Todd Bertolaet was born in Elkhorn Wisconsin in 1954. He graduated from Ann Arbor Huron High School, Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1972, and received both his BFA (1979) and MFA (1982), from Utah State University. Todd began his formal photography training in high school but was influenced early on by his grandfather who was an amateur photographer and country doctor in Wisconsin. He began teaching art in 1979.

Currently, Todd is a Professor of Photography at Florida A & M University. Throughout the years, his work has been exhibited in numerous juried, invitational, group, and solo exhibitions. Todd has been the recipient of two Individual Artists Fellowships from the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs (1991-1992 and 1999-2000). He has received three Knight Foundation Faculty development grants and several Florida A&M University faculty research grants. Todd’s most prestigious award came in April 2006 when he was awarded a Fellowship by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation. His work and writing have been published in numerous publications. Also, the University Press of Florida published a monograph of his work entitled Crescent Rivers-Waterways of Florida’s Big Bend in 1998.

From 1993 to 1998 he collaborated with James N. Eaton and Joseph Ippolito to produce the African American History Calendars, published by Florida A&M University Black Archives and the Defense Equal Opportunity Management Institute, Department of Defense, the United States of America. Todd has served as a grant and fellowship review panelist for the State of Florida, Division of Cultural Affairs, and is a member of several college photography program advisory committees. He has also served as a curriculum/program evaluator for the American Council on Education and serves on various curriculum committees for the State of Florida, Department of Education.