Born in 1947 in Beienrode, Germany. Lives and works in Zurich, Switzerland and Grattino, Italy.

Gelpke studied photography with Otto Steinert at the Folkwang School in Essen between 1969 and 1974. In 1974 Gelpke was featured in an solo exhibition at Galerie Lichtropfen in Aachen, Germany. In the year after obtaining his diploma, Gelpke co-founded the Visum photo agency. Next to Heinrich Riebesehl and Michael Schmidt, Gelpke can be considered one of the pioneers of art photography in West-Germany at the time. Gelpke’s photographs have been featured in numerous solo exhibitions at large museums, such as the Museum Folkwang, Essen, the Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, and at the Sprengel Museum, Hanover, among others. Between 1990 and 2012 he was professor for photography at the Zürcher Hochschule der Künste.

Gelpke’s works are represented in international collections such as Stendelijk Museum, Amsterdam, Netherlands; Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany; Bibliothèque National, Paris, France; Neue Sammlung, Munich, Germany; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Fotomuseum Winterthur, Switzerland; Museum of Fine Art, Houston, USA.