Paparazzo Stays in the Picture

Ron Galella is finally taking a break. The self-described paprazzo superstar, who once spent his time sneaking into hotels and prowling the streets for celebrities, now covers events only sparingly. Instead, Mr. Galella is concentrating on selling his prints in fine-art galleries, producing photography books featuring his work, and promoting "Smash His Camera," a documentary directed by Leon Gast about his career that airs June 7 on HBO.
Born into an Italian family in the Bronx, Mr. Galella, 79, didn't have the money to go to college, so he enlisted in the Air Force during the Korean war "to learn a career." There he became interested in photography, buying his first camera—a roloflex—off a sergeant in the photo lab and studying photography encyclopedias to learn his craft. After the war, he took advantage of the G.I. Bill to enroll at the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, Calif., and began freelancing in 1958. He went on to shoot such luminaries as Marlon Brando (who famously knocked out five of Mr. Galella's teeth in 1973) and Jackie Kennedy Onassis (who sued him twice).
Mr. Galella says he is different from paparazzi photographers working today, whom he calls "gangbangers." "They just do it for the money, and that to me is not a good motive," he says. "To me, shooting the picture is the first reward. The check is the last reward."
Mr. Galella spoke with the Wall Street Journal about his craft, and why they don't make paparazzi like they used to.

Wall Street Journal: What's the biggest difference between being a paparazzo now versus during your heyday?
Ron Galella: There was a great freedom to move about and get into events. For example, I once followed Sophia Loren on board a plane at JFK. I just boarded the plane after her and took a picture of her with her son in her lap. Nobody questioned me; I just walked on and got off before the flight took off. Now you can't even get to the gate.
Plus, everyone gets the same picture. I don't know how they make a living now. When I did it, I didn't get a lot of money for the pictures, just normal rates, but I got them from a lot of different outlets. I'd rather do that then sell to one publication for double or triple that rate. The whole thing is my passion. I'm glad I did it my way.
WSJ: Do the actions of today's aggressive photographers tarnish the legacy of paparazzi like yourself?
Mr. Galella: I think it does. Nowadays, there's too many of them. There's no freedom to move and all the photographers get in each other's way, and it's dangerous sometimes. When I was shooting Jackie, my best year was 1970, and I got her 20 times throughout the course of the year. Today, the gangbangers shoot Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and other people I call "featherweights" all day and night. And they love it! Things have certainly changed.
WSJ: What makes a good paparazzo photograph?
Mr. Galella: The best is always the exclusive. No matter who is it, if you're the only one who has it, you'll make money. It's like an original painting. Then, stars doing unusual things or things that humanize them. I once got Julie Christie barefoot in a market in Malibu. Getting pictures of stars doing things is the main thing. On the red carpet nowadays, you get stars looking directly at the camera, and that's terrible. I like people doing things and relating to each other, getting natural expressions.
WSJ: Having spent your career shooting pictures of other people, how did it feel having documentarians record your every move?
Mr. Galella: I love it. I'm a ham, in a way; I could have been an actor. In fact, when I was studying at the art center, I would crash premieres and take pictures of people like Lucille Ball, William Holden and Frank Sinatra. To me, the whole thing was about curiosity. We see these stars on TV and in movies, and we want to know what they look like in person. Curiosity is the proper motivation.

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart no more a couple, Stewart fed up with paparazzi

Robert Pattinson and Kristen Stewart are no more a couple, as Pattinson has clarified. Meanwhile Stewart is fed up with paparazzi

Internationally-acclaimed star Kristen Stewart is furious at the paparazzi. Earlier she had lashed out the tabloid for infringing on her privacy. Reports have surfaced that this time she has expressed her anger against the paparazzi who photographed her. Using harsh word, she said that she feels like she has been raped.

Besides, she told a British magazine that what she hates the most is being stalked by men with cameras. "All you see is an actor or a celebrity lit up but a flash.

"It’s so… The photos are so… I feel like I’m looking at someone being raped. A lot of the time I can’t handle it.

"It’s f**ked. I never expected that this would be my life."

This is not her first time outburst against the media. Earlier too she had ripped them apart after they had tailed her to find out about her relationship with Robert Pattinson. She had claimed that she wanted to avoid the media because they always pry on her privacy.

Besides, she also talked about her rumored relationship with Robert.

“People want me to say that I really like it when guys are funny and dorky but I’ve never really gone out with someone I’ve found attractive initially," she said, adding that she had career plans also.

“Oddly enough I have a really clean horizon, I’m excited about the last few films I did coming out but other than that – I always have my next three things planned out so to have a clean horizon is pretty nice."

Meanwhile Robert Pattinson has said that he is not dating Kristen Stewart and is single.

Paparazzi lose shooting case

A US judge has dismissed a lawsuit by two paparazzi who claimed they were shot at by the bodyguards of Brazilian model Gisele Bundchen and her husband, American football star Tom Brady.

Photographers Yuri Cortez and Rolando Aviles, supported by the news agency Agence France Presse, contended that the bullets narrowly missed their heads. They were trying to obtain photographs at a party in Costa Rica in April 2009.

