Anyone Interested?

Renair · Oct 29, 2007

Out of interest, would anyone be interested in reading an on-line diary about my experiences doing paparazzi, the stars I meet, the sly trick photographers use, the a**holes I meet and the experiences I have? I was working on a book called 'Shooting People - Being a Paparazzi for One Year' but with only 34 pages so far, I dont think it will ever be big enough for a book and the year it is based on finishes in February 2008. So I was thinking of doing it as a Diary on my site....
Anyone interested in reading something like that?

If this is in the wrong place, please feel free to move or delete. Thanks.

Oh, this would be a weekly update.

www.themidwesternphotographer.com

Renair · Oct 29, 2007

Below is a sample of the first assignment....

Assignment 1 Hot Fuzz & Television

So, there I am, sitting on the bus for my morning commute into a job I dont particularly like, but hey, we all have to work and we all have bills to pay. I am reading one of those free news papers you get, specifically targeted towards commuters and paid for by the advertising inside them. I spot an advertisement sponsored by the paper where you and a friend can win a private screening of the new movie, Hot Fuzz, from the creators of Shaun of the Dead. The movies stars are Nick Frost and Simon Pegg and they will be there on the night for photos and also to introduce the movie. So I ring my friend Tim and ask him if he is interested in going down to get some shots. He, like me agreed, we are both fans of the movie Shaun of the Dead plus its good experience. We get down to Cineworld Cinema, venue for the premier and it is due to start at 7pm and by 6.15pm there are no crowds there and only a little advertising in the cinema.

So there we are standing around, Tim and I, discussing whether or not we should ask a staff member if the premier is definitely happening. Suddenly out of nowhere, a girl from Universal Pictures comes over to us and asks are we part of the Press Pack. We look at each other and Tim said Yes! Great she replied, we didnt think anyone was going to turn up because of the Meteor Music Awards So since the stars were not due to arrive for at least another 30 minutes, we were advised to make our way to the private bar for free beer. Two words in the English language that go so well together and make many a man beam with happiness! So there were standing around mingling with competition winners and friends of staff and crew downing some crazy beer from India which actually tasted quite nice. A staff member came over and asked if my camera was a D70, I replied that it was. I thought, oh ohhh, Im busted, paparazzis dont use D70s! Although I have to say Tim looked the part with his Canon and big flash gun etc. So the stars arrive and like a bat out of hell we both make a break for it down to the shooting area. They guys are there with the director and happily pose for the cameras. By this time there were four of us firing off shots so they guys were quite happy. We then were invited upstairs from by the girl from Universal to see if she can get us seats for the film. While she checked Nick and Simon were happy to pose for a personal picture with myself taken by Tim.

Both of them were really nice and although there were no seats available that night, 2 weeks later on opening day I got to see the film and if you have not seen it yet yourself, shame on you!

We spoke to a guy we met about the shots and promised the girl from Universal some images for themselves. A guy mentioned to try and sell them to WENN. World Entertainment News Network. I personally forgot about this but Tim didnt and he followed up on it. Within a week Tim was signed to them, I sent them a mail also with my site details and they were impressed and also signed me. We are now Officially paparazzi. 1 year contracts to supply celebrity and showbiz images to a leading world agency. Here is the tricky part now. Looking at their minimum image requirements, my Nikon D70 at 6 mega pixel just barely makes the cut. If I need to crop the image at all its not big enough and cant be used. Within my first week I get an assignment to cover the IFTAs Irish Film and Television Award. My camera is not good enough! March was coming and my annual bonus is due but I dont have the funds now. My mother always supported my photography and she knows I am passionate about it. She was kind enough to loan me the money to upgrade my equipment. I got onto my local camera store and the guys I know every well and I ordered a Nikon D200, MB D200 Battery Pack and an 18-135mm Nikon Lens with a 2 Gig Flash Card. Total cost for Joe Public 2499 René Discount Special, 2000.00 I also got a loan of a Nikon SB600 Flash gun. So I go and meet Tim and as two of the only 4 photographers in Dublin assigned to W.E.N.N. we figure, go down, have fun, get experience and hopefully sell some images too. Red carpet starts at 6.30pm, we get down there for 4.30pm and collect our Press Cards We are now OFFICIAL

