A photographer from the "old school"....
   Remembering "Uncle Carl"
   By Murray Montgomery

   At the early age of 18, I acquired a passion for the art of photography. My uncle, Carl Montgomery, had been a successful photographer in Austin, Texas, for over 40 years and I wanted to be just like "Uncle Carl."

I remember that I always had aspirations of being a photojournalist mainly because I enjoyed journalism and it was one subject where, unlike math, I made good grades. So, I went to work in a small studio in Angleton, Texas, learning how to make black and white prints in the darkroom. I also was taught, much to my dismay, how to sweep up the place.

One of the many things that Uncle Carl said has stuck with me throughout my photography career. "Never think that expensive equipment will make you a good shooter,” he said. "I could give you the most expensive Nikon on the market, and I could take a cheap Kodak Brownie and still out-shoot you."

Although his words sort of offended me at the time, I soon realized that he was right. He taught me to obtain knowledge first and then go buy the good equipment. I took his words as gospel and spent most of my money on books, lots of film, and various courses in photography.

Carl Montgomery (deceased) was the oldest of four children born to Carl (Sr.) and Alma Montgomery at Austin, Texas.

  Uncle Carl was from the "old school" of photographers. He was self-taught. When he started his career in the 1930s, he didn't even own a car. My dad tells of seeing him catch a city bus from their home in east Austin to go shoot a wedding. That in itself was no easy task.

Back in those days wedding photographers worked with the bulky 4x5 and 5x7 view

 cameras. These monsters used sheet film and had to be reloaded after every shot — there were no 36-exposure rolls or motor drives in those days. They mounted the bellows-type cameras on heavy wooden tripods. And Carl had to lug all of this hefty equipment as he rode a bus to the job.

Back in the 1930s through the 1970s, Carl Montgomery was among the top wedding and portrait photographers in Austin, Texas. He began his career working for a large studio and then started his own business. Over the years he owned studios in various locations around Austin.

Uncle Carl was never one to save any of his pictures. He didn't even have a collection or portfolio. I asked him once, if I could have some copies made of his work. He had none.

There’s no way of knowing just how many weddings Carl photographed over the years – I’m sure the count would be in the hundreds. I remember seeing some of his pictures published in Life Magazine, many years ago, of a famous gun collection. He had also done commercial work for Wick Fowler’s Chili — one of the photographs from that job was taken on the inside of the old saloon at Luckenbach, Texas, and I was told that it appeared on several billboards around the country. I was with him in his studio on one occasion while he was photographing tile for one of the more prominent flooring manufacturers. I believe it was Armstrong Tile.

When the University of Texas won the national championship in football back in 1969, the windows in the university tower were lit in a manner to create the number "one." Uncle Carl shot this scene at night and the resulting image was displayed for years in the office of head coach Darrell Royal.

Photography was more of a business than an art to my uncle and keeping samples of his work was unimportant to him. They were just material things that he used to make his living, but he hardly considered himself great — he never realized what his legacy might have meant to others, including myself.

Montgomery Studio was last located on West Lynn Street in Austin. Several times a day Carl would enjoy coffee with his buddies at a drugstore near the studio. He also liked sipping an occasional brew in the afternoon at “The Tavern” located on the corner at Twelfth and Lamar streets.

I'll always remember the toughness of this skinny old gentleman that I loved so much, he was independent to the end — at the age of 80, he could still jump straight up and click together the heels of his favorite Reeboks. He would drive his little Plymouth and battle the Austin traffic with the best of them.

He liked his coffee and his cigarettes, but he loved football. One of the biggest mistakes a person could make was to disturb him when the Dallas Cowboys or Texas Longhorns were doing battle on the gridiron. If you called him during the game, more than likely, he would hang up on you.

When Uncle Carl passed away he left behind two sons, Paul and Dan Montgomery. Paul has followed in his dad's footsteps and has had his photographs published in Texas Parks and Wildlife, as well as, Texas Highways Magazines. Dan works for a prominent eye surgeon in Austin. Carl was not married at the time of his death.

The old photographers, like my uncle, have left their mark on this country. They recorded the life and times of their generation. Today modern photographers are using conventional and digital cameras to capture images of people from birth to death and all the important events in between.

Photography has been an important part of my life for over 40 years and I will always be grateful to my beloved old uncle for inspiring me to become an image-maker. And if I am just half as good at it as he was, I'll be satisfied.