Wednesday Edition: Raul Gutierrez

Travels Without Maps
11" x 14" PORTFOLIO EDITION ($300)

The Travels Without Maps portfolio is comprised of 11" x 14" prints of all four images, presented in an archival portfolio folder. Produced in an edition of 30, the portfolios are priced at $300 each. Also: they are awesome.*

Logging Camp, Kham
8"x10" ($20) | 16"x20" ($200) | 24"x30" ($1000)
and
Red Truck on the Back Road to Manigango
8"x10" ($20) | 16"x20" ($200) | 24"x30" ($1000)
and
Kids at Play, Dusk, Kashgar
8"x10" ($20) | 16"x20" ($200) | 24"x30" ($1000)
and
Street Market, Kashgar
8"x10" ($20) | 16"x20" ($200) | 24"x30" ($1000)
by
Raul Gutierrez
--

Wednesday greetings, my collector friends! I'm super duper excited about today's editions, but I'm telling you right now: writing about the photographer in question makes me awfully nervous. As you're probably aware, Raul Gutierrez is the good-wizard version of our man behind the curtain here at JBP HQ. He's the first person who thought the whole 20x200 concept might just be crazy enough to work, and has been a tireless contributor to its success since I first pinged him (over IM, but of course!) back in January of 2007.

Our mutual friend, Eliot Shepard, introduced me to Raul in 2006, but I was already a fan. I'd been following Raul's blog since 2004. His words told the story of the journey that brought him and his wife, Jenn, to Brooklyn; reading from afar, I was amazed by his eloquence, smarts and versatility. One only needed to click over to his portfolio of photographs to discover that he has the rare gift of being able to tell amazing stories in twofold: with words and images.

Shortly after meeting, Raul was selected for the Spring 2006 edition of Hey, Hot Shot! and sometime after that, we started talking about the idea of working together. We weren't sure exactly what we'd do, but it seemed like our respective checkered-career-pasts had the potential to harmonize in interesting ways. To be honest, I was totally flattered that he'd even consider it! Sure, we both started doing internet stuff very early on, but his life has been significantly more adventurous than my own. We've been sitting across from each other in a very small room for a couple of years now, and Raul still strikes me as a bit of a mythical creature. (I can also tell you that he hates that I just wrote that!)

It's hard to believe that this one person, of whom I am so very fond, is all the things he is. He's had a lot of lives in his lifetime: after growing up in East Texas and getting educated in the ivy-est of leagues, he went out to LA. Out there, he lived a life like you see in the movies while working with big producers to make them. He's an uber-nerd (and I mean that in the best way) and a collector and a husband and a dad and a photographer. He's all those things, and he's also someone who's traveled — alone, without maps — through the furthest reaches of a land that I'm unlikely to ever see with my own eyes.

The photographs you see here today represent a small slice of his journeys, and they stand out as some of my favorites. They give form to the stories that he shares with us, which are interspersed throughout our days in the office together. We often repeat them to each other in the elevator afterwards, incredulous as we try to imagine the sweet, sentimental person we know trekking alone along mountainsides, a stranger in a strange land. (Inevitably, there is an "I had NO idea!" conversation with every new person that joins the team. Usually this happens after they've spent a long afternoon alone with Raul at HQ, and it's most likely to coincide with their discovery of his prodigious skills as a DJ.)

It's an honor to be able to share these photographs with all of you. As for the stories, well... those are for his family and friends, and for those of us who are lucky enough to work with Raul.

*Please note: The portfolios are custom orders and might not ship as quickly as our other prints normally do. Orders placed today will be shipped within 7-10 days.

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