Where's Larry?

Every day, I walk to the crossroads of campus: the fountain on Central Mall. There’s so much to photograph. Some students do their homework. Others sit and read. As I sit by the fountain, I overhear conversations that are a whole Taylor Swift song. The sound of the water is relaxing. It’s almost as nice as hearing the waves of the Lake Erie shoreline when I was a newly graduated photojournalist working at The Lorain (Ohio) Journal. I’d watch the big ore boats traveling from Minnesota, and I’d feel I was part of something bigger than myself. 

That’s how I felt when I came to the University of Dayton in 1990. I was joining something well organized and well established. I became a documentarian of campus history. I was witness to the Dayton Peace Accords. I climbed along the scaffolding during the renovation of the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception. I have seen through my lens tens of thousands of Flyers graduate, and I have captured their continued love of UD at Reunion Weekend. 

When I first started working here, UD’s 16th president, Father Raymond Roesch, S.M., was still on campus. I’d sometimes pass him as I made my usual rounds to capture campus life. Father Roesch always kept walking — never saying anything — but if I got a smile, I knew it was going to be a good day. 

There have been many good days, and I’ve loved the freedom to roam and the opportunities to learn.

I’ve been invited into labs and classrooms. I have photographed games and Masses. In the attic of Chaminade Hall, I found a trunk of a Marianist brother whose last assignment brought him to Dayton. I used to love the smell of oil paint and pastels in the Rike Center. It was such an old building and it had its own funk; I used that as my inspiration. 

In the campus newsletter, we had a long-running feature called “Where’s Larry?” I would take a photo, and the campus community would guess where I was. I hope they enjoyed discovering campus through my photos as much as I have. 

Before UD replaced the sandstone steps leading into St. Mary’s Hall, I would look at the worn spots made by countless feet before mine. I would tell myself, if the people who walked across these steps can make it, I can too. 

And I did. It has been the chance of a lifetime. 

CAMPUS IS MY PALETTE

Every day starts the same: I have a story budget. I make a plan. And then everything gets real. Every day is different. Sometimes, the sky above campus is the perfect blue. I get to photograph a moment in time, like when UD won the Pioneer Football League championship in 2001. Or that feeling you had with your friends when you were playing volleyball at Stuart Hall. Sometimes, a haircut can give away the era in a photo taken during move-in. It may seem the same as the day before, but it’s not.

MILESTONES

When I took the job as photographer, I thought I’d shoot some portraits, cover some events. But it’s been so much more, including chronicling major milestones, from presidential candidate Ross Perot (bottom) to civil rights activist Coretta Scott King (left). I was present for the historic Dayton Peace Accords and the dignitaries it brought into town like former Bosnian prime minister Haris Silajdzic (center). And among those greats stand tall some of UD’s own, including professor, poet and performer Herbert Woodward Martin (right). 

FAMILY ALBUM

At UD, there’s a theme of renewal and celebration to be found almost everywhere, from the renovation of the Chapel of the Immaculate Conception to the blessing of the Caldwell Street Apartments. ArtStreet even took on a Stonehenge vibe for me in the morning light. In the end, it’s all about the people — from the moment they step on campus, to their first Christmas on Campus, continuing through graduation and returning at Reunion Weekend. My work is a compilation and an affirmation of UD being a real family. 

Photographs and text by Larry Burgess.