Stephen Butler
Stephen A. Butler has dedicated his personal and professional life to
photography. He is a Northeast Ohio-based commercial photographer,
who for more than 30 years, has traveled the world working with
leading global manufacturers, service providers and brands in
business-to-business and consumer advertising, corporate identity,
point-of-purchase and merchandising display, product packaging and
executive portraiture.
These assignments have included rigging cameras off a 57-story
skyscraper, hanging off an in-flight helicopter and working on
Moscow’s Red Square in - 60°F temperatures.
But Steve’s driving passion is all things “big and shiny.” Vintage aircraft,
classic cars and motorcycles are his specialties. His personal work -
both in still and video form - uniquely captures the artistic beauty of
these powerful machines.
Steve’s father is the driving inspiration behind his work, sparking both
his fascination with photography and his intense interest in aviation,
especially WWII aircraft.
Steve grew up captivated by his father’s stories of service in the
Pacific theater during WWII as a technical sergeant in the U.S. Army’s
37th infantry division -- and the compelling aircraft he saw there.
Not a great talker, his dad, also named Stephen, was selective about
what he shared and likely spared his son from his most personal and
shocking experiences. But Steve gained a deep appreciation for his
dad’s sacrifices, and those of his fellow service men and women, as
well as for the marvelous flying innovations they witnessed, based on
what the elder Stephen did reveal. As a result, Steve’s eyes have been
irresistibly drawn skyward whenever he hears the distinctive hum of
an engine above.
It was also Steve’s father who taught him, at the age of 8, how to print
photos using a homemade condenser enlarger. And Steve’s first real
experimentation with photography came courtesy of his dad’s 1932
Leica II Model D.
Today, Steve shoots in color and infrared black and white with a
Nikon D810, 80-400mm f/4.5-5.6 G ED VR, 300mm f/2.8 G ED VR II prime
lens and a Nikon D300 that has been converted exclusively to infrared
photography. He gets his greatest professional fulfillment from air-to-air
photography of military aircraft – especially the warbirds that garnered
his dad’s admiration during the 1940s – and aircraft of the golden age
of air racing.
Steve prefers RAW image file format. He finds it gives him higher
quality and more final-image control than JPEG format. “High-end
camera gear, lenses and location shooting are expensive,” he explains.
“After such an investment, I don’t want to compromise on dynamic
range, color bit depth or editing ability by letting the camera’s internal
software dictate how my images look.”And he highly recommends Phase One’s Capture One software because
it is designed expressly for RAW file image processing. He’s been using
it for more than 10 years. Upgrades enable dramatic enhancement to
old RAW files, as well, like what you might expect from a new image
sensor, he says.As a new ISAP member, Steve is looking forward to learning from
and being inspired by co-members and possibly stirring them to even
greater accomplishments. “Knowledge is a gift,” he says. “I know I still
have much to learn. And I’ve have had many great coaches and role
models who helped me through the years. So I hope to pay back some
of that good fortune by sharing with others.”Steve is also a WWII amateur historian and memorabilia collector.
He lives in Macedonia, Ohio, with his wife Barb, their rescue-dog
Winston and his other “loves” - two customized motorcycles, a
Heritage Softail Harley-Davidson and K1200 RS BMW.MEET OUR MEMBER