Bio

Brett Garamella grew up in Connecticut and graduated in 2004 from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he studied journalism. An artistic child with parents who enjoyed ski trips to Vermont and getaways to Nantucket, Garamella developed a love for travel. He also loved sports. When his high school sports career ended, he still missed the games. He discovered journalism as a way to stay close to the action. In addition, it satisfied his natural curiosity and love of humanity.

Throughout college, Garamella worked as a reporter for his school newspaper and spent his final two years as the sports editor for the university magazine. During the summers, he worked as a staff writer for daily newspapers in Connecticut and Vermont.

Since 2004, Garamella has worked as a freelance writer and photographer for publications in Colorado and Chicago, and wrote a biography on an inspirational man called The Monk. He worked as a hotel doorman and bellman to pay for his camera equipment and photojournalism trips to Latin America. During this period he spent almost a year studying Spanish and teaching English in Bogota, Colombia.

An avid reader and writer, Garamella discovered his gift for photography during a month-long trip in Cuba. When he had returned from his trip, in January 2007, he realized how photography could transcend cultural and political barriers in an immediate way that words could not.

After leaving for Colombia in August 2007, Garamella began studying photography and taking photos of whomever he could while posting them on his blog, Life of Brett. In the past year he has documented many emotional events, from the Caribbean World Series in the Dominican Republic to the U.S. Presidential Election in Chicago. His greatest assets as a photojournalist are his easy-going, adaptable personality and his passion for what he is documenting. This has helped Garamella take intimate photos that would otherwise be impossible.

He is currently working on two documentaries about: the earthquake in Haiti, and a former Iraqi boxing champion.