Read the original story HERE.

Kristen Stewart calls paparazzi 'thugs'

Kristen Stewart has reportedly branded the photographers who follow her as "thugs".

Speaking to Elle magazine, the Twilight star revealed that she finds being hounded by the paparazzi very frustrating.

"The photographers, they're vicious. They're mean. They're like thugs," the 20-year-old said.

She added: "I don't even want to drive around by myself anymore. It’s f***ing dangerous."

Getty Images to Acquire Rex Features

Acquisition will Provide a Broader Selection of Compelling Entertainment Content to Meet Growing Demand for Celebrity Imagery

 Getty Images, the world's leading creator and distributor of visual content and other media, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Rex Features, which includes Los Angeles-based Berliner Photography. The acquisition will benefit existing and potential customers by making even more celebrity content easily accessible.

“Growing our entertainment imagery business continues to be a key strategic focus. The real winners will be our customers, who can now expect to see greater choice and more easily accessible imagery.”

"Celebrity and entertainment content is a growing and vital part of the editorial imagery industry and this acquisition positions us to meet and exceed the demand for nearly instantaneous material," said Jonathan Klein, co-founder and CEO of Getty Images. "Growing our entertainment imagery business continues to be a key strategic focus. The real winners will be our customers, who can now expect to see greater choice and more easily accessible imagery."
Getty Images intends to maintain Rex Features’ brand and with the combined resources of Getty Images and Rex Features, Getty Images will continue to generate new imagery for their respective celebrity and entertainment collections. Additionally, Getty Images’ global distribution channels will increase international customers’ access to Rex Features’ products and services.
The acquisition of Rex Features was driven by the continually evolving celebrity imagery business and gives Getty Images more coverage capabilities for events and portraiture and will expand the entertainment and celebrity imagery segment.
“Over more than five decades, Rex Features has built a strong heritage and reputation that Getty Images will build upon to the benefit of customers worldwide,” added Klein. “Getty Images has always been dedicated to making strategic investments that will provide long-term value to our customers.”

Zombie killer Woody Harrelson prevails in paparazzi lawsuit

Woody 'I thought you were a zombie' Harrelson will not have to face off in court against a TMZ photographer who sued him over an alleged assault in 2006. All charges were dropped in addition to a counter suit Harrelson filed citing invasion of privacy.
According to paperwork filed with the Los Angeles County Supreme Court, the two reached a settlement agreement earlier this month, although the specifics were not released.
Harrelson allegedly broke Josh Levine's camera, choked him, and released the hounds on him, aka his bodyguards.
Last year, Harrelson freaked out on a couple of paparazzi trying to snap pictures of him with his daughter as they deplaned from Mexico. He later claimed he was disoriented from filming Zombieland and believed them to be zombies. L.A hates paparazzi and loves Harrelson this was accepted at face value.

Photog Sues Sean Penn Over Alleged Death Threat

Paparazzo claims actor broke his camera, menaced him

Sean Penn is already facing criminal charges in the wake of a run-in with a photographer in October, and the actor is now the defendant in a civil case about the incident as well. Jordan Dawes alleges that the volatile actor kicked him and broke his camera, then said, "The next time I see you, you will be in a box," reports TMZ. The criminal case is pending.

Sandra Bullock Paparazzi Feeding Frenzy Videos: Pure Chaos

What, you ask, is it like to be Sandra Bullock? Here's a video from her first public outing since Jesse James' affair, when she drove to her money manager's house on Wednesday. Warning: Camera flashes may induce epileptic seizure.

Deputies respond to Sandra Bullock home due to paparazzi disturbance

Sheriff's deputies were back at Sandra Bullock's Sunset Beach home today because a neighbor reported a disturbance by the paparazzi, who have flocked to the area in the wake of the Oscar-winner's recent marital strife, a sheriff's sergeant said.

``Someone in the media was reportedly yelling at the house,'' Orange County sheriff's Sgt. John Meyer said.
By the time deputies arrived, the disturbance was over. No arrests were made and no citations issued, he said.
On Friday, neighbors complained about about the swarm of photographers and reporters assembled outside the home of Sandra Bullock and Jesse James, but sheriff's spokesman Jim Amormino said that no laws had been broken and no violations committed.
The paparazzi and reporters have camped out in the area since James issued an apology for admitting an affair with graffiti model Michelle ``Bombshell'' McGee while Bullock was shooting ``The Blind Side.'' Bullock won a best actress Academy Award for her work in the picture.

What Journalists Should Learn From the Paparazzi

It took me years of searching, but I think I finally found the aggressive, audacious, uncompromising media our democracy needs.


While channel-surfing the other day, I came across a fresh-faced, young reporter for a cable network aggressively following an important person around an airport and refusing to let up with his questions. The unwilling interviewee grew angry, suddenly snapping and shouting at the reporter to leave him alone.


“Do you think you’re immune to questions?” the reporter shouted back repeatedly.
I was speechless. “Do you think you’re immune to questions?” It was perfect—such a simple and powerful question.


