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Matthew Septimus has been a professional photographer for over 30 years. He photographs in varied fields including art, culture, design, food, education, medicine, public radio, and finance. His photos have been featured in many major magazines and recognized in industry annuals including American Photography, Graphis and Communication Arts. Two books with Matthew’s photographs for the French Culinary Institute received James Beard Awards. He also shot the launch campaign for the historic reinvention of the Museum of Modern Art.

Matthew has been on the faculty of the International Center of Photography, Parsons School of Design and the New School. He has always taught communities outside of the college setting, including youth in the South Bronx, migrant farm workers on Long Island, elderly residents of the Lower Eastside, Chinese garment workers, and a wide array of union workers for the book and exhibition, Unseenamerica (Harper/Collins) which opened at the U.S. Department of Labor.

His personal work involves the search for truth and beauty and has taken him around the world, to the banks of the Ganges, the jungles of Uganda, and Norwegian fiords. In New York City he has documented heated street protests including Occupy Wall Street.

He’s currently working on a collaborative photography/poetry project with the poet Esther Cohen.