Benjamin Butin

Benjamin Butin, son of Yoel Butin and Sarah (Leifstein) Butin, passed away on June 25, 2019 at the age of 72. He was born in Riga, Latvia and emigrated to the United States in 1974. He was a cinematographer who pioneered the use of computer-controlled time-lapse film and photography. His work was honored and recognized nationally and internationally, and included four Emmy Awards, four Telly Awards, the International Monitor Award, the CINE Golden Eagle award, and many others. Ben was proud of being an American and would always say that he truly lived the American Dream.

We (his sons: Dan and Eliot) were supposed to bury him and have a ceremony soon after his death, but the start of the pandemic changed everything. So now, finally, we have the chance to close the loop.

First, though, a little history.

Ben had gotten into Latvia University because of his language skills, but focused on film, which had always been his passion. Yet in Latvia (and across the Soviet Union), pervasive antisemitism prevented him from advancing far in the film industry. So at the age of 27 he left Riga with his wife and young son. They were part of the first wave of Russian Jews allowed to leave the Soviet Union in the early 1970s and HIAS (the Hebrew Immigrant Aid Society) helped them get out. (Just because they were “allowed” to leave, though, doesn’t mean it was easy. They had to sell all their belongings, were allowed to only take one suitcase, and had their passports stolen days before departure.) 

HIAS placed them in Rome, where they spent three months waiting to figure out where they would be resettled. The way Ben told the story, a HIAS representative told them they could resettle in Atlanta, but they were skeptical as they had no clue where Atlanta was, as Canada and Australia were their first choices. “No way!” Ben had exclaimed when the HIAS representative pointed it out on a map. But as soon as he heard that there were three TV stations, he immediately changed his mind and said “yes.” (The context here is that there was just a single TV station in all of Latvia; no one from the Soviet Union could imagine that there could be more than one of anything, whether that be a type of cereal, car, or TV station.)

A week after they arrived, he had a job. In part this was because he hustled, going to each TV station to ask about work in his broken English; in part it was because Ted Turner was just launching WTBS -- his “Super Station,” that would go on to become the model for cable news -- and he could hire Ben at the minimum wage. (What just-off-the-boat immigrant could refuse? His resume was a simple folded sheet of paper with his credentials scrawled on it.) He stayed with Turner Broadcasting for 15 years, becoming one of their principal cameramen and the Director of Photography. He filmed countless documentaries, magazine shows, and public affairs features. He would always say that his most memorable experience was serving as the cameraman for Turner’s “Good News,” where he traveled around the world doing human interest stories and interviewing luminaries such as Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher, President Jimmy Carter, Willie Nelson, and many others. Because of his Russian background, Turner asked Ben to film the Goodwill Games in Moscow. Another highlight from those years was that Ben was in the CNN newsroom on January 28, 1986, filming a regular promotional commercial when the Space Shuttle Challenger exploded. At the time, CNN was the only 24-hour news network, and Ben’s behind-the-scenes footage became the centerpiece of CNN’s calling card for powerful coverage of events as they occurred. 

Ben left Turner in 1987 to start his own company – with his second wife Judi -- that focused on his cinematographic expertise. Together, and then independently, Ben worked on everything from primetime commercials to movies to documentaries. For many years, his stock footage (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCOruxwbObawWBzFg4DDgG1w) and time lapse photography (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyVSf-zoD7o) set the standard for cinematic quality. And yet, ironically enough, his embrace of technology turned out to also be his undoing. The rise of digital photography dramatically transformed the television and movie industries in the late 1990s and early 2000s. While he kept abreast of this, in the end he was an old-school cinematographer in an iphone world. 

Ben retired down to Lecanto, Florida in 2014, bought a pontoon boat, and dedicated himself to his lifelong love of photography, fishing, and being out on the water. You can see some of his photography here (https://www.viewbug.com/member/benbutin) and here (https://www.flickr.com/photos/132046987@N07/). He leaves behind his brother, Meir Butin (and his partner Sofya Gramn), his two sons, Dan Sarofian-Butin (and his wife Amy Sarofian-Butin) and Eliot Butin, two grandchildren and many other relatives.

He is buried at Arlington Memorial Park in Sandy Springs, GA. You can see pictures of his life and read and share stories at https://www.mykeeper.com/momentos/BenjaminButin/.