This would have been the most hopeful piece of journalism I had seen in years if it weren’t for one small detail: This was not a journalist from CNN or Fox or MSNBC. In fact, this wasn’t even a journalist at all. And the important person? No, he wasn’t a politician or a Wall Street CEO or a government official.


The exchange was between an E! network reporter and a Hollywood celebrity.
And that’s when it clicked. Could the news media learn something from the paparazzi?


The paparazzi paradigm shift


Sounds ridiculous, right? But hear me out. Just a few seconds after I watched this exchange, my channel surfing landed me on C-SPAN, where I watched members of the press pool ask lame questions about President Obama’s smoking habits instead of probing ones about healthcare legislation.


I started to imagine that paparazzi reporter in the press pool, doggedly pursuing a line of questioning and refusing to take “no comment” for an answer. In an age of woefully tame media, old D.C. journos could learn a thing or two from reporters traditionally considered at the bottom of the news industry’s barrel. Imagine if Washington journalists were as aggressive and relentless as a paparazzo desperately trying to get a Brangelina quote. Imagine if the media demanded real answers from the Wall Street investment firms who tanked the economy, got a taxpayer bailout and then paid out exorbitant bonuses to executives.


If aggressive, unremitting paparazzi reporters were on Capitol Hill and Wall Street to hound our lawmakers and CEOs, we might finally get some answers—and persuade them to actually work in the public’s interest. Picture the paparazzi crushing our flabbergasted elected officials with cameras and questions as they leave closed-door meetings, asking over and over, “Who was in the room? What was said?”
The mortgage crisis might not seem as sexy as the sordid love life of the Twilight casts, but with continually aggressive questioning of the bankers, policymakers and lobbyists who wield so much power, we might actually avoid future financial disasters, foreign wars and corrupt elections.


Media twilight zone


The news media should collectively be a watchdog for the public interest, but they seem to have lost their bite. Has it really gotten so bad that I’m left wishing that Los Angeles’ finest trash-talking shutterbugs were on Capitol Hill?


It’s starting to feel like we’re stuck in the Media Twilight Zone. Mainstream media are increasingly using cost-cutting measures like slashing jobs and reorienting their newsroom staff to cover the kind of “soft” and cheap-to-produce entertainment and gossip stories that the paparazzi specialize in. Today it seems that journalists aren’t celebrated for publishing a hard-hitting story—they’re celebrated just for asking a few hard-hitting questions. In other words, we have come to expect journalism that doesn’t actually challenge those in power. When journalists actually do, we start handing out awards. But asking hard questions shouldn’t be an award-winning feat: it should be the norm.


But it’s no use to blame the journalists. Consolidated media has meant only a certain kind of journalist makes it to the top and gets press credentials: the type who ask softball questions that politicians can hit with their eyes closed – and that don’t compromise the media companies’ own interests. I’m ready for a new media era where reporters have bosses who actually want them to get the story, and where the news isn’t run like a corporation, by and for corporations.


What I want will take big structural changes – the kind that will put reporters back to work, pump more money into our public media system to pay for journalism and ensure that those who ask the tough questions aren’t denied the benefits of an open Internet.


Still, with CNN’s homepage regularly plastered with celebrity “news”—will the Tiger Woods saga ever end?—it doesn’t seem unfair to ask journalists to learn a basic lesson from the paparazzi: Don’t take no for an answer.


This was first published by InTheseTimes.com

Cloak Camera Bag Hides Your Camera Until The Last Possible Moment

Paparazzi or no paparazzi, if you’re carrying an SLR shaped camera you’re gonna get some looks.  If it ain’t the wannabe celebs sneering at you it’s the locals rolling their eyes at your benign tourist interests.

But now you can move freely amongst the elite in a discreet fashion thanks to the cloak bag.  This handy bag – it’s actually more of case – snugly holds your camera and when that time arrives for a quick snap shot, you just flip open either end, stuff your hands through the side inserts and start shooting.  So you see, you never have to remove the camera from the bag, and when you’re done with your snooping you just sling it back over your should like any everyday bag.

50 Cent bodyguard scuffles with paparazzi?

50 Cent's bodyguard has reportedly got in a fight with photographers.

According to TMZ, the man was taken into custody after he scuffled with several paparazzi outside a hotel in Copenhagen.

The police are holding the suspect for 24 hours pending a decision on whether they want to bring the incident to trial.

A rep for 50 Cent has yet to comment on the matter.

'Bachelor' Wedding Paparazzi Sue ABC

Two paparazzi tossed out just before last month's taping of "The Bachelor" wedding have sued for battery and false imprisonment.
     Eric Brogmus and Maximiliano Lopez Jr. say O & R Protective Services, Disney/ABC Television Group and the show's producer, Next Entertainment, "breached their duty of reasonable conduct by attacking and detaining or authorizing the attack and retention" of the two men who say they were "lawfully on a public place."
     The two were taking pictures of "Bachelor" couple Jason Mesnick and Molly Malaney before the couple's Feb. 27 wedding near the Tarranea Resort in Rancho Palos Verdes, Calif. A video clip
     The lawsuit doesn't describe the incident, but says guard Jose Antonio Revilla "and several of his agents ... attacked, detained and made false claims" against the two photographers.
     Lopez and Brogmus were arrested by Los Angeles officials on suspicion of misdemeanor battery and unlawful blocking of a sidewalk, according to the Los Angeles Times. Prosecutors decided there wasn't enough evidence to charge the men.
     The two seek unspecified damages for medical expenses and lost earnings. posted on X17online.com shows a security guard choking one of the photographers and taking him to the ground.

