Conversations with Bob Felderman

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bob Felderman.

Hi Bob, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
As a storyteller with images, I am also a writer, so this is my brief story. Growing up as a military brat, we traveled around the world, and I took many photos with the family camera. As an adult in the real estate business, it involved “taking” versus making photos. Moving to Colorado in 2005 for a military tour of 6 months that turned into six years, I purchased a camera that was still mostly point-and-shoot efforts.

I tried to self-learn by taking photos all around Colorado plus while traveling the world for business. When I retired and returned to Iowa, I was asked to cover a band at one of the local casinos by an entertainment magazine. When I turned in my images, the editor asked me to join his regular team of editorial photographers and buy some professional camera gear. Over the past eleven years, I covered entertainment photography in the Midwest as I learned new skills.

During this time, the Veterans Administration determined I was 100% service-connected disabled and tested me for vocational rehabilitation. The tests showed a strong propensity for me as an artist, specifically a photographer. We selected the Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design in Lakewood, Colorado. I began classes in January 2019 and graduated in December 2021 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Photography.

During the time since I retired, I returned to Colorado about three times a year to visit my grandboys in Golden and to expand my photography skills and portfolio. I have been working with a photojournalist retired from National Geographic who has assisted me with developing a professional editorial and commercial photography portfolio, located at www.BobFeldermanPhotography.com.

We all face challenges, but looking back would you describe it as a relatively smooth road?
My primary obstacle was the limited opportunity to gain experience in photography in a small town in the Midwest. I do see my age, 67 years old, and several medical conditions from my military service as a challenge. Neither of these stopped me from gaining a reputation around Colorado as an emerging artist, earning much reputation in exhibitions around the country, and increasing my photo assignments.

My goal is to obtain grants that will support my non-profit work of covering issues affecting humans, such as the refugees in Poland from Ukraine to those along the Mexican border to Alzheimer patients & their families over a year to tracking someone with dementia the past three years.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
I consider myself a generalist in my art and creativity. As a newly professed editorial (photojournalist) and commercial photographer, almost all skills are necessary.

My storytelling might involve a landscape image of the Rocky Mountains, a fourteen-foot-long panorama of the city of Golden from the Rockies to Table Mountain, a family portrait session, a lunar eclipse, an architectural image for a magazine, a portrait for a business card, an interior design photo for a real estate listing, an entertainer performing at a venue, food product photography for a restaurant, an aerial survey or image of a landfill, a series of images of people being medically treated for wounds from a blast, and many more other ideas for clients.

I am known for my photographs of humans, and most of my images include interactions to share for a viewer to enjoy or learn. As a 36-year retired Brigadier General, I am proud of my efforts to share stories about veterans, including fundraising for other artists to paint a mural and purchasing handicap-accessible construction at the local Legion Post. What sets me apart from others is my empathy for issues impacting humans on our planet and my ability to tell a story of interest to my clients and viewers.

Networking and finding a mentor can have a positive impact on one’s life and career. Any advice?
Building on what others have already learned and hopefully are willing to share has been best for me, from the excellent photography instructors and professors at Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design to established photographers at National Geographic to the Associated Press. Focusing on more than one mentor, some who offer help for free to those who charge for it as a living helps to find your path or paths in such a diverse artistic career.

When I started working on a college degree, I planned to be an aerial photographer. As I took more classes allowing me to learn about cameras, it became clear to me storytelling was my calling. The experiences I have, from traveling the world working with leaders of nations to those who swept the streets, the education I obtained in aviation, management, national security, and a litany of other subjects, all opened my eyes to the path of a photojournalist as my primary choice.

Using my editorial and commercial photography storytelling skills, you should expect to see more of my efforts in exhibitions, galleries, books, videography efforts, billboards, magazines, and non-profit support to broadcast issues while traveling along the backroads and river roads of the world.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.bobfeldermanphotography.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/Bob_Felderman_Photography/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/BobFeldermanPhotography
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/RobertFelderman/
• Yelp: https://www.yelp.com/biz/bob-felderman-photography-dubuque
• SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/robertfelderman
• Other: https://www.pexels.com/@robert-felderman-2425499 

Image Credit:
Jamie Rae Borland of Jamie Borland Photography