Since he first arrived at Notre Dame as a freshman in 1990, University photographer Matt Cashore has been photographing Notre Dame’s campus. Cashore has been a full-time employee at the University since 2007 and is also a major contributor to Notre Dame Magazine.
“I’ve been around for two re-gildings and two presidential inaugurations (so far),” Cashore noted in an interview with The Observer.
His love of photography began in high school when he had to take a photography class to fulfill his fine arts requirement. As a part of his high school newspaper, Cashore had been fascinated by the dark room in the back of the newspaper office.
“You get the trifecta of checking off the requirement, finding out what that room in the corner of the newspaper office is all about and maybe taking some pictures for the newspaper in addition to writing stories,” Cashore said.
Beginning college, Cashore knew he wanted to study photography and majored in Communications and Theatre (now titled Film, Television and Theatre).
Cashore got his start as a photographer for the yearbook his first year at Notre Dame. His cousin was the editor of the yearbook, and as Cashore puts it, he had already “applied in secret.”
“I arrived as a freshman, and she recruited me right away to be on the yearbook. So, the first thing I shot as my first assignment for publication was my own freshman orientation,” Cashore said.
Cashore said he mostly stuck to the yearbook, but also contributed to The Observer and Scholastic.
Even though Cashore become involved as a student photographer, he said he never imagined he would stay at Notre Dame as a university photographer.
“Well, oddly enough, it was because I was not good enough to get a job in a newspaper,” Cashore joked.
Bruce Harlan, who had been the University photographer at Notre Dame for more than 40 years, retired when Cashore was a student, so the University was looking to fill the position.
“Being around and having a little bit of skill at a time when they needed a little bit more help was perfect timing. Simply making a picture that was in focus and properly exposed was not terribly easy, so it took some practice and some skill to be able to just make a picture,” Cashore said.
Currently, as a university photographer, Cashore aims to capture all aspects of Notre Dame from spiritual and student life to sporting events and research.
“The great thing about being a university photographer is that you’re a generalist, which means you don’t do only one thing. I do some sports photography, but that is not all. It’s a little bit of everything,” Cashore said.
One of the less glamorous aspects of the job is taking faculty headshots.
“It’s not a very exciting part of the job, but you get to talk to people. You get to meet people and to learn a little about them,” Cashore said.
Other than just taking photos, Cashore has worked to build Notre Dame’s photo archives to make photos easily accessible so they can be useful to others down the road. He described it as the aspect of his job he is the most proud of.
As a part of the job description, Cashore has been able to travel to photograph Notre Dame’s presence all over the world, including to Jerusalem, Havana, Kolkata and Hong Kong.
“I went out to an aircraft carrier out off the east coast for an overnight on the aircraft carrier for a story for the magazine. That was a bucket list item,” Cashore said.
Some of his favorite projects include the various books he has contributed to, including “The Chapels of Notre Dame” and “Notre Dame’s Happy Returns.” “Notre Dame’s Happy Returns” depicts the 2012 Notre Dame vs. Navy game in Dublin.
“I look back on this, and I think, ‘yeah, I’m really proud of what we were able to do in a really, really tight time frame.’ And we turned it around right away, too. The game was in early September. This was ready to be a Christmas gift that same year. Book projects do not get turned around that fast,” Cashore said.
In 2020, Cashore started another project featuring a photo of the campus each day for 150 days when campus was closed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Cashore said he received many comments from viewers saying that his photos had allowed them to feel connected to campus during a time when they could not physically be there.
“It was so meaningful to know that what I had hoped to do came through,” Cashore said.
In his long career as a photographer, he considers one of his “biggest fails” to be not getting a picture of Taylor Swift.
“Taylor Swift was on campus for a football game. She wasn’t what she is now. Now she would have this entourage. But there she was three feet away from me. It didn’t occur to me to take a picture, because I didn’t particularly know who she was,” he said.
Even though his job has led him to cross paths with famous people, one of his favorite experiences was the 2009 commencement speech. During the speech, he was in the same room as both University President Fr. Theodore Hesburgh and former President Barack Obama.
Reflecting on his long experience as a photographer, Cashore gave his advice to anyone aspiring to be a future photographer.
“An extraordinary picture requires being there at the right time, which is usually some unbelievable time, like dawn or sunset. So, get up early,” Cashore said.
