Feast your eyes on some of America’s quirkiest individuals.
Award-winning photographer Peter Guttman’s latest book showcases some of the most vibrant, wildly diverse and mostly unseen Americans in their natural habitats.
Titled ‘American Character: Surprising Portraits of an Unseen Nation’, the portraits offer a peek into the seldom viewed worlds of Buddhist monks, ‘freak show’ performers, nuclear physicists, gold miners and Bigfoot hunters.
Keen readers can also see the lives of Yupik hunters, Amish farmers, Hopi elders, native Hawaiian storytellers and Hasidic bakery owners between pages.
Talking about the book, Guttman explained in a lengthy LinkedIn post: ‘Though much of this lifetime has been spent exploring the global wonders of our planet on all seven continents, I’ve always been intrigued by the hidden corners and back roads that scribble across the remote edges of my native country.
‘This full-color labor of love is filled with eye-popping images that present a kaleidoscopically encyclopedic tableau of the American experience as viewed through its wildly diverse populace.
‘These vibrant cultural strands will offer readers a fascinating peek into the seldom viewed worlds of tornado chasers, eel trappers, Buddhist monks and Amish farmers, allowing opportunities to tag along with walrus hunters, Bigfoot trackers and nuclear physicists.’
With American Character, Guttman hopes his ninth book will ‘provide a healing balm and offer much deeper understanding of the vast 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 unseen Americans in their natural habitats
Taking care not to sneeze while letting serenity reign, an unruffled beekeeper in Middletown, New York, bravely hosts hordes of ten thousand buzzing honeybees clustered around the one queen caged in his improvised necklace
As part of San Antonio’s annual Fiesta, an A Day in Old Mexico celebration is presented by the city’s Charro Association, largest and oldest of its kind this side of the Rio Grande. Elegantly jacketed, chap-garbed, this seating charro contemplates his dangerous upcoming Paso de la Muerte event
A Bigfoot seeker at the Grand Staircase-Escalante National Monument, Utah
Fasnacht Masqueraders in Helvetia, West Virginia
A Sandcastle competition judge at Rockaway Beach, New York City, New York
A Halloween Devil in Greenwich Village, New York City, New York
Drag Queen bingo emcees in West Hollywood, California
An Amish corner ball spectator at Peach Bottom, Pennsylvania
From atop the warping porch of Bayside Tavern, two overall-swathed servers step out above Colyell Creek to empty plates of their fried alligator battered up with cornmeal, crushed red pepper, and a dash of Tabasco sauce in Port Vincent, Louisiana
A cranberry bog gatherer in Chatsworth, New Jersey
Celebrators of the Day of the Dead Mourners in Hollywood, California
A May Breakfast hostess at Cranston, Rhode Island
An ice harvester in Tully, New York
A farmhouse couple portraying characters from the 1962 Tony-winning theatrical The Music Man in Eldon, Iowa
A gold miner in Dahlonega, Georgia
A pair of swing dancers in Gruene, Texas
A Sugaring Drover in Ashfield, Massachusetts
A Morris Dancer in Newfane, Vermont
A cattle wrangler in Marion, Montana
A tobacco grower in Southwick, Massachusetts
A wheat reaper in Titusville, New Jersey
Two urban garden activists in the Lower East Side, New York City, New York
A stained glass restorer in Washington, District of Columbia
A pair of showgirls in Las Vegas, Nevada
Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer in Richmond Hill, New York City, New York
A Ventriloquism Museum Director in Fort Mitchell, Kentucky
