About Adam Butler

I am immensely lucky that I have been to able to dedicate myself fully to the magical art of  photography since the mid-1990s. It is a passion that still drives me today, and which I am proud to share here on this website.

I was born in Edinburgh, Scotland, into an artistic, Italian speaking household. I went to school in Edinburgh, and studied at the University of London, at the Courtauld Institute of Art. I am still based in London with my family. I travel regularly to Scotland, and several times a year to our litttle family house on the island of Panarea, off Sicily.

I have been capturing the ever changing skyline of London via panoramic and standard format views, in both colour and black and white, for over 20 years. I utilise a technique of taking multiple shots to create my sweeping urban and architectural views, in order to have immense detail and clarity. Often this entails using long exposures, and the use of architectural tilt shift lenses. I use similar methods to capture cityscapes, landscapes, seascapes and panoramic views of other places I travel to. 

Hundreds of my photographs are in corporate and private collections all across the world. A wide range of my cityscapes and panoramic views, of London and other cities, as well as Mediterranean scenes and views of Panarea and the Aeolian Islands, can be viewed and purchased directly from this website.

For commercial work I have specialized in architecture and interior design photography, whether commercial, residential, public or private. I have worked for over 20 years with a wide variety of architects, interior designers, building companies, bespoke furniture makers and developers, as well as for banks, hotels, restaurants, bars, clubs and showrooms. Many private home owners have also contacted me to create a visual record of their beautiful homes.

I have for almost 40 years been intruigued by the magical art of photographing people, capturing hundreds of personalities. A selection of these can be seen on my portraits page, both commercial and environmental.

I also love to photograph timelapses, especially in the Aeolian Islands. Some of these, including of thunderstorms, erupting volcanoes, comets and stars (sometimes all together) have reached over half a million views on my Facebook page, they’re also on my Youtube page. Don’t miss looking at my Instagram page too! And as they say… like and subscribe also if you enjoy what I have to show.

Technical Information

I use the best equipment available for what I want to achieve. Today, this is a medium format digital camera, the superlative Fujifilm GFX 100 ii, which can create images of spellbinding, breathtaking clarity and detail, notably beyond what all other brand name digital mirrorless cameras can achieve. This clarity and precision has always been a hallmark of my work, since I began shooting on a classic square format Hasselblad film camera in 1992. Images on this website span my artistic journey over 30 years and, before my current Fujifilm equipment, have been captured on medium format Hasselblad cameras, both film and digital, and also on Nikon film and digital cameras. I am now satisfied that my Fujifilm equipment is the the best available equipment for my needs.

I try to avoid the use of zoom lenses as I much prefer the greater optical quality and more practical size of fixed focal length prime lenses. And I resort to tilt shift architectural lenses wherever possible for much of my work. For their creative potential and flexibility these cannot be equalled. 

I started photography in the age of shooting and processing black and white films in dark basements.  I loved those solitary hours alone printing in darkrooms, as there was no cellular reception in the darkroom I used, Beehive Studion in Camden Town, London. Although I loved the alchemy and the magical experience of seeing images appear in processing trays, I was always concerned with the envoronmental impact of the chemicals that I would pour down the drain. These, like the toxic fixers and selenium toners I used, are dangerous to human and aquatic life and come with warning signs printed on the bottles. The horizons of modern digital editing techniques are now not only vastly greater and artistically liberating, but exponentially more environmentally responsible too. I endeavour to remove all toxicity from my work, using now ink giclée printing techniques as opposed to chemical. This also offers richer tones and archival permanence, although it is more expensive.

Every stage of technological progress has been therefore not only wonderfully greener but has also offered incrementally if not exponentially more creative artistic expression. Of course now I meticulously and comprehensively process and edit all of my work in Lightroom and Photoshop, something I really enjoy doing. I think I have mastered all I want to achieve artistically in my images via the digital editing techniques of using luminosity masking, brushing, cloning, layering, blend modes, etc, therefore I feel that currently I have no technical creative need for any sort of AI trickery in my work aside from minimal airbrushings to remove small, extraneous objects, or dust marks. 

My images and features have been published in dozens of books and in the leading interiors, residential architecture and lifestyle magazines worldwide including AD Italia, Casa Vogue, Elle Décor, Diseño Interior, La Mia Casa, Homes and Gardens, House and Gardens, Spazio Casa, Ville e Casali, and many more. 

See my interiors and architectural photography website for examples of my commercial work, and the magazine covers which used my images, and see selection of the clients with whom  I have worked.

I am married to French-Canadian Frédérique, and we have two children, and a mini-schnauzer dog called Maia. When not photographing or editing, or trying to finish this website, I enjoy playing the classical guitar, I keep fit by regularly cycling, running, golfing, swimming and snorkelling.

I also run photography courses, especially on interiors and architectural photography which has proven to be extremely popular.

My late father Vincent Butler was a well known sculptor working in bronze in Edinburgh. My father-in-law is the novelist Roch Carrier, one of the few authors whose books have been taken into space, and who have had a bank note (Canadian $5 bill) based on one of their stories (see below).