Harry Borden

{{infobox person | birth_place = [[New York City]], U.S | birth_date = 1965 | occupation = Photographer | children = 4 | relatives = [[Nicholas Borden]] (brother)<br/>[[Frances Borden]] (brother) }}

'''Harry Borden''' (born 1965) is a British portrait photographer based in London. His subjects have included celebrities and politicians. Examples of Borden's work are held in the collections of the [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]<ref name="npg-on-business">[http://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/display/2005/harry-borden-on-business.php "Harry Borden on Business"] [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]. Accessed 15 October 2016</ref> and [[National Portrait Gallery, Australia]].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.portrait.gov.au/portraits/1999.8/michael-hutchence|title=Michael Hutchence, 1997|website=National Portrait Gallery collection}}</ref>

==Early life and education== Borden was born in New York and brought up on a farm in Devon.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |date=2017-02-07 |title=Harry Borden: Surviving history |url=https://amateurphotographer.com/technique/interviews/harry-borden-surviving-history/ |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=Amateur Photographer |language=en}}</ref> His father, Charles, was a Jewish American who served in the Marines during [[World War II]],<ref name=":1">{{Cite news |last=Seymour |first=Tom |last2=Borden |first2=Harry |date=2021-03-07 |title='You worry you'll be seen as weak': single dads in their own words – a photo essay |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2021/mar/07/harry-borden-single-dads-in-their-own-words-a-photo-essay |access-date=2025-12-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref> whose parents emigrated to the US from [[Ukraine]] and [[Romania]],<ref>{{Cite web |last=JeremyJeffs |date=2025-08-11 |title=Harry Borden on Portraits, Personal Work & Integrity |url=https://personalwork.online/harry-borden-portrait-photography-interview/ |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=Personal Work |language=en-US}}</ref> and his mother was a British Christian.<ref name=":0" /><ref>[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ej_znLUVtg0 ''I Photographed Louis Theroux - Then He Turned Up At My Office'' / 3:28: "My father was an American, and my mother was English".]</ref> He is the brother of painters [[Nicholas Borden]] and [[Frances Borden]].

The first photograph Borden developed was of his father with a drove of pigs on their farm, taken when Harry was thirteen years old.<ref name=":1" /> He studied photography at Plymouth College of Art and Design (1985–87).

==Career== Borden moved to London after graduation, where he worked as an assistant for [[Lester Bookbinder]]. He received his first commission from ''The Observer'' in 1994. Borden's portraits appeared regularly in this and other Sunday supplements, ''Harpers & Queen'', ''Vogue'' and ''The New Yorker''.

In June 2005, he had his first solo exhibition at the [[National Portrait Gallery, London|National Portrait Gallery]] (NPG) in London.<ref name="npg-on-business" /> ''Harry Borden: On Business'' included 30 portraits of leading business leaders. The NPG holds more than 100 examples of Borden’s work in its photographic collection.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp10699/harry-borden?role=art|title=National Portrait Gallery|work=npg.org.uk}}</ref>

In 2017 his book ''Survivor, A Portrait of the Survivors of the Holocaust'' was published by Octopus.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.octopusbooks.co.uk/books/detail.page?isbn=9781844039562|title = Survivor|date = 29 March 2019|isbn = 9781844039562|last1 = Borden|first1 = Harry| publisher=Octopus }}</ref> The book had been previously shortlisted for the [[European Publishers Award for Photography]] in 2014 and was judged among the 10 best Photography books of 2018 by the [[Kraszna-Krausz Foundation]].<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.kraszna-krausz.org.uk/2017-book-awards/2018-winners/ |title=2018 Awards – the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation |access-date=10 May 2020 |archive-date=23 February 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200223011209/http://www.kraszna-krausz.org.uk/2017-book-awards/2018-winners/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 2021 his second book ''Single Dad'' was published by Hoxton Mini Press.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/single-dad|title=Single Dad }}</ref>

A photo Borden took of comedian [[Bob Mortimer]] was used as the front cover of his 2021 autobiography ''And Away...''.<ref>{{Cite AV media |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hXwwggvTrg |title=I Photographed Bob Mortimer and He Roasted Me In Return |date=2024-09-30 |last=Fred and Harry Borden |access-date=2025-12-22 |via=YouTube}}</ref>

In 2023, Borden and his son Fred set up a YouTube channel in which Harry talks about photographing celebrities and what the process of the photo shoots were like.<ref name=":2">{{Cite web |title=Fred and Harry Borden |url=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3uUuK_UQvteUCXnEHNNG6Q |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=YouTube |language=en}}</ref> The channel has over 40,000 subscribers as of December 2025.<ref name=":2" />