Robert Pattinson shares his paparazzi nightmare at “Remember Me” premiere

The Robert Pattinson starrer “Remember Me” release is just around the corner as we are less than a fortnight away from the highly awaited movie. And why is it highly hyped? It’s hyped because the vampire from Twilight who melted millions of heart throughout the world with his role of Edward Cullen will be appearing in his first major movie outside the Twilight banner.

Robert Pattinson and co-star Emilie de were seen on March 1st at the premiere of Remember Me held at the Paris Theater in NYC. In an interview at the premier Robert was asked about how it really felt when all his fans crazily run after him and cause trouble.
The Twilight stud who plays an everyday young guy who falls in love with a sweet girl at the same time coping with family tragedies in “Remember Me” said it’s not the fans that trouble him, but it’s the paparazzi.

Why is that? The star justified by saying its not the fans who make money out of chasing stars, they just like to catch a glimpse of them, root for them and maybe me get an autograph but it’s the paparazzi who would go to any extent to intrude in their private lives and cover moments which are meant to be private.

Getty Acknowledges Photo Setup With Tiger Getty Acknowledges Photo Setup With Tiger

Last Wednesday, two days before Tiger Woods statement, Getty Images released a photo of the golfer jogging near his Florida home.

When asked about how the photo — which dampened hopes of the paparazzi getting the first clear picture of Woods — was arranged, the folks at Getty had no comment.

Today, Michelle Caruso-Cabrera and I asked Getty Images CEO Jonathan Klein on "Power Lunch" how it all worked out. 

On how the deal came together: "Over a long period of time, Getty Images has established itself as the gold standard in terms of not only the image quality, but the way we behave. As a result of that, we don't do paparazzi images and as a result of that, we often get a called in either for a non-profit basis like we do all the Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie photos entirely non-profit...We were approached and Tiger happened to know the photographer (Sam Greenwood) and has known him for a long time."

On how much Getty made on the photo: "Very little because the deal that we did with them was we would make them available to the other wire agencies."

Gossip Girl Filming Disrupted By Paparazzi Scuffle

Production on hit TV show Gossip Girl ground to a halt on Wednesday (24Feb10) after a fight broke out between a set security guard and a paparazzo.
Gossip Girl star Blake Lively was shooting a scene in Midtown Manhattanwith guest actor William Baldwin when a group of photographers began gathering around the set.

The paparazzi were persistently ignoring the security and production staff, and the scene erupted. I clearly saw an exchange of verbal and physical blows

Tension grew between the bodyguards and the snappers as they ignored repeated requests to step back to avoid ruining the take.
But cameras had to stop rolling altogether when one stubborn photographer directed the racist 'N' word towards a member of security, sparking a violent confrontation which left the offending snapper nursing a bruised forehead.

An eyewitness tells , "The paparazzi were persistently ignoring thesecurity and production staff, and the scene erupted. I clearly saw an exchange of verbal and physical blows".
Police were called to the scene but neither party decided to press charges and filming resumed on Wednesday afternoon.

George Clooney is driven out of Lake Como villa by paparazzi

The actor George Clooney is reported to be selling the villa on Lake Como that he shares with his Italian girlfriend after their privacy was invaded by paparazzi and fans.
Potential buyers of the 18th-century Villa Oleandra at Laglio on Lake Como, which Clooney bought in 2002 for a reported $8 million, include the footballer David Beckham, who plays for AC Milan.

Beckham and his wife, Victoria, who are living in a hotel in Milan, are said to have fallen in love with the villa while staying with Clooney last spring. Beckham later told team-mates that it was “quiet and peaceful, and not far from Milan”. The Corriere della Sera newspaper said that lawyers from Milan had approached the Swiss property company dealing with the sale on the Beckhams’ behalf.

Italian media also reported that Roustam Tariko, the Russian vodka and banking tycoon, was another prospective buyer. His company, however, insisted last night that he had not seen the villa and had never expressed an interest in purchasing it.

The villa complex, said to be on sale for 20 million euros (£18 million), includes a jetty, a botanical garden, tennis courts and an annexe. A short drive from Milan, Lake Como’s crystal-clear waters and mountain setting have long attracted the rich and famous. Other VIPs with properties at Lake Como include Sir Richard Branson, Donatella Versace and José Mourinho, the manager of Inter Milan.

Clooney’s girlfriend, Elisabetta Canalis, a former Italian showgirl and television hostess, was reported to be “furious and exasperated” last summer when the villa was staked out by paparazzi. The couple were particularly angry when photographers climbed over the villa wall and took photos of an under-age girl while she was changing clothes in one of his guest rooms, as well as photos of Clooney and Canalis.

