“I use photography to reveal the narrative of how things are designed, assembled, and work, whether the subject is a machine, building or community.”
Verizon, 140 West Street, New York NY. © Christopher Payne/Esto
Christopher Payne was trained as an architect, but traded his pencil for a camera to pursue his love of photography and the built form. Chris divides his time between commercial assignments and personal projects, and his current work celebrates the lost art of craftsmanship and manufacturing in the United States. A new series is about the American textile industry
Payne has been awarded grants from the Graham Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, and The New York Foundation for the Arts. His work has been featured in publications around the world and several times in The New York Times Magazine. He is the author of several books about architecture, technology, and industry. His large format, limited edition prints are available through the Benrubi Gallery.
recent Clients
BKSK Architects
Bloomberg
Boston Valley Terra Cotta
Carnegie Mellon University Robotics Institute
Deborah Berke and Partners
Equinix NY4
Goody Clancy
Jeffrey Beers
Leroy Street Studio
New York Times Magazine
Pfeiffer Partners
Steinway Pianos
Swatch
Think! Architecture and Design
Publications
AJ [Architect’s Journal]
Architectural Record
Bloomberg Markets
Boston Globe
Business Insider
Creative Boom
Design Observer
Hyperallergic
Huffington Post
Selvedge
The Architect’s Newspaper
The New York Times Magazine
The New Yorker
Vanity Fair
WIRED
BOOKS
New York’s Forgotten Substations: The Power Behind the Subway, Princeton Architectural Press, 2002
Asylum: Inside the Closed World of State Mental Hospitals, MIT Press,2009
North Brother Island: The Last Unknown Place in New York City, Fordham University Press, 2014
Making Steinway: An American Workplace, 2016
INTERVIEWS/VIDEO
2015 - LOOK3 Photo Festival - Textiles: Made in USA
2014 - WNET Channel 13 - Metrofocus
2014 - BBC News - Interview
Chris Payne’s fine art prints are represented by Benrubi Gallery.