It is my full intention to represent the paparazzi in this blog. I want people to see the celebrity world through the eyes of the people that see them in their normal lifes everyday, the Paparazzi. Being one for 3 years I have been able to see the good, the bad, and definetely the evil that comes along with this job. Many times I have just been waiting to photograph a celeb who wants to be photographed and I have been harrassed, spat at, and ridicule, all just because I am a paparazzi. The public is a hypocrate because one moment they want to "know" everything about celebrities; their daily lifes, what they wear, what they eat but people hate the paparazzi because they bring it to them. At many times in my career I have been approached while I am waiting to shoot a celeb and get asked the following questions, "who is in there? will they be coming out soon? are they nice?" only to be followed by questions such as How can you live with yourself? Don't you feel bad that you are invading their privacy? and then statements such as..."YOU'RE A JERK!","YOU'RE SCUM!","YOU'RE A B*TCH!","How can you call yourself a woman?!". I don't think there is another job that gets such contradicting feelings from the public. In my opinion, if you are a "public" figure you are free range to shoot. NO matter what! If you don't like the attention that comes along with being a celebrity but love acting then go to Broadway! Believe me, you will not have any paparazzi following you then! Not to say that there are not any people who actually enjoy the paparazzi and almost treat them as celebrities because there are. It's just that there are more that don't like them (or at leas admit that they do). I have been approached by fans and asked if they can take a picture with me. Why?!?! you ask, well because people believe us to be a bridge between themselves and their favorite stars. After all, we really have seen most celebrities in their best and at their worst.
I want this blog to open up peoples minds on paparazzi. We are not all created equal. Just because you hear that a paparazzi was at fault for a mishap your favorite celebrity did don't be misguided. Most celebrities like to use paparazzi as their "cop-out" for the bad things they do. Take Lindsay Lohan for example. She got into a car crash on Robertson blvd. and blamed it all on the paparazzi. Even though at the the time there were "no" paparazzi following her. The only reason there were pictures of the accident is because Robertson Blvd. always has paparazzi on it due to the fact that the restaurant "The Ivy" is there. As a matter of fact, she got into the accident a few feet away from the Ivy. She was the one that wasn't watching the road because she hit a van that was tryin to make a U-turn. It had nothing to do with the paparazzi. Of course the paparazzi are going to take pictures of her when she got into the accident because she is a public figure. Her getting into an accident is world wide news. Not because they are vicious and heartless. It's like the war photographer who takes pictures of wounded people on the side of the road. It's his duty to report what he sees to the "T" to his readers. He can't wear his heart on his sleeve, he has a job to do. Same way are the paparazzi. We have to report what we see, not what the celeb wants us to report. In essence we are just historians documenting the life of people of great influence to the world. Next time you see a paparazzi remember that they are just documenting the life of celebrities. If they don't do it, who will?!