Harris was born in 1908 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. His father and mother had a hotel in the part of the city called the Hill District. Early in the 1930s, he bought his first camera. After that he opened a photography studio. He took pictures for the magazine Flash! From the 1936 to 1975 Harris took photos of those living in the black neighborhoods of the city. Another publication called the "Pittsburgh Courier published his photographs. People called him ""One Shot" because he did not make people sit for a long time when he took their photos. He took more than 80,000 pictures in his life. 