=== Photographs === Borden has taken photographs of many celebrities including: [[Jimmy Savile]], [[Spice Girls]], [[Robin Williams]], [[Barney the dinosaur]], [[Run-DMC]], [[Björk]], [[Margaret Thatcher]], [[Martin Scorsese]], [[Oscar Pistorius]], [[Morgan Freeman]], [[Robbie Williams]], [[Michael Hutchence]], [[Richard Branson]], [[Radiohead]], [[Paul McCartney]], [[Martin Parr]], [[Daniel Radcliffe]], [[Quentin Tarantino]], [[Shane MacGowan]], [[Ant McPartlin]] and [[Declan Donnelly]] ([[Ant & Dec]]), [[Zadie Smith]], [[David Soul]], [[Deborah Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire]], [[Antony Armstrong-Jones, 1st Earl of Snowdon]], [[Gordon Ramsay]], [[Alan Sugar]], [[David Icke]], [[Rupert Grint]], [[Wu-Tang Clan]], [[K.d. lang]], [[Jacob Rees-Mogg]], [[Andrew Cotter]], [[Seal (musician)|Seal]], [[Hillary Clinton]], [[Tom Daley]], [[Kylie Minogue]], [[Lenny Kravitz]], [[Tony Blair]], [[Bob Geldof]], [[Jürgen Klopp]], [[Keir Starmer]], [[Sophie Okonedo]], [[Cocteau Twins]], [[PJ Harvey]], [[Louis Theroux]], [[Paul Daniels]], [[Debbie McGee]], [[Sarah Ferguson]], [[Kate Beckinsale]], [[Isabella Blow]], [[David Bailey]], [[Viggo Mortensen]], [[Manic Street Preachers]], [[Jilly Cooper]], [[Lionel Messi]], [[Giorgio Armani]], [[Nigella Lawson]], [[Diddy]], [[Dermot Morgan]], [[Fara Williams]], [[Mike Skinner (musician)|Mike Skinner]], [[Noel Gallagher]], [[Primal Scream]], [[Brian Wilson]], [[Happy Mondays]], [[Michael O'Leary (politician)|Michael O'Leary]], [[Krzysztof Penderecki]], [[Stephen Merchant]], [[R.E.M.]], [[Charlton Heston]], [[Fontaines D.C.]], [[Kevin Garnett]], [[Marianne Faithfull]], [[Martin Freeman]], [[Daniel Craig]], [[Boris Johnson]], [[Yotam Ottolenghi]], [[Demi Moore]], [[Damon Albarn]], [[Jarvis Cocker]], [[Ice-T]], [[Bob Mortimer]], and [[Dominic West]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Harry Borden {{!}} Portrait Photographer |url=https://www.harryborden.com/famous-people |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=Harry Borden |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2017-09-19 |title=Photo Insight with Harry Borden: Martin Parr |url=https://amateurphotographer.com/technique/photo_insight/harry-borden-martin-parr/ |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=Amateur Photographer |language=en}}</ref>

==Personal life== Borden has four children.<ref>{{cite news|date=14 January 2014|title=How lensman's 'selfie' alarmed PM's protecters|work=Plymouth Herald|url=http://www.plymouthherald.co.uk/lensman-s-selfie-alarmed-pm-s-protecters/story-20439313-detail/story.html}}{{Dead link|date=January 2020|bot=InternetArchiveBot|fix-attempted=yes}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |last=Journal |first=KATHLEEN MORGAN for the RPS |date=2021-05-05 |title=Harry Borden celebrates lone fathers in a moving tribute |url=https://rps.org/news/journal/2020-older/harry-borden-celebrates-lone-fathers-in-a-moving-tribute/ |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=rps.org |language=en-GB}}</ref> Borden married his first wife, Jane, with whom he had three of his children, in 1995,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Journal |first=HARRY BORDEN for the RPS |date=2023-08-16 |title=Harry Borden: ‘It’s always better to live with the truth’ |url=https://rps.org/news/journal/2023/8-august/harry-borden-it-s-always-better-to-live-with-the-truth/ |access-date=2025-12-22 |website=rps.org |language=en-GB}}</ref> but their relationship ended with divorce in 2009; Borden stated that initially, after the divorce he was "absolutely horrendous, completely full of shame, really knocked off my path" but they have since reconciled and have formed a friendship.<ref>{{Cite news |last=Borden |first=Harry |date=2023-08-13 |title=How we break up: an anatomy of divorce |url=https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/aug/13/divorce-people-reflect-on-what-they-lived-through-harry-borden-photographic-essay |access-date=2025-12-22 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}</ref>

==Awards== *1997: [[World Press Photo]] awards<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/1997|title=1997 Photo Contest|website=worldpressphoto.org|accessdate=12 May 2017}}</ref> *1999: World Press Photo awards<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.worldpressphoto.org/collection/photo/1999|title=1999 Photo Contest|website=worldpressphoto.org|accessdate=12 May 2017}}</ref> *1998: John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, [[National Portrait Gallery, London]]{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} *2000: John Kobal Photographic Portrait Award, National Portrait Gallery, London{{citation needed|date=June 2021}} *2014: Honorary Fellowship of the [[Royal Photographic Society]]<ref>[http://www.rps.org/news/2014/september/rps-awards-2014 "RPS Awards 2014"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140911213011/http://www.rps.org/news/2014/september/rps-awards-2014 |date=11 September 2014 }}. [[Royal Photographic Society]]. Accessed 15 October 2016</ref> *2018: Environmental Bursary, 2018 Over 30 Recipient, Royal Photographic Society, Bath<ref>{{cite web|accessdate=2018-12-10|title=The Royal Photographic Society Awards 2018|url=http://www.rps.org/news/2018/november/the-royal-photographic-society-awards-2018|website=www.rps.org|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20181204113432/http://www.rps.org/news/2018/november/the-royal-photographic-society-awards-2018|archive-date=2018-12-04|url-status=dead}}</ref>

==References== {{Reflist}}

==External links== * {{Official website|www.harryborden.com}} * [http://www.npg.org.uk/live/search/person.asp?LinkID=mp10699&role=art Profile] at the National Portrait Gallery, London * [https://www.jpost.com/Home/Article.aspx?id=137973 "Extraordinary people", Jerusalem Post, 2009.]

{{DEFAULTSORT:Borden, Harry}} [[Category:1965 births]] [[Category:Living people]] [[Category:Photographers from London]] [[Category:Alumni of the Plymouth College of Art]]