"I drove my ’78 Oldsmobile up to a scenic overlook above the San Fernando Valley (Calif.) and resolved not to come down until I had decided what I was going to be. I looked at every job I could think of: lawyer, doctor, astronaut, whatever. It finally came down to photography, something I loved to do and something I was somewhat good at. I came down the mountain with peace in my heart and I’ve never looked back."

Gutierrez enrolled in every photo class available. Later, in junior college, where he was the newspaper’s photo editor, he met a graduate of Western Kentucky University, Scott Robinson. "He was a really good photojournalist, and he took me under his wing. I didn’t even take his class, but he’d come into the newspaper office once a week and critique our work."

Barry jokes, "We couldn’t wait to hear a professional tell us how bad we were."

Robinson put Gutierrez in touch with WKU professor Jack Corn, who was also the director of the Chicago Tribune photo department. "I fell in love with Jack Corn over the phone. Jack was a pioneer in photojournalism in the Midwest. He took it to another level, where he allowed the subject to be revealed naturally as opposed to setting pictures up."

didn’t encounter much in the way of real photojournalism in England, he did have an encounter that changed his life — an encounter with God.

A Christian since age 8 and later active with Campus Life, in his late teens Gutierrez started drifting away from God and Christian friends. "I was very involved with church but I just wanted to do my own thing. And when I was 18, my father died. and that just fueled my rebellion."

"By the time I got to England I was spiritually exhausted. I had looked for god in everything but in God. I was tired of partying, of alcohol, of shallow relationships — all the things the world offered. I was running on empty." But even in his emptiness, that seed planted in Gutierrez’ youth was coming back to life. At his lowest point he pled with God, "Don’t let me go, don’t let me die before I get right with You again."

God answered his prayer and one night, in a London church, Gutierrez re-dedicated his life to Christ. "Since that night in the fall of ’97, I’ve been re-inventing my relationship with God, pursuing his will for my life rather than my own.

"In those first days after I came back from England, I was so excited about my relationship with God that photography felt insignificant by comparison. It didn’t have the same hold on me that it used to. But God showed me that my ability in photography was a gift from Him and I started praying to God about my job, asking Him to direct me. Gradually He restored my passion for photojournalism."

"It’s a whole new ball game when you’re walking with Christ on an assignment. He takes all the fear away. God has given us this awesome life, and I’m there to reveal and document it. Of course I didn’t put that on my resumé, and my boss may not know that, but that’s who I am, that’s my life."

Lord, tell me what to do, show me the direction you want me to take, is Guttierez’s frequent prayer, especially when faced with difficult ethical issues or intense situations where there may be hurt or suffering.

Respect for the people on both sides of his viewfinder is a high value for Gutierrez. "I’m not out to hurt them or take from them. Being a Christian helps me to be sensitive in times of hurt and sorrow, because I understand how much pain and suffering Jesus endured for me. The Holy Spirit enables me to love people with God’s love. I love to lift up people, especially in the dark moments of life. God has given me some light, so I share it."

"It’s not always easy being a Christian in the news business. That’s why intimacy with God is so important. In the newsroom, I often sense a prevailing spirit of anti-God, anti-Christianity. It’s a feeling I’ve gotten in every newsroom I’ve been in. Even in the religion writers. It’s a very cynical perspective. The name of Jesus is politically incorrect in the newsroom."

We don’t have to wear Jesus’ name in red letters on our sleeve at work, but the way we interact with others, the way we smile and listen to others, will be a witness to them and, after that, God may or may not bring opportunities for you to share your faith.

"Because of the sometimes spiritually draining environment in this business, it’s so important to find a group of believers to spend time with, to pray with and to study the Bible with. We’re surrounded by people who don’t know or like God. It’s important to recharge our spiritual batteries by giving and receiving encouragement from other Christians," Guteirrez says.

"For some unexplainable reason God chose me to be one of His children and has already prepared good works for me to do. Ephesians 2:8-9 tell me that ‘...it is by grace you have been saved, through faith and this is not by yourselves, it is a gift from God. Not by works so that no man can boast. For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works which God has prepared in advance for us to do.’ I just have to be available and sensitive to hear him and then obey him. He does the rest.

"Whether I am working for the Rocky Mountain News or collecting trash, I need to remind myself that the editor is not my real boss; Jesus is my boss."