David Guttenfelder Photography

A recent picture of mine from the North Korean border town of...

Sun, 12 May 2013 23:58:01 +0900

A recent picture of mine from the North Korean border town of Kaesong got double-page display in this week’s TIME magazine. Here’s an essay about the photo on the magazine’s Lightbox Tumblr.

Here’s a excerpt:

“I think that the photo is interesting because you can only see the exclamation point — it makes you begin to understand how ubiquitous the propaganda is inside North Korea. At the same time, there is a very noticeable absence of advertising there. In New York, we live with several-story-tall underwear ads looming above us. There, it’s the constant reminder of the regime at every corner.”

For more of my recent North Korea coverage, take a look at TIME’s Lightbox blog

The traveling exhibition War/Photography will be at the...

Sun, 12 May 2013 22:01:00 +0900

The traveling exhibition War/Photography will be at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles until June 2nd when it heads to the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. and the Brooklyn Museum.

WAR/PHOTOGRAPHY encompasses over 150 images going as far back as 1887 through present-day and is arranged by themes presenting both the military and civilian point of view including the advent of war, daily routines, the fight itself, the aftermath, medical care, prisoners of war, refugees, executions, memorials, remembrance and more.

Video link here

The 2013 International Center for Photography Infinity Award for...

Wed, 01 May 2013 00:00:00 +0900

The 2013 International Center for Photography Infinity Award for Photojournalism.

The use of everyday photography, even in times of tension. A...

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 21:52:00 +0900

The use of everyday photography, even in times of tension. A profile of my North Korea pictures on NBC Nightly News.

The @natgeo Instagram account was the honored recipient of a...

Wed, 10 Apr 2013 06:57:03 +0900

The @natgeo Instagram account was the honored recipient of a Shorty Award (@shortyawards) for best brand presence on Instagram. We beat out other finalists MTV and Oreo cookies. Oreos on Instagram?

I just arrived in #Pyongyang. I wonder if there’s anything good...

Tue, 09 Apr 2013 20:58:00 +0900

I just arrived in #Pyongyang. I wonder if there’s anything good on TV tonight?

Looking back on Iraq TIME Lightbox A Decade of War in Iraq: The...

Wed, 20 Mar 2013 00:06:00 +0900

Looking back on Iraq

TIME Lightbox A Decade of War in Iraq: The Images That Moved Them Most

Marking a decade of war in Iraq. I’m posting a set of my...

Sun, 17 Mar 2013 00:10:00 +0900

Marking a decade of war in Iraq. I’m posting a set of my pictures taken in Iraq in 2003.

Marking a decade of war in Iraq. I’m posting a set of my...

Sat, 16 Mar 2013 00:06:00 +0900

Marking a decade of war in Iraq. I’m posting a set of my pictures taken in Iraq in 2003.

My North Korea iPhone photography is now being featured by the...

Fri, 22 Feb 2013 17:38:00 +0900

My North Korea iPhone photography is now being featured by the instagram folks on their blog at http://blog.instagram.com and on their account at http://instagram.com/instagram

Or check out my own instagram feed here where I’ve been posting geolocated iPhone and iPod touch pictures from inside North Korea since the beginning of 2013.

This past week marked my 20th trip to North Korea. It started in 2000 when I accompanied then-US Secretary of State Madelline Albright’s visit to meet the late leader Kim Jong Il. During that trip, we were told not to take photos from the bus we traveled in and my hotel window was covered with a black plastic sheet.

So, fast forward to this past week when North Korea’s mobile phone service provider, Koryolink, announced that foreigners visiting North Korea will be allowed to bring in their phones and can connect to the internet on the DPRK’s 3G network.

It’s a powerful way to connect directly with the outside world from one of the most isolated countries in the world. The window on to North Korea has been opened a small crack.

Meanwhile for all North Koreans who will not be allowed access to the same services, the window remains firmly shut.

Here are a few other links to sites talking about the instagram pictures and new acceptance of 3G in the DPRK.

NPR’s The Picture Show

A Q&A on National Geographic Newswatch

Track via Storify

Collections of some new Associated Press pictures made during my...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0900

Collections of some new Associated Press pictures made during my latest trips to North Korea.

