One of the NBA’s premier photographers, Nathaniel Butler, who helped establish the league’s photo department in the early 1980s alongside Andrew Bernstein, will share his visual chronicles at Vroman’s Bookstore in Pasadena next week.
The free event on Wednesday, Dec. 11, from 7 to 8 p.m., will feature Butler discussing and signing his new book, “Courtside: 40 Years of NBA Photography.”
Butler’s collection spans basketball’s most memorable moments, from Michael Jordan’s dynasty years through Victor Wembanyama’s rookie season.
“I do consider myself kind of after all of these years, being a historian of the NBA and documenting the different players and the different time periods over four decades of work,” Butler said. “There’s always a new latest, greatest. It’s very important to remember the people that came before you.”
Butler, whose passion for photography began at age 12, started his career as an apprentice at Sports Illustrated, learning from legendary photographers Manny Millan and Walter Iooss.
“One of my favorite images is – there’s an image of Michael Jordan after he won his sixth championship,” he recalled. “He’s holding up his hand with five fingers on one hand and doing number one with the other to signify his sixth championship. It’s literally a split second.”
The book, conceived during the pandemic while examining his vast archive, features commentary from basketball legends including Patrick Ewing, Steph Curry, Jeremy Lin, and Victor Wembanyama.
Butler’s innovative lighting techniques have captured current stars like LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Victor Wembanyama, whom Butler describes as “just remarkable” due to his athleticism.
“He can go up and get a block or a dunk, or he could simply make a crazy pass for someone who is seven foot five or something,” Butler said.
The technological evolution in Butler’s career spans dramatic changes.
“When I first started, I started shooting black and white film,” he said. “To fast forward, now we’re shooting digital and not shooting film any longer, but all of our cameras are tethered to the NBA in Secaucus. When I hit the camera button, they have editors throughout the night in Secaucus that get those images in two seconds.”
Butler takes particular pride in his group photographs, especially the NBA’s 50th and 75th anniversary shots, which captured multiple generations of basketball greatness in single frames.
The event on Wednesday at Vroman’s offers Southern California basketball fans a rare opportunity to meet a primary visual historian of the NBA.
