Catch the cuteness: Halloween ‘Picture Fairy’ on duty at Richland library
They came, right on schedule, costumed youngsters who filled the Richland Public Library foyer with Halloween adorableness.
A group of baby pigs and a pair of dinosaurs. An infant experiencing Halloween for the first time, nestled in his dad’s arms in an Oscar the Grouch costume, complete with garbage can lid.
For 16 years, Richland photographer Scott Butner has celebrated Halloween by offering professional portraits of children and their families in costume. He typically photographs about 300 subjects.
He posts images on his social media pages and invites families to download them for free.
This could be the last year for the tradition Butner calls A Picture Fairy Halloween. Now in his late 60s, he said age and ongoing medical issues make it difficult to carry out the physically demanding work.
Butner retired from the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory in 2013 and revived his professional photography career.
Butner said he’ll keep going as long as he can, but he said faltering stamina may force him to end his run this year.
He poses his subjects against a white backdrop. That keeps the focus on the kids and their costumes. Butner photographs them while sitting on the floor, at kid level.
Instead of getting up and down this year, he mostly kept to the floor.
Parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and nannies positioned themselves over his right shoulder. They waved arms and barked orders in mostly futile attempts to coax poses and smiles out of the youngsters.
The results are candid images that capture unexpected expressions and interactions, not always intended.
His first subject when the doors opened at 10:30 a.m. was, suitably enough, a Halloween first-timer.
Elianna, 10 months, decked out in a kitten onesie, snuggled in the arms of her mother, Lexi Cain.
Elianna’s very young uncles — 2 and 4 — were next. The boys wore matching dinosaur costumes and roared gamely at the people around them.
Viviana and Isaiah Summers of Richland brought their youngest, Zavion, 2 months, for his first-ever Halloween pictures.
The infant snoozed in an Oscar the Grouch costume. Mom and Dad planned to don Elmo and Cookie Monster costumes later to complete the Sesame Street family costume.
Krisheena Stajduhar holds the record for the most visits to Butner’s Halloween Fairy studio. Butner took her wedding photos.
For years, she brought her dog, Ellie, in a witch costume, to have her portrait taken. She figures she’s missed only two sessions.
This year, Ellie, had company, Stajduhar’s son, a 2-1/2 year-old wizard.
The picture fairy
Butner said his stint as the Halloween Picture Fairy began on a whim in 2009.
He’d stopped by Some Bagels in Uptown Shopping Center and found employees in costume.
He offered to photograph them, for fun.
The following year, Butner and his wife didn’t just pass out treats to trick-or-treaters, they invited family and friends to stop in for photographs.
By 2011 the tradition was official, with Butner welcoming his subjects to his studio.
He closed his studio after his 2016 diagnosis with a form of leukemia – controlled by medication – and began holding court at the library.
Butner said that although the day-long photo marathon can be exhausting, he looks forward to it each year.
“Some of the costumes are so great! Especially the ones that people put a lot of time and effort into,” he said.
Follow Scott Butner Photography on Facebook.
This story was originally published October 31, 2025 at 1:32 PM.