A doctor with a passion

Morning starts early for a doctor, and a day never ends at a hospital.
Life consists of snapshots of time: He rolls out of bed; a car crashes. He splashes his face; a heart stops beating. He squints to focus his face in the mirror; a baby is born. Khayree Butler is a physician and a photographer. He saves lives and captures it at the same time.
These days, Butler’s time is filled with countless hospital consults, the morbid task of writing notes, and the occasional opportunity to hold retractors during a surgery, but every chance he gets, he sneaks out towards nature and loses himself in his pictures.
You could say Butler grew up surrounded by art. Born in southern Maryland to an artist mother and a carpenter father Khayree knew what it was like to create beauty from an early age.
After high school graduation, Butler attended Florida Institute of Technology and majored in marine biology, and it was during his time at FIT that photography entered Butler’s life. In his sophomore year of college, he began taking casual pictures around the marine lab and on the North Carolina coast. Butler was suddenly and irreversibly drawn to the medium.
During his junior year at FIT, Butler realized he needed a little more human interaction with his future job. After shadowing the doctor who performed his grandfather’s hernia surgery, Khayree decided to pursue a career in medicine. Butler is quick to point out that Zach Braff had a little to do with it, too.
“I was watching Scrubs,” Butler laughed, “and I thought, ‘You know, I could do that!’”
And so began the long road to where he is today, finishing up his intern year of residency at the University of Florida. He will be the first one to tell you it is no accident they call it “residency.” Until six years ago, young physicians were staying at the hospital for an excess of 120 hours each week. It was their residence. Now, government has mandated they work no longer than 80 hours per week. As hard as one may try to stay within the boundaries of these limitations, many interns and residents smudge the lines when filling out the required paper work, and for Butler, it is no different.
Residents at the University of Florida have are used to the physical exhaustion, but they can also be affected emotionally and spiritually. This year, the program has had residents be hospitalized, and some young physicians have even had quit secondary to depression. For the ones attempting to hold their head high and trudge through, it is necessary to lean on something. Some lean on family, others lean on friends, and some, including Khayree, simply look for a diversion.
“When I was in college, if I got stressed, I would surf. It was just me and my board out in the water, and my only focus was on the next wave coming in,” Butler said.
These days, instead of grabbing a surf board, Khayree reaches for his camera. Wanting to take advantage of every free moment, even though they are few and far between, Khayree heads towards nature and what has become his sanctuary. He is able to take reprieve in the art form.
“I just go out, and it is all about me and the camera, nothing else matters. I am thinking about exposures and lenses. I see people fishing on the lake and birds flying overhead,” Butler says. “I guess it is where we escape.”
Back at the hospital, Butler is constantly making decisions in a split second. This takes creativity. The same goes for photography and its fleeting moments of significance. However, the relationship between medicine and art does not end at inventiveness. A good surgeon sees in 3D, Butler explains, and an artist must do the same.
“Art is about spatial relationships, and in surgery, spatial relationships are the hardest part. It is one of those things you have to master.”
Butler admits that it is hard to always see the end product of your work but says there are moments that worlds collide and your efforts are rewarded by a beautiful creation.
“A lot of taking pictures is simply allowing yourself to see the photo. There is always something beautiful. For example, I took a picture of a tree. From one perspective, it is just a tree sitting in water, and then you look at it from another and it looks like a duck that turns into an octopus at the end. You can turn something ordinary into something that has a meaning.”
Even though his art captures his creativity and imagination, for now, Butler’s plan is to pursue a career in general surgery.
If he had to choose between being a world renowned surgeon or a famous photographer, Khayree’s heart still lies with his patients.
“Right now, photography is what I do for fun. I am not trying to change the world with it. If I have done something to be a world renowned surgeon, I have helped a lot of folks.”