Payne Bio

Christopher Payne

Portfolio

“I use photography to reveal how things are designed, assembled, and work, whether the subject is a machine, building, or community.”

“I use photography to reveal how things are designed, assembled, and work, whether the subject is a machine, building, or community.”

Equinix NY4 Data Center, Secaucus NJ, Client: Bloomberg Markets

Equinix NY4 Data Center, Secaucus NJ, Client: Bloomberg Markets

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 and editorial assignments, and personal projects, which celebrate the lost art of craftsmanship and manufacturing in the United States. A new book about American factories will be published by Abrams in 2022.

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. He is the author of several books and his work has been featured in publications around the world, with special features in The New York Times Magazine and The New Yorker. His large format, limited edition prints are available through the Benrubi Gallery.

recent Clients

Bergmeyer
BKSK Architects
Boston Valley Terra Cotta
CookFox
Corning
Deborah Berke and Partners
Fisher Marantz Stone
Gamblin Artists Colors
Gensler
Goody Clancy
Hermès
HMA2
HOK
Jeffrey Beers
Leroy Street Studio
New York Times Magazine
Perkins Will
Pfeiffer Partners
Reich+Petch
Rockwell Group
SBJ Group
Steinway Pianos
Swatch
Think! Architecture and Design
Tod Williams Billie Tsien
Zubatkin

Publications

AJ [Architect’s Journal]
Amtrak The National
Architectural Record
Bloomberg Markets
Boston Globe
Business Insider
Creative Boom
Design Observer
GEO
Golf Digest
Hyperallergic
Huffington Post
INC Magazine
Maize
Milieu
MIT Technology Review
Oculus
Popular Science
Port Magazine
Print Magazine
Selvedge
The Architect’s Newspaper
The Atlantic
The New York Times
The New York Times Magazine
The New Yorker
TIME
Topic
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

2019 - CBS News - How Former Asylums Are Becoming New Homes
2019 - 99% Invisible - The Kirkbride Plan
2019 - The Photo Banter - Podcast Interview
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.