Peter Guttman is an American author,

photographer A photographer (the Greek language, Greek φῶς (''phos''), meaning "light", and γραφή (''graphê''), meaning "drawing, writing", together meaning "drawing with light") is a person who makes photographs. Duties and types of photographe ...

, lecturer, television personality and adventurer who has traveled on assignment through over 230 countries and seven continents.Top Travel Photo Tips: From Ten Pro Photographers (Allworth Press) New York, New York 2012 pp.102-106

Early life

Peter Guttman was born in

Roswell, New Mexico Roswell () is a city in, and the County seat, seat of, Chaves County, New Mexico, Chaves County in the U.S. state of New Mexico. Chaves County forms the entirety of the List of micropolitan areas in New Mexico, Roswell micropolitan area. As of ...

http://www.wilsonartcontract.com/peter-guttman/ Article on ''The Statement'' Website and grew up in the

Fresh Meadows Fresh Meadows is a neighborhood in the northeastern section of the New York City borough of Queens. Fresh Meadows used to be part of the broader town of Flushing and is bordered to the north by the Horace Harding Expressway; to the west by Pomo ...

neighborhood of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. As a five-year-old, he received early recognition of his visual skills when his artwork was exhibited at the

Lever House Lever House is a office building at 390 Park Avenue (Manhattan), Park Avenue in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. The building was designed in the International style (architecture), International Style by Gordon Bunshaft a ...

on Manhattan's Park Avenue. By the age of twelve, Guttman received notice for engaging in medical research involving the

artificial heart An artificial heart is a device that replaces the heart. Artificial hearts are typically used to bridge the time to heart transplantation, or to permanently replace the heart in the case that a heart transplant (from a deceased human or, experi ...

. He advanced ideas for the development of an internal power source, and established relationships with such pioneering doctors as

Adrian Kantrowitz Adrian Kantrowitz (October 4, 1918 – November 14, 2008) was an American cardiac surgeon whose team performed the world's second heart transplant attempt (after Christiaan Barnard) at Maimonides Medical Center in Brooklyn, New York on December 6, ...

Michael DeBakey Michael Ellis DeBakey (September 7, 1908 – July 11, 2008) was a Lebanese-American general and cardiovascular surgeon, scientist and medical educator who became Chairman of the Department of Surgery, President, and Chancellor of Baylor College ...

and

Willem Kolff Willem Johan "Pim" Kolff (February 14, 1911 – February 11, 2009) was a pioneer of hemodialysis, artificial heart, as well as in the entire field of artificial organs. Willem was a member of the Kolff family, an old Dutch patrician fam ...

, who invited Peter to spend time with him at the

Cleveland Clinic Cleveland Clinic is a nonprofit American academic medical center based in Cleveland, Ohio. Owned and operated by the Cleveland Clinic Foundation, an Ohio nonprofit corporation established in 1921, it runs a 170-acre (69 ha) campus in Cleveland, ...

. When his newfound interest in

photography Photography is the art, application, and practice of creating durable images by recording light, either electronically by means of an image sensor, or chemically by means of a light-sensitive material such as photographic film. It is employed ...

was sparked, he was given a Nikon camera by his grandmother at age 17. He graduated from

Francis Lewis High School Francis Lewis High School (FLHS) is a selective public high school located in Fresh Meadows, in the New York City borough of Queens. It is one of the most-applied-to public high schools in New York City with 9,468 applicants in 2016. Operated by t ...

and received a degree in geography from

Binghamton University The State University of New York at Binghamton (Binghamton University or SUNY Binghamton) is a public university, public research university with campuses in Binghamton, New York, Binghamton, Vestal, New York, Vestal, and Johnson City, New Yor ...

, where his unconventional dormitory room was transformed into installation art of hand-built kinetic machines and collected objects amassed from early travels, becoming a must-see tourist attraction which received newspaper coverage. Hours before his university graduation ceremony, Guttman went skydiving, jump-starting a lifetime of collecting adventurous experiences. As a graduate, extensive tour guiding experience across

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

helped develop his storytelling skills.