AP’s “The Big Story” blog

USA Today

The Miami Herald

A cool post on Gawker titled I Can’t Stop Staring At These...

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:00:00 +0900

A cool post on Gawker titled I Can’t Stop Staring At These Instagrams From North Korea about my Instagram posts from inside the DPRK this year.

I’m proud to post that I’ve been honored with the...

Sun, 03 Feb 2013 12:29:00 +0900

I’m proud to post that I’ve been honored with the 2013 International Center of Photography Infinity Prize for photojournalism. Please follow this link to their website to see a list of all of this year’s winners, including the legend David Goldblatt and my friend Kitra Cahana.

See here some of the results of a year-long project with a...

Wed, 26 Dec 2012 00:53:00 +0900

See here some of the results of a year-long project with a Hasselbald XPAN camera inside North Korea.

Read AP Asia correspondent Tim Sullivan’s latest story,...

Sat, 13 Oct 2012 06:31:00 +0900

Read AP Asia correspondent Tim Sullivan’s latest story, with a slideshow of my photos, comparing North Korea’s 2nd-tier cities to the capital Pyongyang.

Track my personal phone photography on my Instagram feed or on...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 19:16:00 +0900

Track my personal phone photography on my Instagram feed or on http://instagram.com/dguttenfelder

On Veterans Day, November 11, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 18:24:00 +0900

On Veterans Day, November 11, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston will open a large-scale exhibition on war photography titled “War/Photography: Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath” featuring images by 280 photographers from 28 countries covering conflict on six continents over 165 years.

I’m proud to be included in this exhibition alongside the great legends of war photography and heroes of mine. Some I can count as close friends. Some died while trying to document history’s most brutal moments.

The exhibition will also be traveling through 2014 and here’s the schedule:

• The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston | November 11, 2012–February 3, 2013
• The Annenberg Space for Photography | March 23–June 2, 2013
• The Corcoran Gallery of Art | June 29–September 29, 2013
• The Brooklyn Museum | November 8, 2013–February 2, 2014

The Boston Globe’s Big Picture photo blog has collected...

Fri, 05 Oct 2012 17:13:00 +0900

The Boston Globe’s Big Picture photo blog has collected some of the latest North Korea photos by me and fellow AP staffer Vincent Yu.

The results of the 2011-12 SEJ Awards for reporting on the...

Sun, 15 Jul 2012 13:11:00 +0900

The results of the 2011-12 SEJ Awards for reporting on the environment

Photojournalism

2nd Place

“Japan’s Nuclear Refugees”
National Geographic
David Guttenfelder

From the judges: The judges were impressed with David Guttenfelder’s ability to capture and compose compelling snippets of the desolation near the [2011] Fukushima nuclear power plant disaster. It is no accident that one gets the sense that Guttenfelder was the only photojournalist — or even person — in the vicinity as he courageously evaded security barriers and sneaked into areas that were declared off limits. National Geographic’s supporting letter asserts that no other photographer “took the risk to document in such depth this tragedy of exile and abandonment.” Guttenfelder admirably demonstrates the reward of taking such risks.

Photo 1: After the March 11 disasters in Japan: tens of thousands were ordered from their homes, their footprints now frozen in the mud.
Photo 2: Dogs scrap on Okuma’s empty streets. Defying blockades, volunteers rounded up and decontaminated pets, returning them to owners.
Photo 3: In a gym in Hirono, residents in protective suits are briefed before being escorted to their abandoned homes for a June 8 visit.
Photo 4: In Koriyama, Nobuko Sanpei, 74, eats dinner in her cardboard box home. “I was sweltering so I cut out a hole,” she said.
Photo 5: People weren’t the only refugees. In Japan’s exclusion zone, an abandoned cat makes its home inside a laundromat dryer.

The results of the NPPA’s annual Best of Photojournalism...

Wed, 30 May 2012 09:22:00 +0900

The results of the NPPA’s annual Best of Photojournalism awards are out. Here’s my work that was recognized :

Photojournalist of the Year, 2nd for a 2011 portfolio.

Enterprise Picture Story, 2nd for daily life photos from North Korea.

Natural Disaster Picture Story, 1st for coverage of the Tohoku tsunami.

Natural Disaster Picture Story, HM for the essay Japan’s Nuclear Refugees for National Geographic Magazine..