219 Through Jeff’s Lens Q: How long have you been at Harding? A: I started at Harding in August of 1991. Q: How did you get this job as a photographer at Harding? A: I worked for Stu Pubs. I worked for the Petit Jean, and I worked – for back in the day UCM was called public relations – and I was a student worker in public relations as well. The photographer was Leslie Downs, and he was leaving, and David Crouch said, ‘Why don’t you take a gap year – I know you’re about to graduate – take a gap year and wait for MFT to start so work a year and go to school part time and work part time’. And so I decided to do it, and that’s when I became the Harding photographer. And when it was time to go to school, MFT had so much demand they wouldn’t take part time students, so I had to decide – and I was really having a lot of fun being a photographer; I was really enjoying it. So I stayed being a photographer, that’s how I got this job. Q: What does an average day as Jeff Montgomery look like? A: Average day as Jeff Montgomery is the best part of my job because the average day is who knows what’s happening today. Today I’ve been sorting through photos all morning. I taught class at 11:30. I came back, and a magazine in Little Rock is doing a feature on Christmas in Searcy and needed Christmas light photos from the campus. So I researched all of that, and then now I am back to sorting through photos of Homecoming weekend. And then I am going to shoot a basketball game tonight. This morning, early, I shot the art department coffee gallery event. So that’s the great thing about my job - it’s very random. It can be anything - it could be really slow, it could be crazy busy and things just pop up all of a sudden that need attention, and it’s good, I like the variety. Q: In your 33 years here, what has been a most memorable event, or a favorite photo? In your time here, what was an event that you haven’t forgotten – that has stuck with you? A: No doubt about it the transition from Dr. Burks to Dr. McLarty. In more recent times we have transitioned presidents again - but that was historic. Going from the fourth to the fifth Harding president, that was awesome. There are other cool events. The McInteer building dedication - that was a massive undertaking. All of a sudden that day I realized, ‘Whoa, this is not a burning of the mortgage moment but it’s a historic moment like that’. A significant moment in the history of the University – we’re naming a building after a major character in the Harding community and covering that and knowing the idea of whatever we show is what is going to be remembered. If you go back and look at 1994 at the McInteer dedication, what you know about is the photos we took that day and the stories that were written in the magazine, Petit Jean and Bison. That’s all anybody is ever going to know about that going forward. And that’s exciting; sometimes it’s a little nerve wracking. But it’s exciting to be a part of doing that kind of thing. I mean, my goodness, meeting U.S. presidents, Margaret Thatcher, those are all big time, big league fun things, but for sure for sure in Harding’s history, probably the most significant thing I’ll ever do is covering the transition from Dr. Burks to Dr. McLarty. Centennial is pretty big too. Q: What is your favorite part about your job? A: We are sitting in my office right now, but I often say the campus is my office because I work all over the place and that is a great privilege. I mean I work in athletics, I work in academics, I work with administration, food service . . . I mean every area of campus I can interact with. And that’s exciting. You know to walk into a classroom and take pictures of a class going on to watching the Bisons hopefully go 11-0 Saturday. When you go out on photo assignments it’s exciting, things are happening – and that’s what’s fun, you are out there. And I am a photographer. Like I pinch myself sometimes when I say that. ‘Is that really real? Yes it’s really real.’ I really do get to be a photographer every day and man what a gift that is to be able to go out with a camera and interact with a community like Harding, that is so wonderful, and tell the stories. What’s not to like about that job? Q: How do you think your job helps to tell the story of Harding’s past, present and future? A: Clearly from the past all the photos I have taken are telling the story. I’ve been telling the story since I worked here. There’s a national organization of university photographers, and their motto is ‘We capture the visual history of higher education.’ So that’s what we’re doing. So in the past it’s we’ve told the story and the archiving and things that you do in the present makes it meaningful when you go looking in the past. So things that I do, keywording and things like that, take a lot of time, and people don’t think about necessarily. That’s things happening in the present that will help us in the future find the past. Q: On the topic of changing presidents from Burks to McLarty, what about that time was so monumental? Describe the shifts that were taking place - in the student body, faculty, Harding policy, board, etc. A: It was so monumental because we had had Dr. Burks for so long, and the Board was taking a year to do a search for the next president. What would that look like? What would change? Who would it be? How would Harding look in the future? All exciting things to consider. I missed the GanusBurks transition by one year, so I had only ever known Harding as a Dr. Burks school. Q: What would Jeff in college say to Jeff now? What would Jeff now say to Jeff in college? A: I am not sure what Jeff in college would say to Jeff now. Jeff in college would be excited for the Jeff of the future because he actually was able to make a career out of photography. Current Jeff would tell Jeff in college to probably study a little more and definitely to be more involved in campus activities, not just covering things with a camera, but to spend more time with friends and definitely to go to HUF and maybe take some art classes. Q: Thinking about the Centennial year, if someone is looking through your photos at the Bicentennial, what would you like them to see/know? A: I would like them to see that students love the school, and that alumni love the school, and that the original mission of the school is still strong. I would also want them to see that we really do have the best students, faculty, staff, administration and Board of Trustees, and we are working hard to keep Harding strong and faithful to its mission.
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