Selected dates:

April 7, 1944

Born in the city of Sarapul (USSR, today the Russian Federation).

Victor's childhood and teenage years were spent in Latvia. He was interested in radio electronics, and in high school he was a prize-winner at city and national competitions in volleyball, athletics and speed skating.

1961-1963

He studied at the Faculty of Medicine at the Riga Medical Institute.

1963—1968

He studied at the Vitebsk Medical Institute, completed a clinical residency at the Lvov Medical Institute, advanced training courses in Moscow, Leningrad, Minsk. Specialization and area of ​​scientific interest: oncomorphology.

1962−1968

During student times, the first photographs were created, which were later exhibited at exhibitions. Among these works: "O, tempora! O, mores!", "Portraits of Taisia ​​Avilova", "Dentist's Inspiration", "Cold Beach", "Connoisseur" and series of works: "In the Pskov-Pechora Monastery", "Trouble", part of the series “The Village Through the Eyes of a City Resident”.

1974

Became a member of the Minsk photo club. The head of the photo club, Evgeniy Kozyulya, wrote in 2004: “The philosophy of Victor Butra’s work was formed throughout his entire creative activity, starting in 1957, when the first photographs were taken. He had a great influence on his passion for photography in the early 1960s. the review “Photography” published in Prague. The materials published in it provided an opportunity for self-esteem and improvement of creativity. This was facilitated by joining the “Minsk” photo club, in which an atmosphere of friendly criticism and mutual respect always reigned. As a result, Victor Butra actually headed the direction in the photo club. which can be described as psychological photography ("The Dentist's Inspiration", "Tragic Outcome", "On the Water"). This did not prevent him from being a lyricist ("Chamomile", "Beech Forest", a series of works "Beach")."

Among the factors that influenced the development of his work, Victor names the poetry of those years, poems by Robert Rozhdestvensky, Andrei Voznesensky, films by Tarkovsky and Italian directors.

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Photographer about his practice:

“Photography has always remained just a hobby. But I still remember the episode that changed my understanding of it. Once we agreed to meet with Cortin, already a student at the Riga Polytechnic University. We meet, and he says: “I still need something to do it in the building, I can do it in half an hour. While you look through it..." And he brought two or three issues of the Czech "Photography" from the shelf. From the moment I opened these magazines, something turned upside down in my head, something happened there... Everything was so twisted, it started... When Cortin returned, I could not tear myself away from them. And when we went out onto the streets of Old Riga, everything around me seemed completely different. I was already looking at the world through the prism of those photographs. This happened in 20-30 minutes. "

“If you press the shutter button a few seconds earlier or later, you can put your feelings on the event into the photo. You can emphasize what surprised or excited you.”

“I don’t have a specific attitude, a set of rules that I would constantly follow. Usually you don’t want to somehow become the culprit of trouble for the one you photographed,” he says. “I’m definitely not a photographer, I have a different method of shooting, reportage.” I’m an amateur. Another question is that my works are somewhat poetic. They are layered with something that is received from other spheres and is not realized at the time of shooting. But my photographs are not a pure report, not a blind recording of reality. production. I still wait for my shot, and if it doesn’t work out, I don’t shoot. The images are born from a combination of events and elements that fall into the lens."

"Many shots were taken with a feeling of cold along the spine. When on the verge [...] sometimes some kind of plot arises, but then a picture pops up, yeah, it was already filmed. So it’s gone. There’s no point in filming, because it’s already been shown before you."