We go to the Press Room and sit down and start setting up. On the big screen TVs they show the live rehearsal for the evening event. Unknown to us, we didnt realize they were showing the clips as well for nominees. So we are sitting there and all of a sudden while we are checking our gear we hear We interrupt this program to bring you a breaking news story I look up on the screen and see a broadcast from our national station, RTE and they are talking about numerous explosions at the Sellafield Nuclear power station in the U.K. I look at Tim about of us are thinking, holy crap, should be leave! Of course when we realized it was a nominee for best docu-drama we both felt like plonkers and laughed!

So we make our way out to the red carpet, musical carpet more like as we had been moved from one side to the other no less then 5 times as the organizers couldnt decide which side the press was going to be on and which side the radio stations were going on. I remember one paparazzi was so eager to get his spot he rang and kicked a plastic bucket with electrical connections in it. Another photographer joked Hey, Micko just kicked the bucket! We get our spots anyway and Kathryn Thomas, a travel show presenter was also the host on the red carpet. She kept going back and forth repeating the intro for the night in front of cameras to make sure she got it right.
So the first stars start to arrive and I can honestly say, the experience was like watching a feeding frenzy at Dublin Zoo. Photographers shouting, over here, turn around, look at me! This is something I was not used to, but you know, if you cant get the star to look directly into your lens, the shot is not going to be as good as the guy who does get them to do it. There is a fair amount of pushing and shoving, not malicious but more just, the old pros shoving the new guys and also the part-timers to make sure they get the shots first, after all, they do this for a living.

The majority of the celebrities were home grown Irish ones, but there were a few big names such as Brian Cox, Damien Lewis, Lara Flynn Boyle etc to keep people watching and more important, the cameras flashing. After the red carpet it was up to the press area for all the sandwiches and wine you can handle. People jumping onto their laptops to try meet the deadlines for the morning papers. I didnt have Wi-Fi at the time, so I was in no rush and enjoyed the free wine. Really enjoyed it!
After the winners collected their awards they had to make their way to a press area to pose with a board of sponsor names on it. This was also a good opportunity to get shots missed downstairs. I at this time, more so because of the wine, took the opportunity to actually talk with some of the winners and also get personal shots taken with the likes of Mark Cagney, Gabriel Byrne, Ciaran Hinds, Damien Lewis and Orla Brady. A nice few to add to my collection and I have to say, Gabriel Byrne was so cool. I told him I was only doing this to make some extra money for my wedding and savings and that I wasnt a real paparazzi, that I specialize more in Travel and Animal images. He like that, he also said he admired the fact that I asked for a photo rather then shout at him like other paparazzi do. He shook my hand and said it was a pleasure to meet me. Id agree with him, Im a very loveable chap!

So that was my first assignment as a W.E.N.N. Correspondent Photographer. Got home, e-mailed my images to the news desk, and now, you can buy them from the site. I also learned some new tricks and that papers and magazines prefer full body shots. I also realized that you get a lot of free booze at these things. Another lesson was some some of these photographers are nice guys and others well I always thought if you dont have something good to say about someone, best keep your mouth shut!

So whats next? Guess its just a waiting game, or is it?

Renair · Oct 30, 2007

Bump (cough cough!) :greenpbl:

Renair · Oct 31, 2007

Ok, since I got so much positive feedback from other sites, I decided to post it on my site, below is the link.
http://www.themidwesternphotographer.com/section139981.html

It will be updated weekly... Enjoy and maybe it might inspire you to bluff your way into a contract too!

jon_k · Oct 31, 2007

Sounds like a great idea. I'll be reading it. Thank you!

spiritedwildfire · Oct 31, 2007

I thought the first entry that you wrote here was entertaining. I don't think that you should worry so much about whether it will please other people to read it. If you enjoy blogging about what you do, then should do it for yourself, and if others enjoy it as well.. then thats just an added benefit!