Paparazzi

Paparazzi is a plural term (paparazzo being the Italian singular form) for photographers who take photos of celebrities at moments when the subjects do not expect to be photographed, such as when they shop, walk through a city or eat at a restaurant. Paparazzi tend to be freelancers unaffiliated with a mainstream media organization. They usually sell their work to dozens of magazines and newspapers that publish such photos for their readers and subscribers and hence many paparazzi feel they are helping celebrities and public figures by increasing their visibility. Some photographers often earn large sums for a particularly good or revealing picture. Mel Bouzad, one of the top paparazzi in Los Angeles, said one time that if he got a picture of Britney and her baby, he would be able to buy a house in the hills above Sunset Boulevard.
How is one day in a paparazzo’s life?
Most of the time paparazzi do doorstepping.
Doorstepping – paparazzi wake up early in the morning and go to a celebrety`s house. Then they sit and wait. They watch celebreties leave and they follow them all day until they lose them or until they realise they have enough material to end the day.
Other times, paparazzi are informed about where the celebrities are in that moment and they run there to catch a picture. Usually these celebreties’ spies are waiters, shop assistants and “vallets” that are spread around the towns. Who are the “vallets”? They are the ones who usually earn the minimun wage and when they see cars of 200 000 dollars start thinking: “Why can`t I earn 50 dollars with this information?” and they sell this information to the paparazzi.
Paparazzi in the news
Paparazzi have always been considered a necessary evil in the life of a celebrity and the beautiful and elegant Princess Diana had long been one of their favourite targets. She was followed by photographers all the time and she knew the power of a good picture to the promotion of her image and all her charity projects. However, it was the paparazzi who caused her death. She was killed on 31 August 1997 in a high-speed car accident in Paris, while being stalked by paparazzi in cars and motorbikes. However, no one was ever convicted.
Although the laws have changed in some countries after Diana’s death, in the USA it is still largelly thought that “Anything goes to get a celebrity’s photo.”
Why do paparazzi still exist?
When celebrities want to promote a movie or an album, they go to the places where they know paparazzi are. They need paparazzi to have success. The thruth is that without paparazzi there would be no celebrities and no celebrities` culture. They are essential to the hollywood promotion machine.
Basically, if magazines didn`t want to pay for the photos and people decided to stop buying the celebreties` magazines, the pictures and the paparazzi would disappear.
Ana Raquel Roca / BGÇ