Kolman Rosenberg Biography

Kolman Rosenberg is a freelance editorial, documentary and fine art photographer who resides and works in Mentor, OH. His interest in photography began in 1968 as a sophomore in college when his roommate, a photojournalism major, recruited and trained him to work for the university newspaper and yearbook. He has exhibited and won many awards for his photography and has had his work published in a number of books, magazines and on TV. The TV work, an episode of “Outside the Lines” for ESPN, was included in an Emmy Award nomination and also appeared in ESPN Magazine and a follow-up episode of “Outside the Lines”.

Kolman taught digital photography and post-processing classes at Cuyahoga Community College in their Community Education program for 13 years and has been a longstanding member of the Cleveland Photographic Society where he currently serves on the board and has been teaching several classes as part of their Fundamentals of Good Photography School.

His photographic style can best be summed up in his artist’s statement, though it certainly does not totally represent his style and what he photographs, it does reflect the core of his work and its underpinnings.

Artist’s Statement

“My station in life is to capture the action of life, the life of the world, its humor, its tragedies, in other words, life as it is.  A true picture unposed and real.”

1. Eugene Smith

                                                                                                      1918-1978

The camera serves as my portal as I view common sites in an uncommon way.  It enables me to see, and point out to others, the beauty, irony, interest, humor and sometimes the ugliness of the world we live in.  My hope is that my images will open the eyes of realization for others. Going beyond common and discovering again.

My interest in photography began as a college newspaper and yearbook photographer during the stormy 1960s and 1970s.  I was influenced by many of the great photojournalists and documentary photographers such as W. Eugene Smith, Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange, Gordon Parks, Margaret Bourke-White and other black and white photographers of Life Magazine and the earlier Farm Security Administration in its effort to assist poor farmers during the Dust Bowl and Great Depression.  Though many of these photographers documented the horrors of war and the plight of poverty, they also showed me the dignity and adaptability of human beings in their desire to prevail.

My images will provide you with that second glance of the mundane, humorous, common-place, and sometimes ugly or painful aspects of our world with the intent of helping you take the time to notice the dignity, beauty and adaptability that is evident in each.