151/365 Harding Presidential History

05-31-2013

In a brief afternoon ceremony Dr. Burks handed over the keys to the office to Dr. McLarty.  We move from the 4th President in Dr. Burks and the only President I have ever know at Harding to Dr. Mclarty. I am looking forward to working with Dr. McLarty and learning how he likes things and hearing his speeches and watching him lead Harding into the future.

Dr. McLarty, Dr Ganus and Dr. Burks pose for a quick photo in the president's office.  It was fun to hear Dr. Ganus telling the story about Dr. Burks coming in one day several weeks before he became president and he confessed to Dr. Ganus that he didn't want his office to be in the Administration Building.  Dr. Ganus said he could tell that Dr. Burks was not sure how he would feel about him moving the office to a different building.  Dr. Ganus smiled and said "I was so relieved that I wasn't going to have to move my office."

I am thankful that I have known 4 of the 5 Harding Presidents.  I took Dr. Benson's photo for the Petit Jean my freshman year.  Dr. Ganus has been our Care Group Elder at College Church for years. My first real conversation with Dr. Burks was correcting him from calling me the wrong name,  He kept on calling me Leslie (Downs) who was the University Photographer before me.  I was scared to death and he was kind and said he was sorry and he never called me Leslie again.

79/365 Three Presidents and two photographers

3-20-2013

Dr. Clifton L. Ganus,  Dr. Bruce McLarty, and Dr. David B. Burks

Its a historic moment at Harding University.  We are in the process of transitioning from the fourth president to the 5th.  Harding has been an institution of higher learning for 89 years and we have only had 4 presidents.  As the University Photographer, taking this photo of the three presidents is a given.   The outside photos were much better but those are still being held for upcoming publications.

This photo of me shooting the three presidents was taken by my student photographer, Ashel Parsons, using her iPhone 5.  

I always love seeing photos of me working and finding the photo that I was taking at the same moment.

I brought Ashel along to assist on this shoot because having an extra set of hands and eyes is always a good idea.  As you can see, I was using a 7ft parabolic umbrella to light these photos.  Ashel was in charge of hanging on to that light and giant umbrella when we went outside into the wind, not just any wind, National Weather Service wind advisory winds.  She did a great job assisting and I am thankful that she took this photo of me shooting the presidents 

Dr. David B. Burks, Dr. Clifton l. Ganus and Dr. George S. Benson

 We have similar photos from when Dr. Burks became president in 1987.  Then it was Dr. Burks, Dr. Ganus and Dr. Benson out in front of the Administration building.  Those photos were taken by my friend and now Advancement Officer, Ken Bissell.

Photo note:  I gave the photo credit to the wrong person.  My friend and fellow 365 blogger, Mike James, was the photographer for this photo.  Please forgive the error.