So, um, I got this cool e-mail from the Yale Office of Public Affairs & Communications last night:
Congratulations! Your Instagram photo is the winner [of the Founders Day Instagram Challenge] for the category Most Inspiring. . . . [W]e'll repost your photo on the main Yale Instagram account. (Please don't tell anyone until we've made the announcement by leaving a comment on your original photo.) Thanks and congrats!
The "Most Inspiring Instagram" was defined as "the best overall shot taken anywhere on the Yale campus during the
Founders Day celebration." The prize? Lunch for the winner and a guest with University President Peter Salovey!
So, now that they've
officially announced me as the winner, I can officially post this blog!
I joked about winning lunch with the President all day as I submitted thirty-one photos to the contest through
my Instagram account with the tag #InspiringYale. Though I tried
really hard by taking lots of photos, oddly enough, the winning shot was the first one I took! It's a view down toward Timothy Dwight College from the eighth floor conference room in my office.
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| Red tree in TD. #InspiringYale |
I edited the photo in Instagram to punch the colors a bit, add a vignette around the corners, and use the radial tilt-shift to blur the edges and focus in on the single red tree in the center of the courtyard.
Below are the rest of my shots from the day. The photo captions are how I tagged the photos for the contest.
In addition to the winning view of campus, I tried to get a few overhead views of the campus from a couple of higher vantage points.
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| Harkness Tower etc. from the roof of the Loria Center. #InspiringYale |
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| Yale and West Rock from the roof of the Loria Center. #InspiringYale |
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| Kline Biology Tower, Marquand Chapel, Gibbs, Peabody Museum, School of Management, 55 Whitney, and East Rock. #InspiringYale |
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| I'm lucky to have this skyline view from my office each day. Inspired by Yale. #InspiringYale |
As a part of the day of celebration, I took the Yale Sacred Places Tour led by the Chaplain's office. We started in Battell Chapel, visited the Hindu and Muslim prayer rooms, walked through Old Campus, and ended up in the Buddhist shrine in the base of Harkness Tower.
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| Battell Chapel. #InspiringYale |
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| Connecticut Hall, 1750. #InspiringYale |
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| Fan vaults in the Harkness Chapel. #InspiringYale |
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| Wood carvings in Harkness Chapel. #InspiringYale |
I also popped in on the President's open house at 43 Hillhouse. The artwork he has on display from the Yale University Art Gallery and Yale Center for British Art is amazing!
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| Welcome home, Mr. President. #InspiringYale |
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| Oh, you know, it's just an old Albers in my parlor. #InspiringYale |
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| I call this one "Founders' Day Selfie with Albers & Sleeping Toddler" #InspiringYale |
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| May I take a message? #InspiringYale |
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| The President's garden. #InspiringYale |
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| YIMBY Mr. President. #InspiringYale |
The Yale Center for British Art also opened their Founder's Room in honor of Paul Mellon.
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| Paul Mellon's Founders Room at the Yale Center for British Art. #InspiringYale |
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| Louis Kahn's Yale Center for British Art. #InspiringYale |
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| I Kahn't get enough of this building! #InspiringYale |
Even my day-to-day business as I walked around campus allowed me the opportunity to post some additional shots of cool spaces and places, and the preparation for the Founders Day celebration.
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| Inspiring music. #InspiringYale |
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| Ross Library at SOM...but where are the books!? :) #InspiringYale |
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| Reflecting inspiration. #InspiringYale |
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| Berkeley courtyard with autumn colors, presided over by Sterling Memorial Library. #InspiringYale |
At the end of the day, I walked through Beinecke Plaza and stopped into the Beinecke Library on my way over to Cross Campus for the end-of-day festivities.
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| Fall colors are #InspiringYale |
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| Calder on campus. #InspiringYale |
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| The Gutenberg Bible at Beinecke Library. #InspiringYale |
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| Noguchi? No problem! #InspiringYale |
The day culminated with a celebration on Cross Campus in front of the Sterling Memorial Library, with yummy fall snacks and remarks by President Peter Salovey.
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| President Salovey is #InspiringYale |
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| Shamelessly trying to win lunch with the President...but this is the closest I've been so far! :) #InspiringYale |
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| Yummy fall treats for Founders Day. #InspiringYale |
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| Party time! #InspiringYale |
After the President's remarks, I left the celebration and headed back home on my bike, passing one last view of campus I always enjoy as I ride past each day: Harkness Tower as seen between Morse and Stiles Colleges.
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| Mind the gap, Harkness. #InspiringYale |
