One of Harris’ best known pieces came from when he was invited by NASA to see an early morning shuttle launch in 1985. Harris remembers trying to photograph the moment of liftoff with his camera.

John Robert Harris, 85, longtime Monterey Peninsula performing artist, filmmaker and movie theater owner, died on May 8 at the Community Hospital of the Monterey Peninsula.

PORTRAIT IN RED: A Paris Obsession. By L. John Harris. Heyday Books. 320 pages. $35. Getting carried away by one’s subject can be intoxicating for a writer and involving for the reader, provided ...