Through a Different Lens: Photos Capture Beauty Abroad

Photo Gallery

• “Imagine” by Erin Xu ’17 (First Place)

  “I walked around an old town square in Prague with headphones on listening to John Lennon. We had just visited the John Lennon Wall the day before. Lennon had never been to Prague, but Prague has a Lennon Wall and a Lennon spirit. I captured this moment just when the song ‘Imagine’ came up on my playlist: ‘Imagine there's no countries/Imagine all the people living life in peace/Imagine all the people sharing all the world...'"

• “Wadi Al-Qamr (The Valley of the Moon)” by Waleed (Ed) Alkoor '19 (Second Place)

  “This photo was taken in the infamous Wadi Rum, or ‘Roman Valley,’ of southern Jordan. The location and isolation from the city give the desert visible starry nights. With the assistance of a local Bedouin, we positioned my brother Zane on top of one of the tribe's trucks to get a good angle of the purple night sky. Big thanks to the desert juice crew and Carter Durling of N.C. State.”

• “Light Reading” by Carolyn Raihala '18 (Third place)

  “I studied abroad in Florence, Italy, and my roommate and I went to Palermo for our last weekend adventure. I was struck by the dramatic illumination of a fellow tourist in Concattedrale Santa Maria dell'Ammiraglio, and it was only during postproduction that I discovered the men above my subject were reading, too.”

• Untitled by Mila Loneman '18 (Cultural Interaction category winner)

  "The photo was taken while walking down the twisted streets of The Old City in Hyderabad, India–this photo is a small step back in time."

• “White Cliffs of Dover” by Stephen Pacheco '18 (Nature category winner)

  "The White Cliffs of Dover form part of the English coastline and are known as an iconic landmark, offering stunning views and teeming with wildlife. The cliff face reaches up to 350 feet and is composed of chalk, accentuated by streaks of black flint. The cliffs stretch along the coastline for eight miles."

• “Wisdom is a Virtue” by Daniel Zawadski '18 (Place category winner)

  “This photo was taken from the Great St. Mary’s Church tower during the few sunny minutes of a typical rainy day in Cambridge (United Kingdom). It overlooks one of the most prestigious universities in the world and truly brings into relief the beauty of knowledge and wisdom.”

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From Italy to India, students traverse the globe to learn new things about the world and themselves–around three-quarters of the student body study, travel, work or perform service abroad. The annual Dean Rusk Photo Competition showcases the most interesting and arresting photos captured by students abroad.

This year’s contest included more than 150 entries. A panel of judges evaluated the entries, and the winners were revealed at an April gala. The top three overall winners received cash prizes, and Summit Coffee gift cards went to the winners in three additional categories: nature, place and cultural interaction. Enjoy this slide show featuring the 2017 winners.