Jörg Colberg
Jörg M. Colberg (born 15 February 1968) is a German writer, educator and photographer, living in Northampton, Massachusetts, USA. He is the founder and editor of "Conscientious", a blog dedicated to contemporary fine-art photography. He worked as a research scientist in astronomy and has been a professor of photography at the 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. He moved to the United States in 2000. After a short and unsatisfying experience in  the computer programming industry. Colberg returned as a postdoc at the University of Pittsburgh. He discusses and dissects contemporary fine art photography on his blog, "Conscientious", started in 2002. In 2009 "Source" included "Conscientious" in its list of ten recommended photography blogs; in 2010 "Wired" said that "Joerg Colberg is a pioneer in photography blogging, and his blog Conscientious maintains a tight editorial voice"; and in 2012 Sean O'Hagan included it among his few most recommended online photography websites and publications. In 2006 "American Photo" named Colberg one of their Photography Innovators. Colberg is the author of "Understanding Photobooks: The  Form and Content of the Photographic Book" (2016), a guide to making photobooks. He has contributed essays to photography publications, including "Foam Magazine", "British Journal of Photography", and "Creative Review". He has written introductory essays for photography monographs, guest-edited photography exhibitions and photobooks. Along with Andrés Marroquín Winkelmann, he was a founder of the short-lived photobook publishing company Meier & Müller. From 2010, Colberg was a faculty member of the Hartford Art School. he was living in Northampton, Massachusetts. In the photobook "Vaterland" (2020), Colberg reflects on the rise of anti-immigrant racism and xenophobia in Germany, "which he  believes is not being taken seriously enough", with right-wing ideology having become normalised. It was described in the "British Journal of Photography" that Colberg achieves this through "an atmosphere of uneasiness. [. . .] There is little contrast between black and white. [. . .] Each picture frames a lingering uncertainty; something out of place. [. . .] The images work together to create a mood of angst." He made the images in Berlin, Hamburg and Warsaw.