Career

Guttman is a visual storyteller seeking out the world's hidden corners through decades-long explorations. His body of work, which often investigates indigenous peoples and exotic wildlife, is supplemented by substantial elements of writing and research while employing innovative shooting techniques. Long before the

GoPro GoPro, Inc. (marketed as GoPro and sometimes stylized as GoPRO) is an American technology company founded in 2002 by Nick Woodman. It manufactures action cameras and develops its own mobile apps and video-editing software. Founded as Woodman La ...

, drones and selfie sticks, he would create surrealistic mid-air suspension shots, either utilizing his tripod as a fishing rod or attaching his camera to the wings of Allagash Wilderness floatplanes or the sails of Mojave Desert land yachts. During his global travels, he has climbed the riggings of tall ships, hiked onto volcanic lava flows, tracked gorillas in tropical rain forests and chased tornadoes across the great plains.Kodak Guide to Shooting Great Travel Pictures (Fodor's Travel Publications) New York, New York 2000 pp.24-29 His adventures have led him to summit Mount Kilimanjaro in Africa, swim with pink dolphins in the Amazon and sail an icebreaker to the North Pole. His images include Antarctic penguin colonies, Papua New Guinea tribesmen, indigenous Arctic nomads and camel adventures through the Namib desert. Primarily shooting film, Guttman's images often depicted the pre-digital societies of wrangling cowboys, eel trappers and rattlesnake hunters, attempting to capture their cultural iconography.https://www.yourartgallery.com/past-featured-artist/?username=Peter-Guttman&month=December%202015 Feature in ''Your Art Gallery'' Guttman is the creator of the influential "To Imagine" hardcover book series, a visual chronicle of magical lodging, adventures and experiences around the world, published by

Fodor's Fodor's is a publisher of English language travel and tourism information. Fodor's Travel and Fodors.com are divisions of Internet Brands. History Founder Eugene Fodor was a keen traveler, but felt that the guidebooks of his time were boring ...

Travel Publications. He later created the "Photographic" book series for Skyhorse Publishing, pictorial narratives of his global explorations and discoveries. His work has been featured in

Calvin Klein Calvin Richard Klein (born November 19, 1942) is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc., in 1968. In addition to clothing, he also has given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and ...

and

American Express American Express Company (Amex) is an American multinational corporation specialized in payment card services headquartered at 200 Vesey Street in the Battery Park City neighborhood of Lower Manhattan in New York City. The company was found ...

calendars, spreads in

Life (magazine) ''Life'' was an American magazine published weekly from 1883 to 1972, as an intermittent "special" until 1978, and as a monthly from 1978 until 2000. During its golden age from 1936 to 1972, ''Life'' was a wide-ranging weekly general-interest ma ...

for which he was nominated for an Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography and has appeared in

Conde Nast Traveler Conde may refer to: Places United States * Conde, South Dakota, a city France * Condé-sur-l'Escaut (or simply 'Condé'), a commune Linguistic ''Conde'' is the Ibero-Romance form of "count" (Latin ''comitatus''). It may refer to: * Count ...

National Geographic Adventure Nat Geo People was an international pay television channel owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). Targeted at female audiences, with programming fo ...

, and

Geo Geo- is a prefix derived from the Greek word ''γη'' or ''γαια'', meaning "earth", usually in the sense of "ground or land”. GEO or Geo may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media * ''GEO'' (magazine), a popular scientific magazine ...

.http://www.kodak.com/ek/US/en/tips_from_pros/peter_guttman.htm Feature on ''Kodak'' Website Guttman has also penned stories for

The Los Angeles Times ''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the m ...

The Dallas Morning News ''The Dallas Morning News'' is a daily newspaper serving the Dallas–Fort Worth area of Texas, with an average print circulation of 65,369. It was founded on October 1, 1885 by Alfred Horatio Belo as a satellite publication of the ''Galvesto ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

and

Outside Outside or Outsides may refer to: General * Wilderness * Outside (Alaska), any non-Alaska location, as referred to by Alaskans Books and magazines * ''Outside'', a book by Marguerite Duras * ''Outside'' (magazine), an outdoors magazine Film, th ...

