A group of Duke students, staff and Durham residents recently took part in Duke’s first Photowalk, an adventure in photography across our campus.

The PhotoWalk was intended to build community by giving some budding photographers in our area some pointers and access to parts of campus they might otherwise not be able to see. Several member’s of Duke Photo’s team of experienced photographers shared their tips and tricks and told stories of their work as we explored campus during a two-hour walk.

We started at the Sarah P. Duke Gardens and continued on to Perkins Library, where we poked around inside the Gothic Reading Room and the Duke Chapel, where we got to climb Duke Chapel’s Tower. We then hit the Bryan Center Plaza and ended at Cameron Indoor Stadium.

More than 20 people took part in the walk. Many were devoted photography hobbyists who clearly have some talent, one as young as 12-year-old Jonathan Canfield.

The result of our adventures was a huge number of images captured and shared using #pictureDuke via Twitter and Instagram.

Image by Michael Palko

Image by Michael Palko

Image by Michael Palko

Tweet by Sarah Haas

Tweet by Katie Wood with Duke's Marine Lab

After the walk, participants uploaded their favorite photos to Duke Photography’s online database to enter a photography contest. We received 61 contest submissions and awarded a total of 8 prizewinners, with the grand prize winning an opportunity to accompany the Duke Photography crew on a major photo shoot.

Here is a collection of the images on Facebook.

We hope to do more PhotoWalks at Duke in the future. Spring is begging for another walk through the Sarah P. Duke Gardens, and we would love to feature beautiful spaces like the Nasher Museum of Art or our vibrant East Campus in the future. What would YOU like to see on Duke PhotoWalks?