Hudson River State Hospital opened in the nineteenth century as a psychiatric hospital and grew into a large complex of institutional buildings. Like Greystone Park in New Jersey, it reflected changing ideas about the treatment of mental illness and eventually declined as large state psychiatric hospitals were closed or reduced. Parts of the abandoned complex have since been damaged by major fires, complicating efforts to preserve what remains.

I photographed Hudson Psych during Neopex, an annual camping weekend at nearby Wilcox Park that brings together thirty or forty urban explorers. On Sunday, a group usually goes exploring, often at Hudson Psych, and I went along. I normally don't photograph places that are too similar to ones I've already photographed, and Hudson Psych immediately reminded me of Greystone. But one of the campers was involved in efforts to preserve the hospital and knew how to get us inside. Since then, fire has badly damaged the complex, and it's unclear how much can still be saved.