Photographer Jake Guzman Captures America’s Nearly-Alien Landscapes

Travel and nature photographer Jake Guzman has spent the previous two years creating Otherworldly America, a brand new 256-page images e book that options tons of of images Guzman has captured all throughout America, from Alaska and Hawai’i all the way in which to New England. It is an exquisite take a look at what makes the United States such a particular place for panorama photographers, and a wealthy properly of picture alternatives that may by no means really be exhausted.

From iPhone to Film to Over a Million Followers

Guzman, who has amassed over one million followers on Instagram prior to now decade of being a full-time skilled photographer, received his begin with images in a lot the identical approach as so many do. He began taking images along with his telephone of the superior locations he was visiting.

“When I was 18, I started taking photos of my hikes with my iPhone and posting them on social media,” Guzman tells PetaPixel. “I wanted a new camera but couldn’t afford one, so I bought a used a film camera at Goodwill for $10 and slowly taught myself how to use it.”

As his ardour for images grew, Guzman started to consider it may very well be greater than only a pastime.

“I knew it was something I could see myself doing forever,” he says. “I went full-time in 2016, working many odd jobs to support my passion.”

Over that point, he labored onerous to construct his on-line presence, particularly on social media, and took each gig he might, even ones that didn’t pay.

“But as my portfolio grew, opportunities began to grow as well.”

Guzman’s ardour for images shortly carried over to cinematography and video work as properly, so he devoted important time and power to studying extra about business video manufacturing and started taking up extra video initiatives, which he says enabled him to dedicate extra time to the non-public images initiatives he was most keen about.

Guzman additionally says that having the ability to make ends meet by way of video initiatives helped him keep away from burnout on the nonetheless picture aspect of issues.

“Being able to go back and forth between [photo and video] has been a huge help,” he says.

Guzman is much from the one skilled cinematographer to have gotten their begin in nonetheless images. It’s a quite common path, and one which he believes has helped him significantly within the skilled video area.

“I think photo and video go hand-in-hand. For video, I try to compose every frame as I would my photos,” Guzman tells PetaPixel. “I think having a photography background has helped.”

However, images and movies are totally different media, and every has its personal challenges.

“Video allows you to tell more of the story you want to portray,” he says. “But I think both are equally challenging.”

“I’ve found video more tedious in post-production,” Guzman laughs.

A Lifelong Love of Nature

In Guzman’s new e book, Otherworldly America, it’s unattainable to not see his love of the outside and nature. It’s no accident.

“Being born and raised in Washington State, it was hard not to love the outdoors,” Guzman says. “The Cascades have always been a huge part of my life. From camping with my family to my Boy Scout days, I’ve always had a proclivity for being outside.”

“I was always really into National Geographic magazines and photo books from beautiful places, so once I paired photography with my hikes, it made me want to explore even more to capture photos like the ones I saw in the magazines,” Guzman explains.

With his new e book, Guzman is fulfilling a giant a part of that dream.

The mission started as an concept between Guzman and Alexander Rigby, an editor at Dorling Kindersley.

“It took some time, but once we got the green light from the publisher, we spent two years making the book,” Guzman explains. “About 70% of the photos are new and were shot during those 2 years. I flew to many states and also packed up my Toyota Tacoma and spent many months on the road shooting around California and the Southwest. The PNW section features a lot of photos from my early portfolio.”

The journey took Guzman to 17 states, starting from the West Coast to the East Coast, with some stops in between. While that’s a variety of touring and lots of visits to unimaginable locations, Guzman says the overall idea has loads of runway for enlargement.

“I had to cut a few places due to time constraints, but the main one I’m sad about is the Cypress tree swamps in the South,” Guzman remarks. “During fall, these swamps turn into another planet. If you type in ‘Caddo Lake in Fall’ on Google, you’ll see what I mean!”

The favourite place Guzman traveled for Otherworldly America was Alaska.

“Surprisingly, it was my first time visiting,” the photographer says. “I spent about four weeks there but I felt like I could spend years. The wildlife, volcanoes, the ocean… it was breathtaking. It’s truly the last frontier in America.”

As for his favourite pictures, Guzman says his images of bears in Katmai National Park in Alaska stand out.

“I’ve never shot or seen a bear in the wild until that trip,” he says. “So when I landed in Katmai and they were everywhere, I was mind blown. I felt like I was in a BBC nature documentary.”

“For me, photography is about showing people the beauty, wonder, and fragility of places they may never have the chance to experience themselves,” Guzman explains of the significance of exhibiting off what makes nature so treasured. “When someone sees a remote landscape, a disappearing glacier, or an ecosystem under pressure, they begin to understand what’s at stake.”

“I don’t think photography changes the world on its own, but it can change the way people see the world.

“And when enough people care deeply about something, meaningful change becomes possible. My goal is to inspire people to fall in love with these places first because people are far more likely to protect what they value and understand.”

Bringing His Photos Into the Physical World

For a photographer like Guzman, who actually received his foot within the door on social media, prints have by no means been part of his photographic life.

“A majority of my photos have only been posted online or made for social media, so physically holding a collection of my favorite photos in my hands for the first time was surreal,” Guzman tells PetaPixel.

“As someone who grew up loving photo books and National Geographic, making a book has always been a dream. I’ve done many things throughout my career, but creating a body of work and turning it into a book has been my favorite thing so far.”

Selecting his favourite 200 images from his total portfolio was difficult and far more durable than Guzman anticipated.

“I have around 400,000 photos in my Lightroom catalog, so going through that was a task,” he laughs.

Photos that stand out for Guzman usually incorporate a robust sense of scale. Vast landscapes are onerous to translate on to a picture with out some reference level.

“Out of all the elements, scale is 100% my favorite. I usually use a 70-200mm or longer telephoto lens and fully compressed the background with a small subject in the corner or center of the frame. I know it’s cliche but I just love to show how big a place truly is. Whether it’s a waterfall, mountain, forest… a photo wont translate the size of a place until you add a subject,” Guzman explains.

Alongside his 70-200mm lens, Guzman additionally makes use of Sony FE 14mm f/1.8 GM, 24-70mm f/2.8 GM, 200-600mm f/5.6-6.3 G OSS, and Sony FE 400-800mm f/6.3-8 G OSS lenses. His go-to digicam is the Sony a1 II.

‘Otherworldly America’ Is Available Now

Otherworldly America is available now for $40 by way of licensed retailers.

Image credit: Photographs by Jake Guzman (@jakeguzman)