Scattered in a few rooms of Old Main, one man has generated his own 30-year pictorial history of Marshall University. The record lays in boxes of old negatives, photographs and stacks of digital media.
Among only a fraction of those photographs and cameras, Rick Haye, Marshall University Communications photographer, is often found sitting behind a screen tweaking shots of the latest campus activities.
Haye said he came to Marshall with every intention of becoming a history teacher. The time he spent in the darkroom of Smith Hall set the course of the rest of his life. The darkroom is not only where he decided his career, but also where he chose his wife, Marilyn Haye.
"He is just a wonderful man," Marilyn Haye said. "All he talks about is photography 24-hours a day. I like to shoot things with him too. Even our daughter has gotten into it. It really is a family thing."
After graduation, Haye spent time working as a writer and photographer for the Coal Valley News in Boone County, W.Va. He said that is where a lot of his photographic style was derived.
"I don't like forced shots," Rick Haye said. "I want the shot to capture to the moment that is happening and lot of that comes from my journalistic background. I am just not interested in the shots of people posing for camera-it's just not real."
Haye said most of his study in the world of recording light came from real world photography experience.
"I worked with two of the Marshall yearbooks and The Parthenon," Rick Haye said. "That's how we learned; we just went out and shot what was going on. There were several photographers and we just all swapped tips on how to shoot different things. I am really proud of the work we did back then."
Rick Haye is often seen behind his camera shooting everything from ribbon cuttings to Marshall football. Two years ago, he played a role in "We Are Marshall" as a photographer.
"It was great," Rick Haye said. "I had the same camera they were using from back in the days I shot film."
Meeting people is an inevitable part of being a photographer and Rick Haye said he has met plenty. He has shot everyone from NFL players to politicians to famous actors and actresses.
"I have been able to meet every West Virginia governor since Rockefeller," Rick Haye said. "I even met the actor Leslie Nielsen."
The Marshall photographer said he also enjoys just shooting community events with his wife and helping out with his church in Milton.
Throughout the past couple of years, Dave Wellman, the director of communications has moved into an office with Rick Haye usually only a few feet away. He said working with him has been a unique experience.
"He is just an outstanding photographer," Wellman said. "I mean, you see his stuff everywhere around Huntington. He gets requests around the world for his work."
Rick Haye's eyes lit up when he talked about one of his favorite experiences as a photographer.
"The school of medicine asked me to shoot some stuff for a slideshow of an open heart surgery," Rick Haye said. "I was in the operating room standing over this guy while they had his chest cavity wide open. I shot straight down in there. It was just an amazing experience that I may have never had the opportunity to experience."
Wellman said one of the most impressive things about the Marshall photographer is, with the exception of a few student assistants, he shoots nearly all of the events at Marshall.
"Most schools have several photographers," Wellman said. "But here, Rick does it all. He can shoot anything. He has come to be able to do anything and do it well here."
Wellman and Rick Haye take lunch together, where Wellman said he has learned a lot about the photographer away from the camera.
"He loves to watch these old sci-fi movies," Wellman said. "He was trying to get me to watch one the other day; I think it was called the Teenage Strangler, made in Huntington. He also loves Andy Griffith, the Beatles and the Simpsons."
Marilyn Haye said she still doesn't like to have her picture taken. She said their daughter hates it even more.
"I don't think anyone ever really gets used to it," Marilyn Haye said. "We do really enjoy working with each other though, and we both love shooting the football games."
Wellman said Rick Haye has more than just the talent of a skilled photographer, but also a skilled eye.
"He can hand me the camera with the same settings and we could shoot with the same settings," Wellman said. "But Rick just knows exactly how to make the shot perfect."
Rick Haye said that one day he would like to bring all of his work together. Wellman said he would love to see the past 30 years of Marshall through the eyes of one man.
"He has such a breadth of work, it really should be published," Wellman said. "It is a comprehensive look at Marshall's past 30 years. We have been so lucky to have him."
The eyes behind most of Marshall's most prominent photographs lit up again at the idea of his work being pulled together into a cohesive work, but he seemed reluctant.
"There is so much to go through, it would take a very long time," Rick Haye said. "I would like to do something like that one day."
Taylor Kuykendall can be contacted at kuykendall@marshall.edu.
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