magazines, among others.http://www.hotelresortinsider.com/news_story.php?news_id=134221&cat_id=9 Article in ''Hotel and Resort Insider'' In 2019, his circuitous career path and quest to attain a lifetime tightly packed with experiences were chronicled in his well regarded TEDx talk, "Ensuring Your Soul Doesn't Grow Gray Before Your Hair Does," given at the 1,170-seat Osterhout Concert Theater in Binghamton University's Anderson Center. Guttman taught travel photography in New York at the

International Center of Photography The International Center of Photography (ICP), at 79 Essex Street on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, New York City, consists of a museum for photography and visual culture and a school offering an array of educational courses and programming. ...

and his frequent slide show lectures have been met with wide national attention. His career as a travel journalist has been profiled on A&E Television and he has appeared on NBC's Today, CNN Travel Guide and the Travel Channel. In a 2009 Kodak tribute to

Kodachrome Kodachrome is the brand name for a color reversal film introduced by Eastman Kodak in 1935. It was one of the first successful color materials and was used for both cinematography and still photography. For many years Kodachrome was widely used ...

, on the occasion of the film's retirement after 74 years, Guttman was one of three photographers specifically referenced on their website as one of the "world's greatest photographers" and his work with that film was displayed in both slide shows and podcasts. Hundreds of Guttman's images and extensive text comprise innovative multimedia presentations on a series of applications designed for the

iPad The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...

, iPhone and

iPod Touch The iPod Touch (stylized as iPod touch) is a discontinued line of iOS-based mobile devices designed and marketed by Apple Inc. with a touchscreen-controlled user interface. As with other iPod models, the iPod Touch can be used as a music pl ...

. Best selling Beautiful Planet HDhttp://njmonthly.com/articles/lifestyle/people/tusk-love.html Article in ''New Jersey Monthly'' Magazine and Rooms with a View have been featured by Apple as Staff Favoriteshttps://itunes.apple.com/us/app/rooms-with-a-view/id392550595?mt=8 Rooms With a View HD in the ''Apple App Store''https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/beautiful-planet-hd-for-ipad/id363660568?mt=8 Beautiful Planet HD in the ''Apple App Store'' and, along with Children Around the World, have gathered numerous honors in the media.https://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/2012-best-of/section/book-apps/?page=3 Article in ''Kirkus Reviews'' In 2008, the

coffee table book A coffee table book, also known as a cocktail table book, is an oversized, usually hard-covered book whose purpose is for display on a table intended for use in an area in which one entertains guests and from which it can serve to inspire convers ...

"Rare" published by Daab included Guttman's portrait in a roster of "amazing individuals" and "people of significance." His work has been seen at museums, amongst films, on postage stamps and in the collection of both astronauts and international royalty.

Books

Guttman is the author of "Nights to Imagine: Magical Places to Stay in America," "Adventures to Imagine: Thrilling Escapes in North America" and "Worlds to Imagine: Dream Journeys for Romantic Travelers," comprising the

"To Imagine" series which he created. He later published "Escape to Northern New England" also by

. "Peter Guttman: Faces of the World," a complete chapter of the "Kodak Guide to Shooting Great Travel Pictures" featured his career and portrait work. A chapter about Guttman's work and accomplishments, based on interviews with the

New York Institute of Photography The New York Institute of Photography (or NYIP) is a for-profit online school based out of New York City, offering different courses in photography to students all over the world. NYIP currently offers ten courses in photography. History The New ...

, appears in "Top Travel Photo Tips: From Ten Pro Photographers." Guttman also created the "Photographic" series, for

Skyhorse Publishing Skyhorse Publishing, Inc. is an American independent book publishing company founded in 2006 and headquartered in New York City, with a satellite office in Brattleboro, Vermont. History The current president and publisher is founder Tony Lyo ...

including "Christmas in America: A Photographic Celebration of the Holiday Season" now in its second edition as well as Guttman's sixth hardcover book, "Extreme Adventure: A Photographic Exploration of Wild Experiences" which includes ice climbing in the Rockies, land yachting in the Mojave Desert and scaling the girders of Australia's Sydney Harbour Bridge. His seventh book, "By the Sea: A Photographic Voyage Around the Blue Planet" portrays earth's nautical cultures from canoe flotillas of grass-skirted warriors in Irian Jaya to mailboat journeys through Norwegian fjords. Guttman's eighth book, "Children Around the World: A Photographic Treasury of the Next Generation" provides a comprehensive survey of the planet's youth, and a roster of their intriguing, exotic habitats that range widely from Saudi Arabia to Mali. That book was published in a Japanese edition as well.

