Experience and explore all fifty State Capitols through photographs! 

A project 11 years in the making, Capitol America: A Photographic Portrait of the Fifty State Capitols, offers a unique look inside each of America's State Capitols. Connecticut photographers Robert Lisak and David Ottenstein published the book in 2023. Now, the photographers and co-authors will give us their perspectives on the Capitols and discuss how the Connecticut State Capitol compares to others across the country.

Capitol Information and Tours invites you to join us for this discussion and a question and answer session with the authors. Lisak and Ottenstein will also be signing copies of the book. Books will NOT be sold at the event. You can pre-purchase the book here if you'd like a signed copy.

A light lunch will be provided. This event is free and open to the public. Please register in advance at the link above.

David Ottenstein is a Connecticut-based photographer pursuing long-term personal projects after a 40-year career specializing in commercial and architectural work. Currently he is exploring state capitol buildings and searching the back roads of the American West and Midwest, photographing landscapes and vanishing agrarian structures. His previous book, Iowa: Echoes of a Vanishing Landscape, was published in 2017.

His photographs are in numerous private and public collections, including the Western Americana Collection at Yale University’s Beinecke Library; the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri; the Permanent Collection of Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa; the New Britain Museum of American Art in New Britain, Connecticut; and the Palmer Museum of Art at the Pennsylvania State University.

Robert Lisak is a photographer based in Connecticut. He has done a wide range of work for commercial, architectural and non-profit clients, as well as pursuing several long term art projects. Those projects include religious festivals, art and architecture in the Peruvian Andes, a survey of State Capitol buildings, and an exploration of the urban social landscape, among others.

Robert is a member of ASMP and has an MFA in photography from the Yale School of Art. He printed for the Walker Evans estate for 12 years. He taught photography at the college level for twenty years, where he designed and implemented courses in digital photography. His photographs are held in several private collections.

Parking and Directions

There is limited free parking available in either the north Capitol Grounds off Trinity Street or the Legislative Office Building parking garage. 

If parking on the Capitol Grounds, enter through the public entrance on the west side of the building. Continue straight ahead and to the left to reach the North Lobby on the first floor of the Capitol.

If parking in the Legislative Office Building garage, exit the garage on the first floor and walk the short distance to the public entrance of the Legislative Office Building. Inside the building, follow the underground walkway to the Capitol. Take the escalator up to the first floor of the Capitol and continue straight ahead to reach the North Lobby.