Feast your eyes on some of the quirkiest people in America.
Award-winning photographer Peter Guttman’s latest book showcases some of the most vibrant, wildly diverse, and mostly invisible Americans in their natural habitats.
Titled ‘American Character: Surprising Portraits of an Invisible Nation,’ the portraits offer a glimpse into the rarely seen worlds of Buddhist monks, freak show artists, nuclear physicists, gold miners and Pie hunters. Big.
Avid readers can also see the lives of Yupik hunters, Amish farmers, Hopi elders, Native Hawaiian storytellers, and Hasidic bakery owners between the pages.
Speaking about the book, Guttman explained in an extensive LinkedIn mail: ‘While I have spent much of this life exploring the global wonders of our planet across all seven continents, I have always been intrigued by the hidden corners and backroads that crisscross the remote reaches of my home country.
‘This full-color labor of love is filled with dazzling images that present an encyclopedic kaleidoscopic picture of the American experience as seen through its wildly diverse population.
“These vibrant cultural threads will offer readers a fascinating look into the rarely seen worlds of tornado chasers, eel hunters, Buddhist monks, and Amish farmers, providing opportunities to accompany walrus hunters, “Bigfoot and nuclear physicists.”
With American Character, Guttman hopes his ninth book “will provide a healing balm and offer a much deeper understanding of the broad spectrum of Americans and our mutual aspirations.”
Peter Guttman’s American Character: Surprising Portraits of an Unseen Nation showcases some of the most vibrant, wildly diverse, and mostly invisible Americans in their natural habitats.
Careful not to sneeze and allowing serenity to reign, an unflappable beekeeper in Middletown, New York, bravely welcomes hordes of ten thousand buzzing bees clustered around a queen caged in her makeshift collar.
As part of the annual Fiesta de San Antonio, the city’s Charra Association, the largest and oldest of its kind on this side of the Rio Grande, presents the celebration of A Day in Ancient Mexico. Elegantly dressed in a gentleman’s jacket and dress, this seated charro contemplates his next dangerous Paso de la Muerte event.
A Bigfoot seeker at Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Fasnacht masks in Helvetia, West Virginia
A judge at Sandcastle competition in Rockaway Beach, New York, New York
A Halloween devil in Greenwich Village, New York, New York
Drag Queen Bingo Emcees in West Hollywood, California
An Amish corner ball spectator in Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania
From atop Bayside Tavern’s warped porch, two overalls-clad waiters step out over Colyell Creek to empty plates of their fried alligator battered with cornmeal, crushed red pepper, and a drizzle of Tabasco sauce in Port Vincent, Louisiana.
A blueberry picker in Chatsworth, New Jersey
All Souls Day Celebrators Mourning in Hollywood, California
A May breakfast hostess in Cranston, Rhode Island
An ice harvester in Tully, New York
A farm couple playing characters from the 1962 Tony-winning play The Music Man in Eldon, Iowa.
A gold miner in Dahlonega, Georgia
A couple of swing dancers in Gruene, Texas
A sugar shepherd in Ashfield, Massachusetts
A Morris dancer in Newfane, Vermont
A cattle herder in Marion, Montana.
A tobacco farmer in Southwick, Massachusetts
A wheat reaper in Titusville, New Jersey
Two urban garden activists in the Lower East Side, New York, New York
A stained glass restorer in Washington, District of Columbia
A couple of showgirls in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Richmond Hill, New York, New York
Director of the Museum of Ventriloquism in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky