Harrington's willingness to go, literally, to the ends of the earth to photograph people rarely seen much less captured on film gives the large body of work both an anthropological as well as a personal character. He chronicled cultural celebrations that no longer exist and penetrated personal and cultural barriers that usually preclude such intimate photography. While widely known for his excursions into isolated Inuit communities, Harrington's travels led him around the world from Greenland, through Portugal, Greece, Albania, Russia, Algeria, Egypt and Polynesia.