Photo of the Day Guidelines
A Photo of the Day in Mac Daily is a great way to publicize your events, showcase community, and capture readers’ attention. It is the first thing the students, faculty, and staff who read Mac Daily see when they open the issue.
Photos of the Day are intended to showcase Macalester’s mission and values in action. We are eager to see how you do so! Here are some things to keep in mind when you submit a picture and answers to questions we often receive.
How can I submit a picture?
Email [email protected].
Please include a caption (100 words or fewer) and attach the photo to your email as a .jpg file. Please do not submit photos using the Mac Daily submission form. The form compresses images, making them too small for Photo of the Day.
Notes to Consider
- Submitting a Photo of the Day does not guarantee its publication. Besides the reasons outlined on this page, we might not run a picture if we have too many photos in our queue or have already run a similar picture.
- We generally run photos in the order they were received. If you would like your picture to run on a certain date, you may request it in your email with the submission. However, we might not be able to fulfill that request.
- Mac Daily photos should be horizontal. The Communications and Marketing team may crop and resize pictures as needed.
- Captions are written by submitters. They are not necessarily endorsed by the Communications and Marketing team or Macalester College.
- We make sure to name the submitter of each photo in the picture’s caption. If you would like someone else to be named as the submitter, please include that information in your submission.
What Kinds of Photos Will You Run?
- On-campus events for academic departments, student organizations, and other campus office
- Off-campus events sponsored by academic departments, student organizations, and other campus departments
- Off-campus gatherings of Macalester community members
- Occasional seasonal photos of campus
Examples (With Captions)
Sophie Jones ’26, Sarah Bohrer ’26, and Ruth Dunlap ’26 traveled to arctic Finland and Norway in July with Biology professor Mary Heskel to examine the impacts of climate change and development on plant biology and physiology. Here they are halfway through a windy 11 mile hike into the field station on the Varanger Peninsula in the Finnmark region of Norway, around 70˚N. Submitted by Mary Heskel.
Weekly Garden Party participants harvesting serviceberries this summer. Submitted by Megan Butler.
Macalester students (pictured left to right on the stairs of the Capitol Building in Washington D.C.: Audrey Lester ’26, Hannah Jenkins ’26, Emma Runchey Smalley ’26, and Freeman Boda ’26. Sheila Bhowmik ’26, not pictured, was also on the trip) participated in the Volcker Alliance’s Next Generation Summer Policy Academy, a three-week long intensive program focused on developing public policy skills and fostering the next generation of public servants. The program took them to Washington D.C., where they visited non-profits, talked with elected officials, and attended lectures about changes in the public policy landscape. Submitted by Freeman Boda.
Gavin Engelstad ’25 and Professor Lori Ziegelmeier attended the workshop “Cycle Representatives in Applied Homological Algebra” at the Banff International Research Station in August. While on an excursion, they spotted Ian Staresinic ’25 and his family at Lake Louise, but we unfortunately didn’t capture the moment with a picture. There are Macalester connections everywhere, even at beautiful glacial lakes! Submitted by Lori Ziegelmeier.
Outdoor Environmental Education students and Mac alum Erin Rupp ’04 from Pollinate Minnesota enjoyed a beautiful Saturday at the college’s field station in Inver Grove Heights. The students learned with and from thousands of honey bees and three wonderful outdoor educators as they begin planning for teaching local elementary students at Ordway. Submitted by Professor Jerald Dosch.
On October 22, the Leaves to Landscapes class (co-taught by Professors Mary Heskel, Biology, and Megan Vossler, Art and Art History) made charcoal for drawing, using locally foraged willow, maple, and grapevine. They also began sanding maple tree “cookies” to study growth rings. (Photo by Karina Vivar-Cortez ’27.) Submitted by Megan Vossler.
What Kinds of Photos Won’t You Run?
- Most pictures that do not show at least one Macalester community member (students, faculty, staff, alumni)
- Content that could violate the Student or Employee Handbooks, public health guidelines, or other laws
- Photos that are blurry, too small, or vertical
- Pictures that are not consistent with the college’s mission and values
- Multiple photos from the same event
- Collages — readers are not able to clearly see individual photos in a collage. Reach out to [email protected] if you think a collage is the only way to present your submission.
How Can I Ensure My Photo Is Suitable for Photo of the Day?
- Include the faces of the Macalester community members pictured.
- Send a full-resolution copy of a clear photo.
- Make sure all people in your picture have given permission for you to submit the photo. We trust that you have received appropriate permissions to share your picture. You do not need to send proof of permission with your submission.
- Please submit one photo per event. With rare exceptions, we are not able to run photos from a single event in multiple issues.
- Ensure everyone in your picture is over the age of 18. We can make exceptions for children of Macalester community members. However, please keep in mind that a large and broad group of people reads Mac Daily.
Thank you, and we look forward to seeing your picture!