John Voos

Introducing colour printing at The Independent

 
Michael Crozier explains how colour was gradually introduced into The Independent so that it wouldn’t come across as too much a shock to readers.

Storyteller: Michael Crozier

Date of Story: October, 1986-1990
Location of Story: St. Petersburg, Florida, U.S.A.
Location: London, UK
Date: 14 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.

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.

Inspired by continental European newspaper photography

 
Brian Harris remembers that before The Independent launched in 1986, co-owner Andreas Whittam Smith aspired to a more continental European visual style. Harris told him that in order to make this happen, photographers must be allowed the freedom to be “journalists who take pictures.”

Storyteller: Brian Harris

Date of Story: August 1986
Location of Story: City Road, London, UK
Location: Outside Cambridge, UK
Date: 6 April, 2016

Inspired by continental European newspaper photography
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.

The St. Mary Axe Bombing

 
Terry Kirby recalls the devestation left by an Irish Republican Army bombing near the Baltic Exchange in London’s financial district, having run there directly from The Independent’s offices less than a mile away.

Storyteller: Terry Kirby

Date of Story: 10 April, 1992
Location of Story: King’s Cross St. Pancras tube station, London, UK
Location: London, UK
Date: 22 March, 2016