If you flip through Jayson Tatum’s Instagram stories, you’ll notice that he routinely reposts photos from the Instagram page @eyeofbri. For most of the season, the Celtics star shared pictures of himself on the sidelines in his outfits, cheering on his teammates.
Now that he is back on the court, his posts highlight his on-court play.
The common denominator? Many of those photos are captured by Bri Robinson, one of dozens of NBA player photographers who work as freelancers to chronicle the lives of NBA players.
She’s one of just a few women in the space. She’s also one of the most elite.
And, serving as Neemias Queta’s personal photographer, Robinson attends every home Celtics game and various off-court events, while also sometimes hitting the road.
While at TD Garden, Robinson also takes photos of other players, from the team’s superstars to its two-way players.
It all started in 2023, when Robinson attended a Celtics game as a fan, with her camera, and snapped photos of the players all night. After she finished editing the pictures, she messaged her favorite ones to each player on the roster on Instagram.
“The only person who got back to me was Oshae Brissett,” Robinson recalls. “I was like, ‘Hey – if you’re looking for a shooter, I’m here.’ And he was like, ‘Okay, bet. Like, let’s get together.’ He loved the images that I sent him.”
So, Robinson became Brissett’s personal photographer during the 2024 championship season. It wasn’t a financially lucrative gig, but it did mean that she was credentialed to attend and photograph every home Celtics game. It also meant she was able to chronicle the Celtics’ 18th championship.
Brissett didn’t get much playing time during that playoff run, so Robinson made sure to arrive early to take photos of his tunnel fits and pregame workouts. And, when game play began, even if Brissett didn’t see the floor, she’d photograph the other players, slowly building her portfolio.
After Brissett left the Celtics in 2024, Robinson had to find another player on the roster who’d be willing to help credential her. So, she became Queta’s personal photographer.
Over the past two years, she’s chronicled the come-up of one of the NBA’s top centers.
Falling in love with photography
Bri Robinson first picked up the camera in college, at age 20. And, she recalls, it immediately felt instinctive.
A few years into her photography obsession, she learned that a prowess for photography was in her bloodline.
“There’s this thing called the Shutter Bug gene,” she said. “My mom’s biological uncle, who actually took her in as a kid, like her dad, was a photographer. He was a portrait photographer, but I had no idea until two years into photographing that he was a professional photographer. And so my mom pulled out images of her when she was younger, of her just being a test dummy for him. And the photos were super dope. They were portraits – her sitting with her cat, just stuff that I would do. And I had no idea.”
That moment affirmed she was on the right path – and that she was destined to be a photographer.
“I was always a creative person, but when she told me that, I was like, No way. Am I living through my family member? Are they living through me?”
Robinson’s photography style is unique.
“My style is more portrait style,” she said. “I love emotionally-invoking images – that’s what I love. I love to see after a dunk — the emotions. I love up close photos. I love raw, emotional photos, and I hope that’s what people are seeing.”
Robinson is one of the only female player photographers in the league. That comes with its own set of challenges; she never wants people to question her relationship with or intentions toward players, and at first, she worried people would think she only got into this space to hang out with NBA players.
“When I first started, I thought a lot about what people thought. Like, is she here for the right reasons?” she admitted. “But as I grew in this space, I just say, like, ‘Fuck it. Like, who cares [what people think?’ My work is good, and if guys hire me because my work is good, then so be it.”
Nowadays, Robinson gets paid per gig. And, over the past few years, the gigs have been piling up. She’s travelled to Paris to photograph Indiana Pacers forward Obi Toppin’s engagement. She’s photographed Jaylen Brown’s Bridge camp and taken pictures for Derrick White’s family. She’s worked closely with a variety of former Celtics, like Torrey Craig, Jrue Holiday, and Xavier Tillman. She photographed a Pilates event hosted by the wife of Maine Celtics head coach Phil Pressey, Elizabeth. The list goes on and on.
Family photoshoots have become one of her biggest strengths; Derrick White’s wife, Hannah, for example, commissioned her to photograph one of their kid’s birthday parties.
“Hannah reached out to me and was like, ‘Hey, last minute, it’s my son’s birthday. I forgot to hire someone. Can you do it?’” Robinson said. “And I was like, ‘Oh my God.’ That was exciting for me, because I never worked with Derrick White and his family outside of the arena.”
She never intended to become a basketball photographer, but given her love for capturing emotions, it suddenly made perfect sense.
“You get to see the person truly in their element,” Robinson said. “That’s what I love to see. People can shoot, people can pull a trigger on the camera, anyone can do that, but if you can invoke an emotion and get that person’s actual, true feelings, that’s everything I love. I’m so passionate about it. Like, I just love it. I’ll see a face, and I’m like, ‘Oh, that’s the image.’”
She gives a lot of the credit to the players who have helped her get her foot in the door — first Brissett, and now Queta. She’s also enormously grateful for the support she’s received from Tatum, who always makes sure to credit her when he uses her pictures.
Tatum, who has 7.3 million followers on Instagram, has ensured Robinson’s photos are seen by more people than she could have ever imagined.
And, in turn, that’s given her other photography opportunities.
“If Jayson Tatum’s gonna repost me, [other NBA players think] why can’t I use Bri?” she said. “It’s a stamp of approval. JT has really pushed my work, and I’m always going to be grateful for that.”
This season, she’s chronicled Neemias Queta’s journey from a fourth-string center to one of the most durable and consistent centers in the league. She’s also captured tunnel shots for players like Ron Harper Jr, Luka Garza, and Baylor Scheierman.
All of it means she is living out a dream she didn’t even know she had.
The biggest beneficiaries? Celtics fans – who get to enjoy photos of the season’s most emotional moments.
