Jörg Colberg

Jörg M. Colberg (born 15 February 1968[1]) writes about contemporary photography. He is also a photographer and educator, judges photography competitions and curates exhibitions. He was born in Germany and now lives in the United States.[2] He is the founder and editor of Conscientious, a blog dedicated to contemporary fine-art photography.[3] He worked as a research scientist in astronomy from 2002 until 2010. He is now a professor of photography of the International Limited-Residency MFA Program at Hartford Art School.

Life and work

Colberg studied physics and astronomy at the University of Bonn; he earned a Ph.D. in physics (theoretical cosmology) at the Max Planck Institute for Astrophysics.[1] He moved to the United States in 2000.[4] After a short and unsatisfying experience in the computer programming industry, Colberg returned as a postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh.[1]

Colberg dates the start of his interest in photography to 1999. His blog, Conscientious, started on 9 July 2002. Early posts were short text messages (similar to what could later be accomplished via Twitter). The first substantive message was praise for the photography of Steve Pyke.[5] The blog developed over time to show the photographs that Colberg was taking, but thereafter changed to say little or nothing about his own photography and instead to engage at greater length with that by others. Thus for example on 9 May 2006 he posted the first of numerous long conversations[n 1] with photographers, this first one being with Jay Parkinson.[6] Wired said in 2010 that "Joerg Colberg is a pioneer in photography blogging, and his blog Conscientious maintains a tight editorial voice."[7]

Since 2010 he has been a faculty member of the International Limited-Residency MFA Program at Hartford Art School, and visiting assistant professor since 2012. He has also worked as a visiting lecturer at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design and at the Rhode Island School of Design.[8]

Colberg has contributed essays to photography publications, including Foam Magazine,[9] British Journal of Photography,[10] and Creative Review.[11][12][13] He has written introductory essays for photography monographs, guest-edited photography exhibitions and photobooks, and judged photography competitions.

Along with Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann, Colberg is a founder of the photobook publishing company Meier & Müller.[14]

Publications by Colberg

Publications with contributions by Colberg

Awards

Notes

  1. ↑ A list of links to conversations down to 3 April 2013 can be found here; newer conversations are on the current website.

References

  1. 1 2 3 Biography page, University of Pittsburgh; archived by the Wayback Machine on 3 August 2004. Accessed 6 January 2015.
  2. ↑ "Dr. Jörg M. Colberg", Hartford Art School. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  3. ↑ "Joerg Colberg: Founder and Editor, Conscientious". Prix Pictet. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  4. ↑ Biography page, FOAM. Accessed 6 January 2015.
  5. ↑ July 2002 archive, Conscientious, saved by the Wayback Machine on 13 May 2003.
  6. ↑ May 2006 archive, Conscientious, as saved by the Wayback Machine on 12 June 2006. The conversation was later moved here. Accessed 6 January 2014.
  7. ↑ Brook, Pete (11 October 2010). "Get to Know Our Favorite Photobloggers". Wired (website). Retrieved 1 January 2015.
  8. ↑ "About Jörg M. Colberg", Jörg Colberg's website. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  9. ↑ "Issue #23 / City Life / Reinier Gerritsen", Foam Magazine. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  10. ↑ "The Photobook: The role of design", British Journal of Photography
  11. ↑ "Crit: What we ask from a photograph", Creative Review. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  12. ↑ "Crit: Brodovitch at the ballet", Creative Review. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  13. ↑ "Crit: (Top) secret America: Hidden in plain sight", Creative Review. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  14. ↑ "About us", Meier & Müller. Accessed 1 January 2015.
  15. ↑ "Photography Innovators of 2006", American Photo, popphoto.com, 16 December 2008 [sic]. Accessed 6 January 2015.
  16. ↑ "Life.com's 2011 Photo Blog Awards", Life.com, as saved by the Wayback Machine on 6 January 2012. The citation reads:
    Perhaps it's the earnest—and rather cryptic—name. Maybe it's the formal, intense headshot of the blog's creator, Joerg Colberg, that suggests a seriously intellectual undertaking. And indeed, Conscientious is seriously intellectual; luckily, though, Colberg's is a refreshing, bracing intellect, one fueled by a genuine curiosity about—and love of—photography. This is one of the longest-running photo blogs out there, and since its founding in 2002 has offered countless profiles of photographers and their work: Aaron Ruell's marvelous environmental portraits and Alex te Napel's moving and unsettling "Faces of Alzheimer's" portraits, to name just two. And the blog is packed: Readers will also find in-depth interviews, news and commentary on exhibitions, and book reviews, as well as Colberg's rigorous and wide-ranging musings on matters large (one post: "What makes great photography?") and small. There's not an ounce of fluff here, which is why Conscientious is rightly seen and lauded as one of the very few essential photography destinations on the Web.

External links

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