Meet Kevin Mattingly: Photographing NOVA events for 24 years!
Most people know Kevin Mattingly. He’s the soft spoken but super friendly guy who has one of the coolest jobs at the College. He has been College photographer since 1998. He has been photographing at NOVA full time for 15 years and part time for 5 years before that.
Mattingly started at NOVA as a student in 1978 and took pictures of College events. He was able to leverage his student experience and land an internship at the General Accounting Office as a photographer and assistant dark room tech. He says he remembers his boss encouraging him to learn as much as he could about the business in a place where he had unfettered access to so much equipment, a dark room and a studio to really learn the trade.
He came back to NOVA in 1988 to study theater and stopped by to say hello to his former colleagues in what was then Public Relations. His timing was good because they happened to have a part-time photographer position available, and they asked him if he was interested. He took that, and it eventually worked itself into a full-time position.
Looking back, Mattingly has photographed for NOVA events featuring governors, senators and even U.S. presidents. He has photographed local officials like Gerry Connolly and Sharon Bulova; former governors Mark Warner, Terry McAuliffe and Tim Kaine and current governor Ralph Northam; also President George W. Bush and President Barak Obama, as well as Former Presidential Candidate Hillary Clinton when she and her VP Candidate Tim Kaine visited NOVA. He covered events featuring Brian Lamb, president and founder of CSPAN and Lieutenant Colonel Hiram E. Mann, a Tuskegee Airman and fighter pilot. Recently, Mattingly had several photos that he took of NOVA English Professor and First Lady hopeful Jill Biden, that were featured at the Democratic National Convention. If it’s a NOVA event or involving NOVA leadership, Mattingly is usually there.
He also takes pictures on his own and has been the photographer for a Ronald Reagan fundraiser at the D.C. Convention Center and at the John Hinckley, Jr. trial. In fact, one of his photos of John Hinckley’s parents returning to the courthouse to hear the verdict was picked up by U.S. News & World Report. Mattingly photographed the Senate hearings on the colorization of black-and-white films in May 1987. He has covered every kind of protest and the dedication of the Vietnam Wall.
When asked what are some of the coolest things he has done as NOVA photographer, his answers are the geology field trip and geology boat trip and the field trip to the U.S. Supreme Court. He also said that when James Carville was teaching at NOVA, and he invited then Governor Tim Kaine to his class, that ranked toward the top.
And when asked what he likes best about being College photographer, he says doing portraits and events, meeting people, doing photo essays and photographing commencement, which he was sorry was cancelled this year due to COVID-19. He has shot 22 years of commencements. “I feel bad for the students and their families,” he said.
A few weeks ago when he was asked by the NOVA President’s Office to find photos across the years of retiring VP of IT, Steve Sachs, Mattingly found himself reminiscing about the many people he has met at NOVA—those that are still here and those who have left.