The actor said at the time: “I don’t know about the law in the United States but in Italy it’s illegal for photographers to climb over my wall and to take long-lens pictures of a 13-year-old girl in her bedroom. I draw the line of privacy at that.”

Guests at the villa have included Hollywood stars such as Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, and scenes for the film Ocean’s Twelve were shot there. Property prices in the Como area have risen since the actor’s arrival.

Clooney and Canalis are said to be looking for “somewhere more private”, possibly in Le Marche or Sardinia.

One local paper reported that they were thinking of staying at Como but moving to a castle on a small island on the lake owned by a businessman from Bergamo.

Blink 182 drummer Travis Barker clashes with paparazzi

Travis Barker  got into a scuffle with paparazzi while on his way to breakfast with his daughter and pals in Calabasas, Calif.

Footage on TMZ.com shows Barker and his friends allegedly spitting at two photographers and videographers and then striking a camera.

A videographer claimed a member Barker's posse took his cell phone and another paparazzo said his tires were slashed.

Cops were called by an unidentified man who says he saw the fight on Sunday begin outside a theater. No arrests were made, but a vandalism report was taken.

According to MTV.com, Barker later tweeted his version of the incident, "When I'm out at breakfast at 8 a.m. in the morning the last thing I appreciate is some photographer threatening me 2 fight while he's 3 deep.

"When I defend myself/my kids that don't make me a tough guy.

"I was outnumbered and threatened so I did what any man would," he wrote.

Sean Penn News Faces JailSean Penn News Faces Jail

Latest Sean Penn news reveals he could face 18 months in jail for battery and vandalism. The actor has a history of attacking photographers and the paparazzi.

Sean Penn has not learned that you cannot attack another person with physical violence. Repeated incidents are always involving the paparazzi. The Oscar-winning actor has been charged with two crimes that occurred last October.
Penn, 49, could face a jail sentence if he's convicted. He was charged with misdemeanor battery and vandalism after allegedly kicking a photographer in the leg and breaking his camera last October. The incident took place at an upscale shopping center in the Brentwood area of Los Angeles.
He will make his first court appearance on March 22. Los Angeles County prosecutors had earlier declined to file charges against Penn. At first, they didn't believe the case merited felony charges. However, the incident happened on tape and that was evidence used to file the charges.
He recently won best actor Oscars for his performances in "Mystic River" and "Milk." He was also nominated for his work in "Dead Man Walking," "I Am Sam" and "Sweet and Lowdown."
Violence Towards Paparazzi
Penn could face up to 18 months in jail if he's convicted. This isn't the first stint he's had with a photographer. In 1987, he served more than 30 days in jail for assaulting an extra on a film set.
In 1989, he also faced a domestic assault complaint during his marriage to pop star Madonna. The marriage ended in divorce. That incident was also caught on camera.
In 2006, he attacked a paparazzo at his brother's funeral (that is just wrong is so many ways). Penn is also facing a break up with his wife Robin Wright Penn. However, they briefly reconciled, then he served with divorce papers in August 2009.

Alec Baldwin Fights with Paparazzi After Hospital Release

Alec Baldwin exchanged unpleasantries with a member of the paparazzi Thursday night, hours after being released from the hospital.
 
Video footage of the incident shows the 30 Rock star going after New York Post photographer Tim Wiencis in a heated exchange outside the actor's New York City apartment building. Baldwin was quickly pulled away from the snapper by several policeman, who were positioned nearby.

Wiencis told police, "He just assaulted me." He did not file charges, however.
Baldwin, 51, was taken to Lenox Hill Hospital early Thursday after his 14-year-old daughter, Ireland, called 911, claiming that her dad was "unresponsive" in his West Side Manhattan apartment.

"This was a misunderstanding on one person's part," Baldwin's rep, Matthew Hiltzik, later explained in a statement. "Alec was quickly released from the hospital, he's completely fine and will be at work today."

Baldwin is due to co-host the Academy Awards next month with Steve Martin.

“King of Paparazzi” Dies

Photographer Credited With Molding Modern View of Celebrities

The man credited with launching the era of the paparazzi photographer has died.

Felice Quinto, 80, succumbed to pneumonia at his Rockville, Md., home on Jan. 16, according to his wife.

Often called the “king of the paparazzi,” Quinto pioneered aggressive techniques for taking pictures of celebrities.

Quinto launched his career in his native city of Milan, Italy. He would loiter in cafes and hide in bushes, waiting to get the perfect shot of an unsuspecting famous person eating dinner. He went to great lengths, including disguising himself and racing his motorcycle alongside cars carrying celebrities.

Quinto is believed to be the basis for the character Paparazzo in the 1960 film, “La Dolce Vita.” The term “paparazzi” was coined from the film.

The director of “La Dolce Vita,” Frederico Fellini, asked Quinto to play a photographer in the movie. Quinto turned it down. He said he made more money in his real-life role.

Quinto met Geraldine Del Gioma, an American schoolteacher, at an art gallery in Venice in 1958. They married five years later.

After moving to the United States in 1963, Quinto began working for the Associated Press. He work turned more serious, with assignments including the funeral of President Kennedy and civil rights marches.

