Karl Brooks tells us all about his role as Witton Albion and Lostock Gralam official photographer, gives us his views on the past couple of seasons and shares his favourite pictures from the last campaign too. The 30-year-old lives in Weaverham, attended Rudheath High School and studied catering at Mid Cheshire College.

Being a photographer can at times be stressful and enduring but being the official club photographer to two of the town's football clubs is far from any of those.

Witton Albion is where I am usually found on a Saturday afternoon and sometimes Lostock Gralam. I have been working with the clubs for just over two years and have enjoyed every second of it.

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All pictures by Karl Brooks Photography

I first started at Witton Albion when their then media officer Callum Bradke allowed me to try my hand at something other than motorsport and event photography.

For the remainder of the 2017-18 season I continued to gain experience and began to "read" the game in anticipation of the next big shot.

I was invited along to Lostock Gralam's Mid Cheshire Challenge FA Cup final at the end of that season which also gained me some silverware experience.

The following season was to be the one to remember for me.

I was invited along to Witton Albion's team photoshoot which was a fantastic opportunity.

Once the season got underway a month later it was non-stop.

A fantastic FA Cup run was to be a main highlight.

Witton were drawn away to Conference North side FC United in the third qualifying round of the FA Cup.

All at Witton were optimistic about the fixture and rightly so.

Jay Foley's first half goal was the goal that opened my eyes to more success.

As he reeled away to celebrate in front of the fans he ran straight towards me and in that split second I got the image that was going to go viral!

As with any game I edit my images as quickly as possible so that they are published and fans can relive the game whilst the adrenalin is still pumping.

My social media accounts went crazy over the image of Jay and from there it lit the fire within that made my love for football grow stronger.

Throughout the remainder of the season I grew more confident and captured more standout images in the result at home to Scarborough and the player awards.

During the summer of 2019 the team got back together for their first training session of the season at Moss Farm to which I was invited along.

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A couple of weeks later Witton played a pre-season friendly against Crewe Alexandra, it was an honour to be the other side of the fence and photograph Witton against a team I have supported since I was a little boy.

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This season was to be somewhat of an up and down campaign from then on.

For the first half of the season Witton knocked on the door of the play-offs but were unable to break into the top five.

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A series of injuries to key squad members resulted in a drop in form.

It was this season where I really felt at home with the club.

My children decided that they wanted to come along to Witton Albion and they were welcomed with open arms.

At each game now the players speak to me to acknowledge my work and have friendly banter of how I caught one of them with a 'game face' or I didn't get their 'good side'.

Week by week I have a joke about how the players run away from me when they score.

It was early in 2020 against Atherton Collieries when after Will Jones headed home at the back post he ran towards me pointing at the camera, another spectacular image for the collection.

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After the match Will pulled me to one side and asked me to make him look less like Bully from Bullseye.

With the 2019-20 season coming to an abrupt end due to coronavirus, which left Witton 14th in the league, it stands us all in good stead for the new season should it get underway in August.

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Check out more of Karl's photographic work on his website HERE