Colin John FordCBE (born 1934) is a British photographic curator, historian of photography, and former museum director. He has written a number of books on the history of photography.

Ford was educated atUniversity College,Oxford University, where he directed plays for theUniversity College Players, including at theEdinburgh Fringe.^[1] He began his career in thetheatre.^[2] He has been a director and broadcaster. Between 1972 and 1982 he was Keeper ofFilm andPhotography at theNational Portrait Gallery, London. He then became the first director of the UKNational Museum of Photography, Film and Television inBradford (later to become theNational Media Museum).^[3] From 1992 he was Director of theNational Museums and Galleries of Wales.^[4]

Ford has interviewed contemporary photographers such asDon McCullin.^[5] He also gives lectures on thehistory of photography.^[6]

Until 2010, he was Chairman of theKraszna-Krausz Foundation.^[4] He is Vice-President of theJulia Margaret Cameron Trust and Chairman of thePeel Entertainment Group.^{[citation needed]}

• An Early Victorian Album: The Photographic Masterpieces ofDavid Octavius Hill andRobert Adamson (1974).
• The Cameron Collection: An Album of Photographs byJulia Margaret Cameron (1975).
• Portraits (1982).
• Eyewitness: Hungarian Photography in the 20th Century: Brassaï, Capa, Kertész, Moholy-Nagy, Munkásci,Royal Academy of Arts (2011), with Péter Baki.ISBN 978-1905711765.^[7]

Ford is aCommander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE).

TheRoyal Photographic Society established the annualColin Ford Award in 2003 for contributions to curatorship, named after Colin Ford as the first director of the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television.^[8]

There are several photographs of Ford in the National Portrait Gallery (London) collection, including works byArnold Newman,Norman Parkinson, andCheryl Twomey.^[9]

• Eyewitness With Curator Colin Ford onYouTube

• 1934 births
• Living people
• Alumni of University College, Oxford
• British broadcasters
• British theatre directors
• British curators
• British historians
• Photography curators
• Historians of photography
• People associated with the National Portrait Gallery
• Directors of museums in the United Kingdom
• Commanders of the Order of the British Empire
• People associated with Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales

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