In the 1970’s, Quinto covered celebrity nightlife at the famed Studio 54. In 1997, he published a book about club.

He was also Elizabeth Taylor’s personal photographer.

Quinto retired from professional photography in 1993.

Sundance films turn cameras on the paparazzi

PARK CITY, Utah (Reuters) - In a celebrity culture that turns the spotlight on its heroes to uncover their flaws, it seems only natural, at some point, to return it to the people who take the pictures -- the paparazzi -- to see if they can live up to their own scrutiny.

Two films at this week's Sundance Film Festival have taken on that cause. One examines the career of one of the industry's icons, Ron Galella, and the other is a turn-the-tables effort by paparazzi target, actor Adrian Grenier of "Entourage" fame.
In "Teenage Paparazzo", Grenier picks up his own camera to pursue Austin Visschedyk, a 13-year-old paparazzo whom Grenier met after he was ambushed by the young photographer.

Initially motivated by curiosity and concern for the teenager -- who routinely stays out until 2 a.m. on school nights jostling for shooting position with men twice his age -- Grenier broadens the focus to the relationship between paparazzi and the celebrities who are their targets.

"One of the reasons I made this film was to diffuse the tension that's so apparent between the paparazzi and the celebrities," Grenier told Reuters at Sundance.
"There's this one-way street, a one-way conversation. They're firing at you, but there's no real exchange."

Grenier, who calls his film a "big, fat kiss to the paparazzi," has a resume perfectly suited for the task. He is, after all, someone who became a star by playing a star on TV -- heartthrob film actor Vincent Chase on "Entourage."

For "Teenage Paparazzo," Grenier dips into his celebrity connections to strike interviews with targets such as Lindsay Lohan, Eva Longoria and Paris Hilton, who eventually becomes a co-conspirator with Grenier in manufacturing a "photo op."
Visschedyk, meanwhile, is clearly ambitious beyond his years, hopping into cabs to chase fleeing starlets and selling his pictures for thousands of dollars.

TURNING THE TABLES

At first, Visschedyk is somewhat awe-struck by Grenier's attention. But when he learns he is the focus of the film, he begins to wield his own power and thrusts Grenier into the role of pursuer, vying for time with Visschedyk to finish the movie.
Ultimately, Grenier confronts the notion that the film itself could be doing damage to Visschedyk. "It becomes a slippery slope when you think you're helping, but you're becoming part of that negative influence," he said.

At the other end of age and experience from Visschedyk is Ron Galella, a 50-year veteran of the trade and widely considered the original Hollywood paparazzo.
Galella, 79, whose life is examined in Leon Gast's "Smash His Camera", is old enough to have been working when the term "paparazzo" -- the sound in Italian made by a buzzing mosquito -- was coined to name a celebrity-chasing photographer character in the 1960 film "La Dolce Vita".

He operated in a time before it became normal for hordes of photographers to wait outside restaurants for celebrities, and he saw himself as an artist, first -- a claim backed up by having five of his pictures housed in the permanent collection of New York's Museum of Modern Art.

"Smash His Camera" gets its name from an order Jacqueline Onassis -- Galella's top target and subject of his most famous pictures -- gave to her bodyguard after he followed her and her children into New York's Central Park as they rode bikes.
Such events led to a lawsuit by Onassis that earned Galella some negative, but hardly unwelcome, publicity of his own.

In fact, Galella reveled in being portrayed as a villain, although he considers himself a breed apart from the armies of paparazzi that stalk celebrities today.
"A lot of paparazzi today are not trained, they're not serious. I was a serious student of art, and that's what makes great photographers," he said.

Lindsay Lohan's Driver Hits Paparazzo With Car

Lindsay Lohan may be facing another lawsuit -- although this time it's not her fault.

The actress' driver ran over a photographer early Sunday morning, with Lohan in the car, TMZ reports.

The paparazzo injured his hand and was treated by EMTs at the scene. The victim intends to sue. "Of course I'm going to sue them ... but I don't care about the money," he told TMZ.

Lohan's driver is now being investigated for criminal assault with a deadly weapon.

Paparazzi have become more aggressive, says Cameron Diaz

Cameron Diaz thinks she is pursued more "aggressively" by the paparazzi now than she was when she first shot to fame in 1994.

The actress insists she accepts people will always be interested in her life while she is in the public eye, but thinks photographers have become more aggressive in their pursuit of her since she first shot to fame in "The Mask" in 1994.

"Some people say that being a celebrity I should just deal with things like the paparazzi but, honestly, 10 years ago it wasn't like this," contactmusic.com quoted Diaz as saying.

"I don't know what happened to America society, but all of a sudden this pack of really aggressive people emerged. But I guess you have to make peace with it. It is part of what society wants and expects from people in my position."

The 37-year-old says she has learned to take steps to be more cautious about the attention she receives.

"I'm very aware of my words and who I say them to. I'm aware that what I said gets overheard, and people can take it and twist it, and I have no control over that."

Aniston named as force behind paparazzi law

Jennifer Aniston is said to be the force behind a new law that puts a check on the paparazzi in 2010 and beyond.

