strawberries in Iowa

During my first week back in the U.S., my sister hosted a Fourth of July party near Des Moines, Iowa. My niece decorated these strawberries with patriotic red, white, and blue frosting.

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

A Photojournalist Comes Home to America

Photographer David Guttenfelder rediscovers what it means to be American through the lens of his smartphone.

Story and Photographs byDavid Guttenfelder
June 14, 2016
4 min read

This story appears in the July 2016 issue of  National Geographic magazine.

As an international photojournalist, I’ve been to some of the most far-flung places on Earth. After 20 years abroad, I felt like my own country was a mystery to me. So when I moved back to the United States in 2014, I began to explore it as I would explore any foreign country—with my camera. Only I didn’t use a “real” one; I used my smartphone. 

I’ve always kept a small film camera with me for my personal projects—things I wanted to shoot for myself, without the pressure of external expectations. When I got my first smartphone, in 2010, I realized it was the perfect tool for this kind of thing: small, discreet, always in my back pocket.

In Manhattan a sticky note heart affixed to an office window is a timeless symbol of life in New York.

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

Yet many things changed in the United States during the time I lived abroad. For me the best surprise has been a new open-mindedness with regard to gay rights. At the intersection of 15th and P Streets in Washington, D.C., the 2014 Capital Pride Parade had a party atmosphere. One year later, the Supreme Court legalized same-sex marriage.

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

But back then it was considered a toy. When I took one to Afghanistan, I was told that it was inappropriate to cover a serious topic like war with a phone instead of a “professional” camera. Fast-forward to the present. With more than 400 million users on Instagram, it’s a different world now. Photographing our lives with our phones has become a completely natural behavior.

In Adel, Iowa, my niece plays on a homemade waterslide during a Fourth of July party. My sister and her family live on a gravel road just a couple of miles from where we grew up. 
Photograph by David Guttenfelder

Smartphones do present challenges and technical limitations. They’re not as responsive as my regular cameras, and the optics aren’t as sharp. But that’s OK; I want my images to be imperfect and immediate, to capture something both fleeting and timeless about the America that I’m rediscovering.

Like every country, the United States is unique—and uniquely picturesque. When I visited the Badlands National Park in South Dakota, a pink bow in a woman’s hair caught my eye.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder

A different shock of pink—a plastic lawn ornament used as hood decor on a vintage Chevrolet—stood out in Eagle River, Wisconsin.

Photograph by David Guttenfelder

We tend to think that photojournalism requires access to other worlds, but all you really have to do is document your own life. Mundane daily things are worthy of being noticed and celebrated. If we look closely, we can see that our own communities are just as compelling as the wildest places on the planet.

I’ve been spending a lot of time in American hotels, most of which are pretty charmless and uninspiring. Morning buffets are usually on offer in the lobby, served with plastic-foam plates and disposable cups. So it was surprising to see—in this hotel breakfast in Houston—a burst of state pride in the shape of a waffle.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder
In the past two years I’ve visited many states, including Iowa (where I grew up), Minnesota (where I live now), and Wisconsin (where my family spends each summer). Everywhere I’ve gone, I’ve seen varied depictions of the American landscape. In this photo, a vista in South Dakota’s Badlands is visible past the side of an RV camper emblazoned with similar scenery.
Photograph by David Guttenfelder

David Guttenfelder is a National Geographic Photography Fellow focusing on geopolitical conflict and conservation.

Guttenfelder spent 20 years as a photojournalist for the Associated Press based in Nairobi, Abidjan, New Delhi, and Tokyo, covering news in more than 75 countries around the world.

In 2011, he helped the AP open a bureau in North Korea, the first Western news agency to have an office in the otherwise isolated country. Guttenfelder has made more than 40 trips to North Korea.