Longtime NBA Photographer Nathaniel S. Butler Explains How He Sees Basketball

The Defector basketball chat was captivated by a sequence of artfully stage-lit photos in Game 1 of the Knicks-Sixers playoff series at Madison Square Garden. They were the work of Nathaniel S. Butler, senior official photographer for the NBA. Butler has shot the league from up close for over 40 years, from the era of cigarette smoke to the era of outthrust smartphones, and he compiled some of those images in a 2024 book titled Courtside. I caught up with him last week to talk about how he crafts these images and finds new ways to look at the game. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. We were admiring some shots you took at MSG during this series. In particular, we really loved the ones where the foreground is softly lit, and the background is so stark and dark. What is it about MSG and the lighting setup there that allows you to capture these images?