Exhibitions

In 2005, an exhibition of his work, "The Magical Worlds of Peter Guttman" was shown at the

American Film Festival American Film Festival is a film festival held annually in October in Wrocław, Poland. The first festival was held from 20 to 24 October 2010. The festival is organized by Stowarzyszenie Nowe Horyzonty and co-funded by the Wroclaw Municipality a ...

Deauville Deauville () is a commune in the Calvados department, Normandy, northwestern France. Major attractions include its harbour, race course, marinas, conference centre, villas, Grand Casino, and sumptuous hotels. The first Deauville Asian Film Fes ...

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

and in 2006, Guttman had a solo photographic retrospective of his work at

Sotheby's Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, and ...

, where he was the first living artist to be honored with an entire floor featuring his work. His photographic images of the Amazon were featured in a 2008 exhibition at the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

. In 2014, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China, Guttman's work was featured in a major exhibition of the world's most influential photographers assembled by Kodak Alaris and the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. Later that year, he made a joint appearance at the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film with his teenage son Chase Guttman, himself a frequent winner of international awards for travel photography. In 2018, Binghamton University Art Museum mounted a major retrospective of his photography, "Beautiful Pictures" which included a main gallery projection of Guttman's iPad app "Beautiful Planet" as well as a live performance of original orchestral pieces composed with inspiration derived from his photography. An accompanying focus exhibition, "Peter Guttman: Collection as Self Portrait" recreates his New York City living room, this exhibit was curated in part by Dr. Pamela Smart, and several of the museum studies program students including Taylor Hayes, Ashley Blake, Jenna Valone, and Maxx Mercogliano.

Awards

Guttman's work in magazines, newspapers and books have resulted three times in him being honored as the Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year, awarded by the Society of American Writers. "Adventures to Imagine" won the Benjamin Franklin Award as Best Travel Guide and was cited in "The Experience Economy: Work Is Theater & Every Business a Stage" (Harvard Business School Press) as a landmark indication of society's new emphasis on experiences. Guttman twice received the Northern Lights Award for Excellence in Travel Journalism and Photography for his iPhone and iPad apps, Rooms with a View, and the number one bestselling iPad travel app Beautiful Planet HD. Beautiful Planet HD was also named by NBC News as one of "eight outstanding apps" for students. In 2012, Children Around the World, created for the iPad, was selected as one of the "Best Book Apps of 2012" from Kirkus Reviews. In 2013 Guttman was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York Travel Writers Society. Guttman was a finalist in the international Travel Photographer of the Year 2013 competition. Guttman received a 2014 George Eastman Power of the Image Award in conjunction with a photography exhibition, Power of the Image, at the Temple of Heaven in Beijing, China when he was cited as one of twenty of the world's most influential photographers. Binghamton University honored Guttman with their inaugural Alumni Achievement Award in 2015, recognizing decades of "outstanding, significant professional achievement" and in describing the event in their magazine, recognized his extensive research abilities, noting that "before Google there was Guttman." Guttman received the 2017 Walter Cronkite Award for Excellence in Exploration and Storytelling, an honor awarded to both him and his son Chase Guttman.

References

External links

Peter Guttman's Website

Peter Guttman's Instagram

Peter Guttman's Books

Peter Guttman's iPad App- Beautiful Planet HD

Peter Guttman's TEDx Talk

Peter Guttman's Gallery at 32 Fine Arts

Peter Guttman's YouTube Channel

Peter Guttman's Photography Tips at Kodak
{{DEFAULTSORT:Guttman, Peter American travel writers Travel photographers Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American television personalities Male television personalities Photography academics Photographers from New York (state) Writers from New York (state) People from Roswell, New Mexico Binghamton University alumni 20th-century American photographers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 20th-century American male writers American male non-fiction writers