Burrows began his career in the art department of the Daily Express newspaper in 1942 in London. He learned photography and moved to work in the darkrooms of the Keystone photography agency and Life Magazine. It was here that Burrows started to be called Larry to avoid confusion with another Henry working in the same office. It was not unknown for him to redo a whole day of work in order to secure the best result. Some accounts blame Burrows for melting photographer Robert Capa's D-Day negatives in the drying cabinet, but in fact it was another technician, according to John G. Morris.
Photojournalism
He had an early success with his coverage of the demolition of the HeligolandU-Boat Pens in 1947. Working for the Associated Press, Burrows was a passenger in De Havilland Dragon Rapide. Officially they were supposed to go no closer than 9 miles to the island. However, Burrows persuaded the pilot to fly over at only 500 feet, knocking out the window perspex when it obscured his shot. For his efforts he was able to take eleven images and earned himself two pages in Life Magazine. Burrows would go on to cover stories in Suez, Lebanon, Cyprus and Central Africa.
Burrows went on to become a photographer and covered the war in Vietnam from 1962 until his death in 1971. 'Reaching Out' became one his most famous images. It features US Marine Gunnery Sgt. Jeremiah Purdie, who while wounded, is seen reaching out to a wounded comrade. Life.com editor Ben Cosgrove said of the photograph - 'Reaching Out' was taken on 5 October 1966 after the Marines were ambushed on Mutter's Ridge. However, the image wasn't featured in Life until February 1971 following Burrows' death. One of his most famous images, published first in Life magazine on 16 April 1965, entitled "One Ride with Yankee Papa 13" about a mission on 31 March 1965. Flying in a helicopter with the US Marines' Medium Helicopter Squadron 163, Burrows captured the death of Yankee Papa 3 co-pilot Lieutenant James Magel. At the landing zone Magel was assisted to Yankee Papa 13, once airborne door gunner Lance C. Farley gave first aid. It was to no avail and Burrows captured the Farley's distress at the loss of his comrade. Of the photograph Burrows said - He was described in The Times as an "equipment man" and quotes Burrows as saying, "When I take the lot with me there are twenty-six cases". In early 1971, Burrows' was elected a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society.
Death
Burrows died with fellow photojournalists Henri Huet, Kent Potter and Keisaburo Shimamoto, when their helicopter was shot down over the Ho Chi Minh Trail in Laos as the group covered Operation Lam Son 719. Following his death the Managing Editor of Life, Ralph Graves, said of Burrows - Of his work, Burrows himself said, "I cannot afford the luxury of thinking about what could happen to me". In 1985, the Laurence Miller Gallery in New York published a portfolio of Burrows' prints, with the assistance of his son Russell Burrows. In 2002, Burrows' posthumous book Vietnam was awarded the Prix Nadar award. In 2008 the remains of Burrows and fellow photographers Huet, Potter and Shimamoto were honoured and interred at the Newseum in Washington, D.C.. Journalist David Halberstam paid tribute to Burrows in the 1997 book Requiem: By the Photographers Who Died in Vietnam and Indochina -