Democrat and Assembly Speaker Karen Bass said the former Friends star was instrumental in pushing the legislation that comes into effect from the January 1, 2010.

According to the new law, members of the paparazzi and media outlets that sell and buy unlawfully taken photos and video footage of people, including celebs and their families, will be charged with civil penalties.

"There have to be some boundaries. When you have children in the car and the photographers are rushing you, its just absolutely out of control," Contactmusic quoted Aniston, as telling the Los Angeles Times.

"Its become a public safety issue. Somebodys going to die if we dont do something," she added.

California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger signed Assembly Bill 524 into law in October this year.

NYPD Press Pass Extension

The NYPD has apparently backed away from the idea of getting out of the press credentials business.

All working press passes that were due to expire in January will automatically be extended to July 15 while the NYPD transitions to a biannual system.

"We want to be able to issue press cards that are good for two years," said Deputy Commissioner Paul Browne. Currently, the cards have to be renewed every year.

Each year, the department issues about 2,500 working press passes, which allow reporters to cross police and fire lines that the general public can't. They also are used to secure the coveted NYP plates issued by state motor vehicle de partments.

Browne said he could not just jettison the one- year passes because it is part of the NYC administrative code and requires public input.

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/business/conde_subpoenas_google_at_in_hacker_L4IUVSDpfj56L5Gcq7PSvN#ixzz0bDIYqVQh

The Malibu Times: New year laws include anti-paparazzi statute

The year 2010 kicks off with several new state laws that go into effect Jan. 1, including anti-paparazzi legislation that will affect media outlets and publishers.

Perhaps the most pertinent to Malibu, however, is the new law that will allow civil lawsuits to be filed against any media outlet that publishes an illegally taken photo.

The law imposes fines from $5,000 to $50,000 on a publisher who causes or condones a paparazzo to engage in offensive behavior?such as persistent following, chasing or trespassing?while in pursuit of photos or video footage of celebrities. The law will heavily affect media outlets seeking first-time publication rights.

Historically, only a paparazzo who took a photo would be held accountable and the publication that published the photo would not be liable.

Supporters of the new law, which include many Malibu residents and some city officials, have long called paparazzi efforts to capture celebrity photos a threat to public safety and an invasion of privacy. But oppositionists, which include the California Newspapers Publishers Association and various celebrity gossip Web sites and TV shows, have expressed that the law does a poor job at balancing the issue with First Amendment rights.

Councilmember Pamela Conley Ulich, who earlier this year said many of her friends whose children attend Malibu public schools have been mistaken for celebrities and harassed by paparazzi via car chase, lauds the new law.

?I think it gives an added layer of protection and gives an opportunity for anyone whose privacy is invaded to not only pursue paparazzi but publishers as well,? Conley Ulich said Tuesday in a phone interview. ?You get to go where the deep pockets are, and this will hopefully give incentive to publishers to not buy illegally obtained photographs.?

The issue received further attention through a scuffle between paparazzi and local surfers in June 2008, when a pack of photographers staked out actor Matthew McConaughey as he surfed at Little Dume Beach. Malibu residents Skylar Peak and Philip ?John? Hildebrand have each charged with one count of misdemeanor battery for their alleged involvement in the beating of French paparazzo Rachid Aitmbareck during the altercation.

The Photographer Project

The Photographer Project
Celebrity Photography Revealed
By Brian Ach 


It’s all in a day’s work for celebrity photographers, who regularly grace red carpets and are granted inside access to exclusive events, concerts, and parties.

The Photographer Project, the new coffee table staple from photographer Brian Ach, consists of full-length studio portraits of entertainment photographers who are based in New York City, along with ten standardized questions they answered about celebrities and celebrity photography.


The Photographer Project prompted over 60 photographers to answer questions such as:

“Which celebrity undeservedly gets a bad rap?”

“Who is your favorite/least favorite

celebrity to photograph and why?”

“Tell, please, in detail, about the most crazy, interesting, funny, odd, or touching celebrity story that you have been part of.”

The Photographer Project gives the tabloid-hungry public a unique, exclusive glimpse into the world of celebrities and entertainment photography.

The book is available for purchase HERE.

Gyllenhaal 'involved in paparazzi mixup'

Maggie Gyllenhaal has said that she felt "important" when photographers "swarmed" her at a New York café.

The Dark Knight star and husband Peter Sarsgaard were reportedly surprised when "a ton" of paparazzi came into the same café in which the couple were enjoying their coffee - only to realise that the photographers were only there to spot Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes.

The 32-year-old told E! Online: "There were a ton of paparazzi in the café with their huge cameras and laptops. I was like, 'Peter, oh my God, they are so into us. They're swarming us. We are so important'.

"It turns out Katie Holmes and Tom Cruise were living on that street. It was the winter, so the photographers would go into the café to download their pictures."

Paparazzi Cry `No Fair' as N.Y.C Tightens Access to Film Shoots

 Dec. 2 (Bloomberg) -- When paparazzo Steve Sands arrived at the Coney Island set of Will Ferrell’s movie “The Other Guys” in mid-November, he caught a break. That day they were filming New York Yankee Derek Jeter in a cameo.

