Christopher Payne

The second part of my assignment for in 2020 capturing the printing of voter ballots. These pictures were taken at Michigan Election Services in Kalamazoo, MI. Seems like yesterday but also a lifetime ago.

In 2020 I was commissioned by the to photograph the printing of voting ballots just weeks before the election. It was one of the most thrilling assignments I’ve ever had, and even though I don’t like to repost pictures, today seems like an especially appropriate occasion. The following pictures were made in Phoenix, AZ, at Runbeck Election Services. Many thanks to for this wonderful opportunity!

I love photographing beautiful architecture as much as any factory or manufacturing process, and I was privileged to work with recently on their incredible top to bottom renovation of the landmark church in lower Manhattan. Thank you MBB!!

Every photographer who visits a semiconductor chip factory, better known as a “fab”, feels compelled to make a picture of a silicon wafer. Last month I spent several days at in Malta, NY, and this picture was made at the end of our visit as we were packing up. I neglected to devote the proper time to this, but no matter how they’re photographed they always look beautiful. Global Foundries makes many kinds of wafers, each radiating a unique color rainbow depending on its design and purpose, and one could spend hours, if not days, getting lost in these.

If you’ve been watching Severance on AppleTV you’ve seen this building: the former Bell Labs R&D facility in Holmdel, NJ. Designed by Eero Saarinen in 1958 and opened in 1962, it is a 2 million sq. ft. masterpiece of modernist architecture with a mirror glass facade and soaring atriums. After the last tenant moved out in 2007, the building could have been demolished and the site turned into another subdivision, but thankfully it was saved and repurposed as , a mixed use office and retail hub. I gained access in 2014, when it was still abandoned and in mothballed state. Exploring an empty building of this size was like being in a post apocalyptic movie.