#18 - Barry Butler - Turning Negatives Into Positives

Barry Butler is an internationally published landscape photographer.

Known as “Chicago’s Picture Poet”, Barry Butler’s remarkable photographs have appeared everywhere: from television, books, billboards, to album covers of rock bands. His images have been featured on the Weather Channel, CNN, and every local news affiliate in Chicago.

The Huffington Post has even recognized Barry’s work as top’s in Chicago photography.

Born in Ireland, Barry Butler immigrated to Chicago as a child with his parents in search of a better life.

Barry describes his life as series of “turning negatives into positives.”

A self-taught photographer, Barry picked up a camera for the first time after a breaking his collar bone playing ice hockey to stay active while he recovered from his injury.

Barry started taking images of the Windy City to practice his new hobby. He started to post them to social media where they soon started drawing local, national, then international attention. It’s not uncommon for Barry to post a photo on Facebook and it received thousands of likes and hundreds comments in only a few hours.

Barry and I discuss what it was like to immigrate to the USA, how a series of “negative” events led has to positive outcomes and why his late father is still his hero.

Barry shares how he starts each day 2 hours before sunrise and why the Chicago winters, sometimes -50 degrees below zero are his favorite time of the year.

Barry also shares some tips on how the average person can take professional looking pictures

We also get into some serious deep life questions like who a better front man for Van Halen was – David Lee Roth or Sammy Hager, the book that most inspires him and how photography (like life) is all about persistence and creativity.

So…

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We have a bunch of cool interviews, like this one, to come.

Enjoy my conversation with Barry Butler – Amazing Landscape photographer, and author of the book “Chicago, A City Above All.”

And remember… “Life is built, not born…”

Mentioned In this Episode:

Website: www.BarryButlerPhotography.com

Book: Green Eggs and Ham

Album: Best of Both Worlds (Van Halen’s Greatest Hits)

Lowlights: 2010 NHL Stanley Cup Finals