
Photographer John Spoltore’s work is on display at Patchogue-Medford Library through February 28. Photo courtesy of John Spoltore.
John Spoltore is no stranger to libraries throughout the area. The photographer, who has been working in the craft for 40 years, started off teaching the art at a local high school and at one library. That number went up fast.
“Through word of mouth, I’m now teaching at 34 different libraries,” Spoltore said in an interview this week with Patchogue-Medford Library.
His exhibit, “The World As I Would Like it to Be,” is currently on display in Patchogue-Medford Library’s lower level gallery through February 28th.
Spoltore’s work includes a variety of different scenes of natural life, and he likes to work with images to give them a look similar to oil paintings.
“I enjoy the strong color,” he said, referring to how he uses photo editing software after taking the images to bring an artistic appearance to the scenes he captures.

Spoltore takes scenes like this one of a snowy LIRR train, and gives them an oil painting-like look. Photo courtesy John Spoltore.
Many of Spoltore’s photos include a variety of scenes of the Long Island Rail Road, where he recently retired from working at last April. The trains of the railroad provided him with plenty of opportunities to create pictures, and he said the railroad has many of them on display at the LIRR’s employee facilities.
Since Spoltore’s work is on display close by the Children’s Department of the library, he says that any kids that want to get into photographer should grab any camera they can to get started.
“You don’t need a $2,000 camera to make a good picture,” Spoltore said. In addition, while he does offer lessons, he points out that there are plenty of great free tutorials available online by searching through YouTube or even through photo companies.

A baseball photo as it appears at John Spoltore’s exhibit in Patchogue-Medford Library. Photo Credit: Michael Sorrentino
“You can choose between being a photo taker or a photo maker,” Spoltore said, noting that there is nothing wrong with either choice. A photo taker will pull out the camera, frame the shot and fire away. After learning the basics, one can dive into white balance, exposure, composition and other photography techniques to become a photo maker, he said.
For more information on John Spoltore and his photography, you can visit his website at swedephoto.com or by calling him at 631-476-8690.