Peter Guttman is an American author, photographer, lecturer, television personality and adventurer, was named a Fellow of the Explorers Club, and has traveled on assignment through over 260 countries across seven continents.Top Travel Photo Tips: From Ten Pro Photographers (Allworth Press) New York, New York 2012 pp.102-106https://www.amazon.com/Christmas-America-Photographic-Celebration-Holiday/dp/1510778543/ref=monarch_sidesheet Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website
Early life Peter Guttman was born in Roswell, New Mexicohttp://www.wilsonartcontract.com/peter-guttman/ Article on The Statement Website and grew up in the Fresh Meadows neighborhood of Queens in New York City. As a five-year-old, he received early recognition of his visual skills when his artwork was exhibited at the Lever House on Manhattan's Park Avenue. By the age of twelve, Guttman received notice for engaging in medical research involving the artificial heart. He advanced ideas for the development of an internal power source, and established relationships with such pioneering doctors as Adrian Kantrowitz, Michael DeBakey and Willem Kolff, who invited Peter to spend time with him at the Cleveland Clinic."Embryo Cardiologist." Roche Medical Image 9.1 (February 1967): 24-25
When his newfound interest in photography was sparked, he was given a Nikon camera by his grandmother at age 17. He graduated from Francis Lewis High School and received a degree in geography from Binghamton University, 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 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, 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 Amazonhttp://www.eturbonews.com/4575/brazilian-tourist-board-takes-manhattan-storm-august Article in eTurboNews 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.
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 Travel Publications. He later created both the "Photographic" and "Surprising" hardcover book series for Skyhorse Publishing, pictorial narratives of his global explorations and discoveries. His work has been featured in Calvin Klein and American Express calendars, spreads in Life (magazine) for which he was nominated for an Alfred Eisenstaedt Award for Magazine Photography and has appeared in Conde Nast Traveler, National Geographic Adventure, and Geo.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 Dallas Morning News,http://www.peterguttman.com/dallas.html Article written by Peter Guttman for the travel section of Dallas Morning News New York and Outside 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. In 2022, he was named a Global Ambassador for Low Season Traveller, a new concept for international tourism.https://web.archive.org/web/20230923013428/https://lowseasontraveller.com/global-ambassadors/ Low Season Traveller Global Ambassadors Guttman was named a Fellow of The Explorers Club in 2023, joining the ranks of renowned alumni such as Ernest Shackleton, Jacques Cousteau and Buzz Aldrin.https://www.explorers.org/wp-content/uploads/Approved-Members-List_Jan_14th_2023.pdf Explorer's Club Fellow List He was cited for the "sheer diversity and thoroughness of his exploration experience."https://shows.acast.com/whiskey-and-a-map-true-stories-of-adventure/episodes/695c25f1b1ddb8392c5e4988 Whisky and a Map Podcast Episode
Guttman taught travel photography in New York at the International Center of Photography 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, 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, iPhone and iPod Touch. 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 FavoritesiTunes Rooms With a View HD in the Apple App StoreiTunes Beautiful Planet HD in the Apple App Store and, along with Children Around the World, have gathered numerous honors in the media.https://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/04/10-apps-were-excited-to-try-on-ipad-launch-day/10/ Feature on Wired Websitehttp://www.brighthub.com/education/k-12/articles/89780.aspx Feature on Bright Hub Websitehttps://www.kirkusreviews.com/issue/2012-best-of/section/book-apps/?page=3 Article in Kirkus Reviews In 2008, the coffee table book "Rare" published by Daab included Guttman's portrait in a roster of "amazing individuals" and "people of significance."https://web.archive.org/web/20151208095532if_/http://www.daab-media.com/vnoffice/data/0/0/7/241/Maloney%20-%20RARE.pdf PDF from Publisher's Website 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 Fodor's "To Imagine" series which he created. He later published "Escape to Northern New England" also by Fodor's.
"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, appears in "Top Travel Photo Tips: From Ten Pro Photographers."https://www.amazon.com/Top-Travel-Photo-Tips-Photographers/dp/1581159951 Top Travel Photo Tips: From Ten Pro Photographers on Amazon Website
Guttman also created the "Photographic" series, for Skyhorse Publishing including "Christmas in America: A Photographic Celebration of the Holiday Season," now in its third edition,https://www.amazon.com/dp/1616080965 Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website 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.https://www.amazon.com/Extreme-Adventure-Photographic-Exploration-Experiences/dp/1629147591/ref=sr_1_5?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1393129247&sr=1-5&keywords=peter+guttman Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website 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.https://www.amazon.com/Sea-Photographic-Voyage-Peter-Guttman/dp/1632203308/ref=sr_1_9?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1410496666&sr=1-9&keywords=Peter+Guttman Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website 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.https://www.amazon.com/Children-Around-World-Photographic-Generation/dp/163450383X/ref=pd_bxgy_14_img_3?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=163450383X&pd_rd_r=CS2P7P6EFSGFFTTWS10Y&pd_rd_w=MQza5&pd_rd_wg=OsqmV&psc=1&refRID=CS2P7P6EFSGFFTTWS10Y Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website That book was published in a Japanese edition as well.https://www.amazon.co.jp/exec/obidos/ASIN/4767821576/hanbaiguch081-22 Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website
The third book series created by Guttman debuted in 2024 with the publication of American Character: Surprising Portraits of an Unseen Nation, a critically acclaimedhttps://satwfoundation.org/archives-2025-lowell-thomas-competition/#Awards Lowell Thomas Award Winners peek into various somewhat-obscure cultural lifestyles existing across the United States. Launching the “Surprising” series, this book examines cultures such as the Yupik walrus hunters, Texan rattlesnake wranglers, and Cajun bayou dwellers, among others.https://www.amazon.com/American-Character-Surprising-Portraits-Unseen/dp/1510780416 Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website Guttman’s tenth hardcover book Secret Wonders: Surprising Adventures for the Intrepid Traveler focuses on little-known tourist destinations and travel experiences.https://www.amazon.com/Secret-Wonders-Surprising-Adventures-Intrepid/dp/1510780432/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0 Peter Guttman's Book on Amazon Website
Exhibitions