent Brian travelled the world to cover the stories that defined the era.
 
Since going freelance in 1999, Brian has staged several solo exhibitions, notably at Photofusion Photography Centre, and has contributed to exhibitions organised by the British Press Photographers’ Association. In 2006-7 he collaborated with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on Remembered, a major illustrated book of his photographs and series of international touring exhibitions chronicling the CWGC’s work caring for the graves of over 1.7 million Commonwealth war dead.
 
The BBC has made three short documentaries about his working methods and he has debated live on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze: ‘An experience more terrifying than walking through a minefield on the Falkland Islands.’
 
In the spring of 2016 Brian’s book ‘…and then the Prime Minister hit me…’ a 320 page hard back book of images and essays covering his life’s work. The book is currently being printed and bound in England and will be available from mid-late April 2016.

I shot ahead of the story

 
Photographer Brian Harris explains how he would anticipate stories and shoot ahead of an event knowing what the The Independent would need, as well as collecting unrelated stories along the side while working abroad.

Storyteller: Brian Harris

Date of Story: 24 April- 8 May 1988
Location of Story: France
Location: Outside Cambridge, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

I shot ahead of the story
In the 1970s Brian Harris worked in the heart of London’s Fleet Street, freelancing for The Sun, The Times, News of the World, the BBC and United Press International, covering everything from IRA bombings to celebrity news, until joining The Times as its youngest ever staff photographer aged twenty-five. When The Independent launched in 1986, Brian became its first staff photographer, playing a key role in forming the renowned Indy style of intelligent editorial photography. In his fourteen years at The Independent Brian travelled the world to cover the stories that defined the era.
 
Since going freelance in 1999, Brian has staged several solo exhibitions, notably at Photofusion Photography Centre, and has contributed to exhibitions organised by the British Press Photographers’ Association. In 2006-7 he collaborated with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on Remembered, a major illustrated book of his photographs and series of international touring exhibitions chronicling the CWGC’s work caring for the graves of over 1.7 million Commonwealth war dead.
 
The BBC has made three short documentaries about his working methods and he has debated live on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze: ‘An experience more terrifying than walking through a minefield on the Falkland Islands.’
 
In the spring of 2016 Brian’s book ‘…and then the Prime Minister hit me…’ a 320 page hard back book of images and essays covering his life’s work. The book is currently being printed and bound in England and will be available from mid-late April 2016.

Foreign correspondents loved having a photographer

 
Brian Harris describes why foreign correspondents loved working with photographers: because their story was sure to get better placement in the paper. He also talks about how Stephen Glover, the first foreign editor of The Independent, invested heavily in foreign correspondents and let Harris and other staff photographer John Voos divide the world into coverage areas.

Storyteller: Brian Harris

Date of Story: 1986-early 1990s
Location of Story: City Road, London, UK
Location: Outside Cambridge, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

Foreign correspondents loved having a photographer
In the 1970s Brian Harris worked in the heart of London’s Fleet Street, freelancing for The Sun, The Times, News of the World, the BBC and United Press International, covering everything from IRA bombings to celebrity news, until joining The Times as its youngest ever staff photographer aged twenty-five. When The Independent launched in 1986, Brian became its first staff photographer, playing a key role in forming the renowned Indy style of intelligent editorial photography. In his fourteen years at The Independent Brian travelled the world to cover the stories that defined the era.
 
Since going freelance in 1999, Brian has staged several solo exhibitions, notably at Photofusion Photography Centre, and has contributed to exhibitions organised by the British Press Photographers’ Association. In 2006-7 he collaborated with the Commonwealth War Graves Commission on Remembered, a major illustrated book of his photographs and series of international touring exhibitions chronicling the CWGC’s work caring for the graves of over 1.7 million Commonwealth war dead.
 
The BBC has made three short documentaries about his working methods and he has debated live on Radio 4’s The Moral Maze: ‘An experience more terrifying than walking through a minefield on the Falkland Islands.’
 
In the spring of 2016 Brian’s book ‘…and then the Prime Minister hit me…’ a 320 page hard back book of images and essays covering his life’s work. The book is currently being printed and bound in England and will be available from mid-late April 2016.

We gave agency journalists some credit

 
Harvey Morris remembers how The Independent experimented with attributing stories to agency journalists in bylines, a practice unheard of at the time. Other papers imitated this, recognizing they could get preferential treatment from the news agencies, as well as The Independent’s commitment to three full pages of foreign news.

Storyteller: Harvey Morris

Date of Story: October 1986
Location of Story: City Road, London, UK
Location: London, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

Wise investments in foreign news at the beginning

 
Harvey Morris explains that The Independent established a strong foreign news department from the very beginning, making a series of wise personnel investments including taking on poet James Fenton as a foreign correspondent in South Korea.

Storyteller: Harvey Morris

Date of Story: May 1986
Location of Story: City Road, London, UK
Location: London, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016