Paparazzi

For other uses, see Paparazzi (disambiguation).

Celebrity Photographers at the Tribeca Film Festival

Paparazzi is a plural term (paparazzo being the singular form) for photographers who take candid photographs of celebrities, usually by relentlessly shadowing them in their public and private activities. Celebrities claiming to have been hounded by such photographers often use "paparazzi" and even "stalkarazzi" as a pejorative term.

News agencies commonly use the word in a broader sense to describe all photographers who take pictures of notable people.

Etymology

The word paparazzi was introduced by the 1960 film La dolce vita directed by Federico Fellini. One of the characters in the film is a news photographer named Paparazzo (played by Walter Santesso). In his book Word and Phrase Origins, author Robert Hendrickson writes that Fellini took the name from an Italian dialect word for a particularly noisy, buzzing mosquito. In his school days, Fellini remembered a boy who was nicknamed "Paparazzo" (Mosquito), because of his fast talking and constant movements, a name Fellini later applied to the fictional character in La dolce vita.

Techniques

Photographers at a protest.

Technological developments in cameras (such as higher quality telephoto lenses and high speed films) enable paparazzi to shoot their subjects from afar, and often unseen. Miniaturization allows tiny palm-sized cameras that can effectively engage in secret photography. Furthermore, digital cameras and internet- and email-based transmission methods allow for rapid and widespread distribution of photographs.

Restrictions

Due to the reputation of paparazzi as a nuisance, some states and countries (particularly within Europe) restrict their activities by passing laws and curfews, and by staging events in which paparazzi are specifically allowed to take photographs. In Germany and France, photographers need the permission of the people in their photographs in order for them to be released (see model release).

The presence of paparazzi is not always seen as vexatious; the arranger of an event may, in order to make the guests feel important, hire a number of actors who pretend they are paparazzi (so-called faux-paparazzi). This was, for instance, seen at extravagant events during the dot-com boom.

Paparazzi sell their work to dozens of magazines and newspapers that publish such photos for their readers and subscribers, and many paparazzi feel that they are helping celebrities and public figures in general by increasing their visibility. Photographers often earn large sums for a particularly good, or revealing picture.

Paparazzi in the news

Some observers blamed paparazzi for the deaths of Princess Diana and Dodi Fayed, who were killed in 1997 in a high-speed car accident in Paris, France, while being pursued by paparazzi. Although several paparazzi were briefly taken into custody, no one was ever convicted. The official inquests into the accident attributed the causes to the speed and manner of driving of the Mercedes, and to the speed and manner of driving of the following vehicles as well as to the impairment of the judgement of the Mercedes Driver through alcohol.

In 1999, the Oriental Daily News of Hong Kong was found guilty of "scandalizing the court", an extremely rare criminal charge that the newspaper's conduct would undermine confidence in the administration of justice. The charge was brought after the newspaper had published abusive articles challenging the judiciary's integrity and accusing it of bias in a lawsuit the paper had instigated over a photo of a pregnant Faye Wong. The paper had also arranged for a "puppy team" to track a judge for 72 hours, to provide the judge with first-hand experience with what paparazzi do.

Time magazine's Style & Design special issue in 2005 ran a story entitled "Shooting Stars", in which Mel Bouzad, one of the top paparazzi in Los Angeles at the time, claimed to have made US$150,000 for a picture of Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in Georgia after their breakup. "If I get a picture of Britney and her baby," Bouzad claimed, "I'll be able to buy a house in those hills (above Sunset Boulevard)." Paparazzi author Peter Howe told Time that "celebrities need a higher level of exposure than the rest of us so it is a two-way street. The celebrities manipulate."

The E! network program Celebrities Uncensored used often-confrontational footage of celebrities made by paparazzi.

Stalkerazzi

Stalkerazzi is a portmanteau of stalker and "paparazzi" and as the name implies signifies those whose techniques tend toward invading personal space and privacy although as some do make a living at this it can be interpreted as just doing a job. The term has gained usage in reference to popular culture figures like celebrities and people made famous through media and news events. In particular throughout 2007, Britney Spears has had a notable increase in the number of people following her every move in hopes of getting photos and videos. Tabloid shows such as Access Hollywood, TMZ on TV and tabloid print media such as People have facilitated such activities but arguably only to meet consumer demand.

Episode 39 (Season 2, original air date 16 February 2004) of CSI: Miami is titled "Stalkerazzi" and featured a celebrity photographer who is found dead in his car following an accident. The investigation leads to an A-list movie star who was caught in a compromising position in photos taken by the paparazzo.

See also

• Ken Sunshine
• Press photographers