David Guttenfelder
David Guttenfelder is a photojournalist and National Geographic Explorer focusing on geopolitical conflict, conservation, and culture.
Guttenfelder has spent more than 25 years as a photojournalist and documentary photographer based in Japan, India, Israel, Ivory Coast, and Kenya covering world events. In 2011, he helped open a bureau in Pyongyang for the Associated Press, the first western news agency to have an office in North Korea. Guttenfelder has made more than 40 trips to the isolated country.
Guttenfelder is an eight-time World Press Photo Award winner and a seven-time finalist for the Pulitzer Prize. He was awarded the ICP Infinity Prize for Photojournalism. The Overseas Press Club of America has recognized him with the John Faber, Olivier Rebbot, & Feature Photography awards. Pictures of the Year International and the NPPA have named him Photojournalist of the Year. A photograph of his made in North Korea was named among TIME Magazine’s “100 Most Influential Photographs Ever Taken.”
As a teacher and workshop leader, Guttenfelder is active with the Visions Workshop Photo Camps in Havana, Cuba, and Montana’s Crow Reservation. He has been a team leader at the Eddie Adams Workshop. He has led National Geographic Explorer’s photography workshops and was a trustee and instructor with the Indochina Media Memorial Foundation’s annual workshops in Vietnam. He has been a professional in residence and lecturer at many U.S. universities. He has served as a jury member for World Press Photo, the Getty Instagram Grant, and Pictures of the Year International.
He is an FAA Part 107 licensed commercial drone pilot.
Guttenfelder studied Kiswahili at the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. He later graduated with Highest Distinction from the U.S. University of Iowa majoring in Journalism, Cultural Anthropology, and African Studies. He was named one of the University of Iowa’s Notable Alumni.
He is now based in Minneapolis, Minnesota.