“The inimitable, unrivaled @peterguttman who graced our page with glorious Ektachrome images and filled it with his stories and insights,” reads a September 2018 Instagram post by Kodak Professional, all at once featuring, thanking and spotlighting the globetrotting photographer and longtime Duggal Visual Solutions client.
Guttman, who has partnered with Kodak for 25 years while traveling the world and garnering countless awards, is a headliner in the long-awaited re-release of the camera maker’s Ektachrome film to the delight of the photography community. He was one of only a handful of beta testers in the world tasked to shoot the brand-new film emulsion and present the results to an eager international audience. Given only weeks to gather distinctive images, he sought out arresting lighting conditions throughout his travels’ wide variety of unique settings.
In a weeklong takeover of Kodak Professional’s Instagram feed, Guttman shared never-before-seen landscape images shot using Ektachrome 100 slide film. In addition to detailing one of Guttman’s photographic journeys, each post served as an ode to analog, as Guttman described how film is a part of his identity as an artist.
“I'm absolutely convinced that as I paint with light onto a canvas of film, there is an ineffable quality of atmosphere, saturated richness and sculptural depth engraved across the blended grains of film that can never quite be captured in mathematically discreet pixels,” Guttman wrote.
Meanwhile, Guttman’s image of a fireworks display over Coney Island’s famous Wonder Wheel is featured atop Kodak Professional’s Facebook page, while other photos from Guttman and a short roster of noted photographers are seen throughout Kodak’s mobile app.
Guttman, author of eight books, has earned notoriety for his spirited work in the realm of wanderlust. He is a three-time Lowell Thomas Travel Journalist of the Year, recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award by the New York Travel Writers Society, and was named one of the world’s 20 most influential photographers in conjunction with the 2014 George Eastman Power of the Image Award.
Guttman also received the inaugural Alumni Achievement Award from his alma mater, Binghamton University, where a 2018 retrospective of his photography, "Beautiful Pictures," included a main gallery projection of Guttman's iPad app, "Beautiful Planet," as well as a live performance of original orchestral pieces inspired by his photography. An accompanying focus exhibition, "Peter Guttman: Collection as Self Portrait" recreates his Manhattan living room, a personal museum of 2,000 cultural artifacts.
From testing the now-long-lost Ektachrome Lumiere film in the 1990s and adorning Kodak’s New York City corporate offices with beautiful imagery to appearing in television tours, advertisements and anchoring the homage to Kodachrome film during its bittersweet retirement in 2009, Guttman’s longstanding relationship with Kodak makes his hand in the 2018 Ektachrome release nothing short of a perfect match. In essence, he was an influencer and brand ambassador long before those terms became synonymous with social media.
See Guttman’s Ektachrome photos below, follow him on Instagram at @peterguttman, and visit his website at www.peterguttman.com to browse his vast, visual travel log. To learn more about Ektachrome film, click here.
