Conversations with Chris Butcher

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chris Butcher.

Hi Chris, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstories.
I started taking photographs in 2014 by accident and with no training with an iPhone.

As a way to learn a new city, I would adventure alone throughout Phoenix Metro in search of graffiti to photograph and as a means to occupy my time as I didn’t know anyone upon my arrival in Arizona who relocated from Wisconsin. Through my photo adventures, I began to meet people who’d eventually see my images and encouraged me to pursue learning the craft further.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
No. I am completely self-taught and continually learning.

I tend to photograph in high crime areas, homeless encampments, alleyways, and other questionable locations. I shoot almost exclusively alone and often in the dark while working at night which generally presents numerous opportunities for me to exercise my problem-solving skills. I’ve had numerous struggles throughout my journey.

From getting the money saved to purchase my first camera to navigating the labyrinth of back alleyways and dark seedy corners of Hong Kong, there have been various types of struggles. Once, in Seattle, I had to struggle to avoid being robbed of my camera and gear.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
Chris Butcher is an urban photographer who captures images in multiple genres including, street photography, urban landscapes, and portraits. Photographing under the pseudonym Scoundrel Studios, his pursuits include imagery from South East Asia, Australia, Europe, and North America.

Interested in the art of storytelling through a means other than words, his work is varied and is aimed at one goal: to create compelling images — confrontational images– to tell the story of the world as viewed through his eyes.

“Photography allows me to look deep into my motives, consider the subjects I photograph, and examine the motivations behind the images I create.”

If we knew you growing up, how would we have described you?
I was not an artist in any traditional sense.

I was a troubled kid, a tough kid that grew up street fighting and causing trouble. I am an only child and during my childhood, we moved several times. Sometimes across the city, sometimes across the country. Through that, I learned how to mingle among different groups and types of people and go between teenage social barriers.

I learned how to read people and gain their trust very early in life. A skill that would pay off more times than I’d care to count and allow me to accomplish access to some very interesting people, situations, and occupations throughout my life.

Contact Info:

• Email: green9909@gmail.com
• Website: www.scoundrelstudio.net
• Instagram: @scoundrel_studios

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