Inside Facebook Headquarters at 1 Hacker Way in Menlo Park, California

Earlier this month I was invited to visit Facebook Headquarters in Menlo Park for a photo hack and campus photowalk. The Facebook photos team was preparing to pull a late night working on some cool new site improvements, and they wanted input from their photographer feedback group. Joining me was legendary photographer Thomas Hawk with his wife Julia Peterson, award-winning wedding photographer Catherine Hall, and Emmy Award winning visual journalist Richard Koci Hernandez.

As we entered Facebook Headquarters, we were greeted by staff in a bright entry hall covered floor-to-ceiling with hand-painted artwork and edgy typographic posters. A row of iPads guided us to check in and pick up our visitor badges. Signing an NDA with my fingertip was a first!

We met up with our host, Facebook’s Journalism Program Manager Vadim Lavrusik, and continued over to the photo department for lunch. Note the tall ceilings, open floor plan, and refreshingly casual creative environment.

Next, we squeezed into the head of a crowded conference room to sit and discuss the photos experience on Facebook and Instagram:

After a fun and productive meeting, we gathered our cameras and wandered Facebook’s campus for a while. Facebook HQ is a vast space—nearly one million square feet spread across 57 acres.  Nine buildings wrap around a broad path in a lush park setting lined with trees and speckled with open courtyards.

The environment is very open, collaborative, and social.

Giant touch-screen directories are located throughout Facebook campus to help people navigate the massive complex.

I found a few cluttered corners at Facebook—a familiar state of being for any hardworking creative.

Here’s a snap of us during our photowalk on Facebook’s campus, taken by Vadim Lavrusik. From left to right: Catherine Hall, Julia Peterson, Hillary Fox, Thomas Hawk, and Richard Koci Hernandez.

I had a fantastic time meeting some of the great minds behind the world’s biggest social network. I’m looking forward to returning one day!