Jörg Brüggemann

Nam Song River, Vang Vieng, Laos, 2007

Jörg Brüggemann (b.1979, Germany) began studying photography at the University of the Arts Bremen under the guidance of Professor Peter Bialobrzeski. In 2007 he formed the Kolkata Heritage Photo Project with students from his photography class which resulted in the publication of Calcutta – Chitpur Road Neighborhoods by Hatje Cantz. In July 2008 Jörg  finished his studies with the project “Same Same But Different” which was published in several magazines around the world including NEON (Germany), OjodePez (Spain) and D-Magazine (Italy). He won a honorable mention at CENTER’s project competition and was invited to the 2009 Asia-Europe Emerging Photographers Forum in Kuala Lumpur. Besides freelancing in Berlin,  Jörg is a project manager for the Ostkreuz photographer’s agency and photo editor for Dummy and Fluter magazine.

About the Photograph:

“Within the last decade backpacking has literally become a global youth movement. Every year millions of young people from first world countries travel the planet taking with them nothing more then their backpacks. They are hoping to find freedom, cultural exchanges and a lot of fun. It has become a tourist industry on its own that has developed its very own touristic infrastructure. In some places like Ko Pha-Ngan in Thailand, Arambol in Goa or Vang Vieng in Laos individual or alternative travel is no longer existing. It has been transfered into a different kind of packaged tour. This Photograph was taken in Vang Vieng in Laos which is the hotspot of backpacker tourism in Laos. It shows an Australian backpacker drinking a Beer Lao at the first Bar while tubing down the Nam Song. Tubing is the most popular backpacker activity in Vang Vieng.”