Nearly four hours after pro-Palestinian protesters set up banners and flags in the lobby of the Milstein Center for Teaching and Learning and declared the building the “Dr. Hussam Abu Safiya Liberated Zone,” dozens of New York Police Department officers entered campus with helmets and zip ties, arresting nine protesters.

Always on the other side of the camera, you might wonder what a day in the life of a Spectator photographer looks like. Who are they? Do they only take stock images of Alma? Do they exist outside of Spec? Seven photographers take you behind the scenes and share what a typical week looks like, whether they are in or out of the office.

Protesters with an autonomous group affiliated with Columbia University Apartheid Divest and Jafra, the Palestinian Student Committee at Columbia, took over South Lawn on May 31 at around 7 p.m. in response to the Israeli military’s escalation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah.

Twelve Spectator photographers traveled as close as Columbia’s campus and as far as Paris for this semester’s fall photo essay. Photographers were encouraged to showcase moments from their personal lives, and many experimented with film and black-and-white photography. Experience autumn through their camera lenses in this photo essay.