Hands-On Photography Workshop

A hands-on photography workshop beginning at the library and ending at Fairfield Hills Hospital in Newtown on Saturday, October 19, featuring noted photographer Matthew Christopher.

In this 4-hour workshop, participants will spend two hours in the library learning about the history of the depiction of ruins in art from photographer/author Matthew Christopher. Attendees will learn about Matthew's journey photographing abandoned spaces across the world and significant artists in the field. Afterwards, there will be a discussion about camera basics for architectural photography and a Q&A session. Attendees are encouraged to bring their camera - cell phone cameras are fine!

During the second half of the class we will take a walk around the publicly accessible portion of the campus of Fairfield Hills in Newtown, where participants will have the opportunity to photograph the buildings and receive individual guidance on how to improve their photography. This course is primarily intended for beginners and intermediate photographers, although all are welcome to join. No previous experience with photography is necessary!

Matthew Christopher has had an interest in abandoned sites since he was a child, and started documenting them in 2006 while researching the decline of the state hospital system. Since then, he has photographed and written about the ruins of schools, churches, industrial sites, amusement parks, malls, hotels, and prisons across the world, including defunct auto factories in Detroit, former gold mining towns in California, and the rusting husk of what was once the largest and fastest ocean liner built in the United States.

His website, Abandoned America, has been featured in books, magazines, and media outlets worldwide, including The New York
Times, ABC and NBC News, The Atlantic, Photographer’s Forum, and many more. His articles chronicling the lost histories of iconic places and the disastrous social consequences of our disposable culture have appeared in numerous publications and media outlets.

Matthew’s two books, Abandoned America: The Age of Consequences (Jonglez Publishing, 2014) and Abandoned America: Dismantling the Dream (Carpet Bombing Culture, 2017), explore the tragic legacies of locations like the Forest Haven Developmental Center, closed amidst horrifying allegations of abuse and neglect, and Gary, Indiana, a steel town devastated  when U.S. Steel shuttered their mills.

Matthew has an MFA in Fine Art Photography from Rochester Institute of Technology and a BA in Film and Media Arts from Temple University. He has taught photography at a college level and now teaches photography workshops. Galleries and museums across the U.S. have exhibited Matthew's work, and he lectures on abandoned spaces and mental health history. Currently, he resides in the Hudson Valley, where he continues to update his website with new essays and photographs, hosts and produces The Abandoned America Podcast, and is hard at work on new projects including his next book and a new photo series.