Harry Borden


Harry Borden is a British portrait photographer based in London. His subjects have included celebrities Robin Williams, Ewan McGregor, Jamie Oliver, Tony Blair, and Margaret Thatcher. Examples of Borden's work are held in the collections of the National Portrait Gallery, London and National Portrait Gallery, Australia.

Early life and family

Harry Borden is the brother of painters Nicholas Borden and Frances Borden.Born in New York and brought up in Devon, Borden studied photography at Plymouth College of Art and Design. He moved to London shortly afterwards, where he worked as an assistant for Lester Bookbinder. He has four children.
He received his first commission from The Observer in 1994. Borden's profile began to grow as his portraits appeared regularly in this and other Sunday supplements, Harpers & Queen, Vogue and The New Yorker. He was awarded at the National Portrait Gallery Kobal Photographic Portrait Prize.

Life and work

Borden received his first commission from The Observer in 1994. Borden's profile began to grow as his portraits appeared regularly in this and other Sunday supplements, Harpers & Queen, Vogue and The New Yorker. He was awarded at the National Portrait Gallery Kobal Photographic Portrait Prize.
He won prizes at the World Press Photo awards in 1997 and 1999, and was a judge in the contest in 2010 and 2011.
In June 2005, he had his first solo exhibition at the National Portrait Gallery in London. 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.
In 2014, Borden was awarded an Honorary Fellowship of the Royal Photographic Society.
In 2017 his book Survivor, A Portrait of the Survivors of the Holocaust was published by Octopus. The book had been previously short-listed 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.

Awards