David Guttenfelder, Ambassador

David Guttenfelder, Ambassador – Reading The Pictures

I imagine the North Koreans look at these factory shots and feel that Guttenfelder is paying them respect, capturing an ethic of hard work and industry, perhaps believing also that the photos must counter perceptions the country is barely scraping by.

via Reading The Pictures: http://www.bagnewsnotes.com/2012/04/david-guttenfelder-ambassador/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+Bagnewsnotes+%28BAGnewsNotes%29

I imagine it’s reasonable, at this point, to consider AP photographer David Guttenfelder an ambassador. After so many visits to North Korea (and so many thoughtful images), he has gained their trust and, with it, an unusual degree of access. What’s special and fascinating, though, is the way his wonderful photos apparently represent so differently to the (very sensitive) powers-that-be in that culture as compared to how they read to us in the West.