Thomas Harding was born July 7, 1911, at Little Rock, Arkansas, the son of Thomas Harding II, an architect, and Mary Rice Harding. Following his education at St. Andrews Cathedral, Little Rock High School, and Washington University at St. Louis, Missouri, he practiced architecture with his father. During World War II Harding served with the Air Force in North Africa and Italy. After his discharge in 1945, Harding opened a photography studio in Little Rock.

In 1964 Harding sold his Little Rock studio and moved to New York where he was associated with the prestigious Bachrach studio. He returned to Little Rock in 1970 and again opened a commercial and portrait studio. His company has provided photography for most of the advertising agencies in Arkansas as well as numerous national accounts. The portrait division photographed individually over 200 prominent Arkansas lawyers for the Arkansas Bar Association Wall of Fame, several thousand bankers, doctors, and other professionals.

Harding closed his studio in June 1982 to retire and devote his time to several hobbies, including pinhole photography and water color painting. He published two books, One Room Schoolhouses of Arkansas As Seen Through a Pinhole (UA Press, 1993) and An Outhouse by Any Other Name (August House Publishers, 1999). Harding died August 4, 2002, and is buried at Calvary Cemetery, Little Rock