A Day in the Life of the Paparazzi!
Ashlee Simpson
Today Was A Horrible Day For Me!
Jan 18th
My Pap alert wakes me up in the morning. The tip was that Victoria Beckham was shopping at Abercrombie and Fitch at the Grove. I got ready right away and I rushed to the grove to see if I could get some shots of her. I live so close to The Grove and I thought that I was going to get there just in time. Well, nope! I didn’t make it. She had just left and I missed it all. This is when my day started.
Nothing went well for me today. I missed so many important stories that I got frustrated then everything went bad for me. It all started when I found Mary-Kate Olsen again shopping at Maxfields. It was hard to get pictures of her that I actually didn’t try to hard. Maxfields put up some black curtains all around the main entrance to the store. They were preparing for some event that was going to happen tonight. So, I just took off.
After that, I went to check on Victoria Beckham. When I got to the hotel that she was in, I noticed all the paparazzi hanging outside in the back of the hotel. They were pretty much using up most of the street. I waited there for about two hours and nothing. She never came out. Well, I left since I got the call for Jessica Simpson and Ashley Simpson shopping at Barney’s New York.
When I got to Barney’s New York, I had a hard time finding a parking space. Well, to make a long story short, I made it down to the store. I got my long lens out and I started to shoot a few crappy shots through the blocking security of the store. It was so hard to get any shots. It was chaos when she left, all the paparazzi going crazy since they couldn’t get any shots because of the store security. It was a mess.
Next time, I am going to take paparazzi to the next extreme. I really need to rethink my strategy.
Henry Flores
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Thursday, January 18, 2007, 9:50 PM
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Happy Halloween! Here Is A Scary Story – Ashlee Simpson and Pete Wentz are Together!
Oct 31st
It was almost closing time and my spidey senses where telling me that they were going to come out the front entrance since they want the most publicity. Ashlee probably got the call from her father, Joe Simpson, that she needs to come out the front.
Soon, the tallest security guard moved from his post and starts to get in front of our line of sight. I guess this was the hint that Ashlee Simpson and her rumored boyfriend, Pete Wentz from Fall Out Boy, were coming out.
Soon after that, Ashlee Simpson comes out hiding behind a tall female friend and shortly behind her was Pete Wentz. It was the weirdest vibe I have ever felt.
They definitely did not look good together. It was really a horror story.
She went directly to her car… or should I say his car… I don’t know? He was driving.
Happy Halloween!
Henry Flores
Please Visit My Official Henry Flores Website:
http://www.henryflores.com
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Tuesday, October 31, 2006, 4:24 AM
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New School vs. Old School
Aug 6th
There are four types of paparazzi – the spotters, the doorsteppers, the photographer-spotters, and the fans. Well, I guess there is also Joe Simpson, so there are five types of paparazzi. 
Oh… there is also the event photographer which makes six.
The spotters are those that drive around a certain route and spot celebs in and around stores and/or driving. Now, there are also two types of car-spotters, those that can spot the celeb inside the car and those that spot the car. The Ninja, for instance, is a car-spotter. He is great at spotting a car in the distance and saying, “there goes Lindsay Lohan.” The problem with car-spotters is that if the celeb changes cars, then they will usually not recognize the celeb. I, on the other hand, can’t recognize a car even if it had to save my life. I cannot tell the difference between a Land Rover vs. a Range Rover, etc. I am a celeb-spotter. I could spot a celeb even if they are in the backseat of a limo just from their silhouette. This is why The Ninja and myself make such a good team. He makes up for my weaknesses and I make up for his.
The door-steppers are those photographers that wait outsite the celeb’s house waiting for them to come out. They follow and photograph the celeb once they have reached their destination. These types of photographers are not very good at spotting and therefore, have to wait at the celebs house for material. They sometimes don’t come out with a picture for weeks at a time since it all depends on the celeb coming out of their house. However, when the celeb does come out, the photographer usually gets a big name. I personally don’t have the patience to be sitting at a house for more than 30 minutes. I get bored easily.
The photographer-spotters are those that can’t spot a celeb even if they are standing right next to them. However, if there was another photographer taking pictures of a celebrity, then they pretend to know who the celeb is and they jump the story. Then they go home and try to find out who the celeb is. These guys/gals get all the photographers really upset.
The fan is another source of paparazzi. They use their phones, their PDAs and their little cameras to take a picture of the celeb. Usually the fan is kinda like the photographer-spotter. They come up to the photographer and ask, “Who is that?” These fans usually just get in the way of a good shot. I have actually been in many occasions where the fans outnumbered the photographers. We don’t mind the fans except when they get in the way.
Then there is Joe Simpson, the father of Jessica Simpson and Ashlee Simpson. He Paps his own daughters and distributes his pictures of his daughters through a paparazzi agency, WireImage. Have you seen the pictures of Jessica Simpson with the rollerskates from her new video, Public Affair? If you look at the photo credits, it says, “Joe Simpson/WireImage”. He is technically a paparazzi. Go figure, the preacher-dad who Paps his own daughters!
So this leads us into New School vs. Old School. Old School are the original paparazzi from back in the day. The original paparazzi are the spotters and the door-steppers. These types of photographers are the ones that don’t like to be seen by anyone, especially the celebs. We follow three rules: 1) if the celeb sees you, they will not do what they were intending to do, therefore, you would miss photographing a more interesting story; 2) if the celeb sees you, then they can recognize you another time, making it harder to photograph them in the future; and 3) if the celeb sees you, they could get angry and possibly cause a scene (e.g., bodily harm, calling cops and wasting taxpayers money, etc.), of which you don’t want to be part of.
The New School photographers are those photographers that don’t understand the relationship between the celeb and the photographer. These are a new breed of photographers that started because they saw TV shows about paparazzi; shows like “Celebrity Hunt Club” and Hollywood Snappers,” where they follow a paparazzi. All of a sudden people think that they can do the job and since they cannot spot a celeb, they spot photographers.
Because of the number of New School photographers, and since they do not understand the relationship between the celeb and the photographer, they usually get in the celeb’s face, invading their personal space, trying to snap a shot. New School is therefore, more aggressive. Because of the number of people, the paparazzi now have to use a fisheye lens to take a picture. If you extend your hand, you could probably touch the celeb, that is how close you have to get.
Old School is more passive…give the celeb plenty of distance to the point that if they do not see you, you have done your job. This is more exciting for The Ninja and myself since we get a rush thinking that the celeb is going to open a magazine the next day or week and say, “Wow! They got me doing that?”
Henry Flores
Please Visit My Official Henry Flores Website:
http://www.henryflores.com
Also Visit My Global Distribution Agency To Buy My Photos:
http://www.buzzfoto.com
Sunday, August 8, 2006, 1:00 PM
