John Lazzaro specializes in urban landscape photography and the documentation of the solemn beauty in abandoned buildings and vanishing architecture throughout New York State. As an author, photographer, and documentary filmmaker, he is fascinated by history, storytelling, and social awareness. His first book, The Walls Still Talk: A Photographic Journey Through Kings Park Psychiatric Center (2019), documented the decades of neglect and decay of Kings Park Psychiatric Center in Kings Park, NY as a result of deinstitutionalization. His second book, A Vanishing New York: Ruins Across the Empire State (Schiffer, 2022), which includes an essay by renowned architectural historian Thomas Mellins, was the result of a three-year survey of the last remaining abandoned sites representing the diverse history of New York State. Lazzaro draws upon his experiences from documentary filmmaking in order to create a realistic, visual, and thought-provoking dialogue of the macabre.
Lazzaro is a member of The Firefly Gallery in Northport, NY and his photographic work has featured at numerous galleries, libraries, and historical societies throughout New York, as well as Untapped New York, Fstoppers, Long Island Herald, and The New York Post. Since his college years, Lazzaro’s documentary shorts have publicly screened in film festivals in 12 different states.
EDUCATION
Quinnipiac University, M.S. Interactive Media, 2014
University of Vermont, B.A. Film & Television Studies, English 2009
BOOKS
A Vanishing New York: Ruins Across the Empire State (Schiffer, 2022)
The Walls Still Talk: A Photographic Journey Through Kings Park Psychiatric Center (Blurb, 2019)
AWARDS
2023 - 108th Juried Show | Photography Winner for Sanatorium Steps | New Rochelle Arts Association
2021 - Primary Colors | 1st Place in Yellow Category for Lonely Picture | NY Center for Photographic Art
2010 - Long Island International Film Expo, Official Selection, Winner Best Humanitarian Film Award for Hindsight
2008 - Columbia University’s Undergraduate Film Festival Official Selection, 3rd Tier Award Winner for 85 Years & 16 Presidents
EXHIBITIONS
2024 - Colors of the Commonplace | Elmira Building, Buffalo Hospital Room | NY Center for Photographic Art
2024 - 19th National Photography Exhibition | Atrophy | Fotofoto Gallery, Huntington, NY (juried exhibition)
2023 - 9th Annual Phoneography | Elmira Building | Fotofoto Gallery, Huntington, NY (juried exhibition)
2022 - A Vanishing New York, The Firefly Gallery, Northport, NY (s0lo exhibition)
2022 - A Vanishing New York, Comsewogue Public Library, Port Jefferson Station, NY
2022 - A Vanishing New York, Harborfields Public Library, Greenlawn, NY
2022 - Selected works of Kings Park Psychiatric Center, Smithtown Public Library, Smithtown, NY
2022 - Be Bold | Honorable Mention for Elmira Building | Long Island Photo Gallery, Islip, NY (juried exhibition)
2022 - Decay, Corrosion, Rust |The Books | NY Center for Photographic Art (juried exhibition)
2022 - Empty Places: Abandoned Spaces | Atrophy | Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juried exhibition)
2021 - Selected works of Kings Park Psychiatric Center, Northport Public Library, Northport, NY
2021 - Abandoned Haunts, Curious Trappings | Castle on the Hill | Firefly Gallery, Northport, NY (juried exhibition)
2020 - A Vanishing New York, Fotofoto Gallery, Huntington, NY (solo exhibition)
2020 - Empty Places: Abandoned Spaces | Skull Silo | Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juried exhibition)
2019 - Empty Places: Abandoned Spaces | Lonely Picture | Praxis Gallery, Minneapolis, MN (juried exhibition)
2019 - A Moment in Time | Forgotten | Old Town Arts & Crafts Guild, Cutchogue, NY (juried exhibition)
2019 - Juxtaposition | Lonely Picture, Forgotten, Lonely Seat | Long Island Photo Gallery, Islip, NY (juried exhibition)
2019 - Juried Photography Open | Forgotten | Salmagundi Art Club, New York, NY (juried exhibition)
