Pitchside.

The first edition of Pitchside: my new newsletter sharing favorite match photos, before/after edits, and the stories behind the frames.

I’m Brett — a photographer from Green Bay, Wisconsin, now living in England with my lovely wife, Madison, operating as the Club Photographer for the Wolverhampton Wanderers in the Premier League.

You’re here for the cool photos, not my autobiography, so here’s the short version: I wasn’t built for school. The quadratic formula was never going to help me shoot Messi. But creating things? That’s what really excited me. The simple action of creating something out of nothing was intoxicating.

I stumbled upon photography my junior year of college after I injured myself working as a student equipment manager for the Minnesota Gophers football team. Stuck on my couch, YouTube was my main form of entertainment. One Peter McKinnon video later, I was staging a “product shoot” with a baking pan, an almost-empty whiskey bottle, and my iPhone. The photos sucked, but I didn’t care. I was hooked.

I remember walking to our neighbourhood bar with a buddy just talking about the future. I said: “How sick would it be to be a photographer for the NFL, or shoot the Olympics, or shoot the Premier League…” “I need to figure out a way to do that.” At the time, I’d never even shot a single sporting event.

For whatever reason, that goal that I set for myself, to shoot the world’s greatest athletes on the world’s biggest stages, seemed so possible.

Fast forward, my obsession tanked my performance at my 9-5 job, got fired, and two months later I landed my first full-time gig as club photographer for FC Dallas in the MLS.

And now, I’m on the pitch in the Premier League. Turns out, a little bit of delusion + relentless action towards your goals pays off.

This newsletter is where I’ll share my favourite photos from each match, the before/after edits, and the stories behind them.

If you like sports photography and want a glimpse at the behind the scenes in this crazy world — stick around.