Tag: photographer

Kimberly Butler Spotlight

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I would spend years going to places all over the FSU (the former Soviet Union). Then there was Chechnaya. It started like every other airlift at the airport. People crying, saying goodbye, and excitement for the freedom from persecution that was to come. Our Israeli contact told us he was taking these people to Jerusalem, and would be back in 2 days. In the meantime, my assistant and I would stay with these 2 local bodyguards, and one Israeli who was stationed there.

“We want to take you to a privately owned Restaurant! They have great oxtail soup!” One of them said. Bells and whistles started to go off in my head. I wasn’t touching the soup. The guy next to me asks why. “I’m a vegetarian.” He sticks his hand, with his long dirty fingernails into the bowl, takes it out, and says, “Now, it’s vegetarian!”

Ok, this isn’t going to be as easy as I thought. My assistant and I both sensed the danger. I am going to skip a lot of frightening details, and just say we managed to get back to the hotel. We holed up through the night and escaped at 5am. A taxi got us to the airport. “Ok, who’s going to Moscow?” I yelled out in this tiny waiting area. A Pilot came over, I “gifted him appropriately, and off we went.”  Wheels up, and I could breathe. There’s a lot more to this story, including an Israeli Commander who kept denying he was a spy. This was followed by a romantic interlude that would stretch from the ice of Russia to the romantic desert winds of the Middle East. But you’ll have to wait for the memoirs.

Featured Artist: Lenny Stucker

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My career led to television.  I worked for NBC and I advanced quickly. I became the youngest director at NBC, and I directed Super Bowls and major events.  I had a wonderful career, very exciting, a lot of creativity. When I retired, I felt a tremendous void of a creative outlet, so I got back into my photography. I sit on the Commission of Suffolk County film Commission, where one of the other people, an owner of East Hampton TV,  invited me to come out to East Hampton and watch their televised productions, which were major events such as Polo matches, and the Hampton Classic which is a horse show.

I started doing photography at these events just for the fun of it because I was already retired.  I wasn’t looking for another career, but from 12 years old, photography was my love.