2019 - Portals: Small Works | The Upside Down | Alex Ferrone Gallery, Cutchogue, NY (juried exhibition)
2018 - 14th Annual National Photography Competition | Day Room | Fotofoto Gallery, Huntington, NY (juried exhibition)
SELECTED PRESS & FEATURES
2023 - 27east - A Vanishing New York
2023 - Fstoppers - How One Photographer Trekked Across NY to Produce a Book of Abandoned Spaces
2023 - Long Island Herald - Firefly Artists Fly to Freeport
2023 - Untapped New York - Inside the Abandoned Kings Park Psychiatric Center on LI
2022 - Quinnipiac University - Interview with Dean of Communications Chris Rousch
2022 - Untapped New York - 12 Abandoned Hospitals and Asylums Outside of NYC
2022 - Quinnipiac Today - Alumnus Tells Unseen Stories Through Artistic Passion
2022 - Northport Journal - A Vanishing New York Book Signing & Reception
2022 - Untapped New York - Follow Photographer Through Exhibition ‘A Vanishing New York’
2021 - New York Post - Sliwa Says to Bus NYC’s Homeless to Work Camp Upstate
2020 - Hamptons Art Hub coverage of A Vanishing New York Exhibition
2019 - Newsday - The Walls Still Talk book signing at Book Revue, Huntington, NY
2018 - Wantagh/Seaford Patch - Masters of Cruelty
2018 - Wantagh Herald - Masters of Cruelty
2018 - The Long-Islander News - Lonely Picture
2012 - Bellmore Life - LIIFE Opening: Sic Transit Gloria
2012 - Bellmore Life - LIIFE Showcase: Sic Transit Gloria
DOCUMENTARY FILM EXHIBITIONS
Masters of Cruelty (2018) - an eye-opening look at New York's animal abuse laws as told through those fighting against cruelty cases on Long Island
2019 Point Lookout Film Festival (New York)
2018 Long Island International Film Expo (New York)
Sic Transit Gloria (2011) - The year was 1965. A year prior, the Beatles had made their tremendous debut on the Ed Sullivan Show, igniting the British Invasion and prompting the emergence of bands all over the United States. 63% of all kids under the age of 20 were in a band. Most teens wanted to be like the Beatles, the Stones, the Animals, etc. They had the nerve to pick up an instrument, get together and create songs with a powerful and expressive delivery, but never entered the musical mainstream. This is the story of the very lucky ones.
2012 Indie Spirit Film Festival (Colorado)
2012 SENE Film, Music and Arts Festival (Rhode Island)
2012 Desert Rocks Film and Music Event (California)
2012 Long Island International Film Expo (New York)
2011 REEL Independent Film Extravaganza (Washington D.C.)
Hindsight (2010) - details Long Island’s heroin epidemic through four different perspectives
2011 Williamsburg International Film Festival (New York)
2010 Long Island International Film Expo (New York)
2010 Orlando Film Festival (Florida)
2010 DocUtah Film Festival (Utah)
2010 Wanderings Film Festival (Alabama)
2010 Macon Film Festival (Georgia)
2010 Green Bay Film Festival (Wisconsin)
2010 Indie Spirit Film Festival (Colorado)
Blame the Woman (2008) - a documentary on why society blames the woman when she is raped or sexually assaulted. Blame the Woman looks at the controversial Maryland Rape Law and the Vermont Cynic Op-Ed piece “One Drink Rape” and answers this question with an assortment of interviews ranging from lecturers to a Women’s Center director as well as the deep and personal stories of two survivors.
2009 Macon Film Festival (Georgia)
2009 Indiefest! (California)
2008 Indie Spirit Film Festival (Colorado)
2008 Long Island International Film Expo (New York)
2008 Vermont International Film Festival (Vermont)
2008 GirlFest Hawaii (Hawaii)
85 Years & 16 Presidents (2007) - documentary on the Director's Grandfather, 85 Years and 16 Presidents is a story about a man who has lived through the Great Depression, WWII, a heart attack, cancer, the death of his wife, and 16 different Presidents, and is able to find a meaning in life through his 5 grandchildren and surviving family members.
2008 Columbia University’s Undergraduate Film Festival (New York)
2007 Long Island Big Fish Film Festival (New York)