Sands got shots that he sold to the celebrity magazine InTouch, among other outlets, and notched what he called a handsome payday.

 A 30-year veteran of the camera ambush, Sands worries that those opportunities, gleaned from regular visits to New York City’s Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting, will disappear since New York City ended its weekly Wednesday public viewing of film-shoot permits yesterday. Mayor Michael Bloomberg is the founder and majority owner of Bloomberg News parent Bloomberg LP.

 The permits contained information on filming locations for movies and television shows. The movies “Precious” and “It’s Complicated,” which stars Meryl Streep and Alec Baldwin, were shot in New York City. The TV shows “30 Rock,” “Gossip Girls,” “The Good Wife,” “Ugly Betty” and “White Collar” also use city locations.

“There are so many projects in New York, so that’s why you go to the mayor’s office,” said Sands, who sported the paparazzo’s typical unshaven face and disheveled hair. “Now the city is going to make it hard for us to find this information. They’re taking away our rights.”

Requests to view the film-shoot permits now have to be made by mail or e-mail through New York State’s Freedom of Information Law.

“We’re looking to try to have a system to get back to people within a week,” said Marybeth Ihle, a city spokeswoman.


Stolen Documents

The city decided to end the public viewings because of space constraints and reports of stolen documents, Ihle said. The system had been in place for longer than anyone at the film office could recall, Ihle said. The best estimate was more than 15 years.

 To Chris Doherty, president of INF, a New York-based celebrity-photo agency, the decision is an attack on the paparazzi and an effort to cull favor with the film and TV industry that Ihle said contributes about $5 billion a year to the city’s economy.

“There are suggestions that the film industry is getting annoyed with the number of people showing up at these shoots,” Doherty said. “But these are public records that help us to do our job.” Ihle denied that outside pressure prompted the change.

To be sure, the advent of Twitter Inc., Facebook Inc. and Web sites such as OnLocationVacations.com, dedicated to tracking film shoots and celebrity whereabouts, has made once-elusive information almost commonplace, Doherty said. Still, the film office is a dependable source for leads, he said.


‘Catch-22 Situation’

Doherty, whose agency employs about 30 people in New York and Los Angeles, said he was wary about the Freedom of Information process because of the potential for long waits and because it largely requires photographers to know what they’re looking for.

 “If we don’t know the document exists, how can we ask for it? It’s a Catch-22 situation,” he said.

Norman Siegel, a civil-rights lawyer, said the decision appeared to favor one set of New Yorkers and even non-New Yorkers (TV and movie people) over another (paparazzi and not- so-famous actors who use the listings to seek walk-on leads.)

“The fact that the city has been doing this for so long says that at one point they thought this was something they should do,” Siegel said. “It’s possible the city can do what it’s doing legally but whether it should be doing it is another issue.”


Crowd Control

James Devaney, 32, has placed his photos of Angelina Jolie, Katie Holmes and others in People and Star magazines and the New York Post newspaper. Besides checking the permits, he has gotten tips from film-production people and even public-relations agents. Celebrities often want the publicity afforded by the paparazzi, he said. Still, he’s torn about the city’s change in policy.

“What the city is doing isn’t right,” said Devaney, who has been photographing celebrities for 12 years. “Then again, film shoots have gotten really crowded, so I kind of wondered why it took so long for them to do this.”

Sam Dickerson, a photo editor at Splash News & Picture Agency, said it’s common to find 10 to 12 people waiting to get into the permit office. The city allows just two people at a time to view the documents, and only for 30 minutes.

 “People are going to have to lean a lot heavier on blogs and Twitter and sightings than just going down to the permit office,” said Dickerson, whose agency’s photos adorned the Nov. 15 cover of the New York Times’s Sunday Styles section.

As he has done for years, Sands went down to the city’s film office on Broadway in mid-November a week after the new permit viewing process was announced. For a half-hour he leafed through a stack of the green onion-paper documents before being told his time was up.

“The film office can be a good place but there are just too many photographers, Web sites and paparazzi agencies now,” Sands said. “They killed the golden goose.”

Mike Tyson Arrested After Allegedly Punching Photographer at LAX

Mike Tyson and a photographer made citizen's arrests of one another after getting into a scuffle Wednesday at Los Angeles International Airport, police say.

At 4:30 p.m., the former boxing champ, 43, was passing through LAX from Europe en route to Las Vegas when a celebrity photographer began taking his picture at the United Airlines terminal, Sgt. Jim Holcomb tells PEOPLE.

"The two men got into a scuffle, and it's alleged that Tyson hit the photographer once in the face with one hand, causing him to fall to the ground," Holcomb says. "The photographer sustained a laceration to the forehead, and was taken to a local hospital."

Officers arrived on the scene and detained Tyson, who was booked at a nearby LAPD station and held on $20,000 bail, according to police records. Documents also show that Tyson was released at 8:24 p.m.

Tyson was reportedly traveling with his wife and 10-month-old baby. The incident was first reported by Radaronline.com.

"Mr. Tyson did absolutely nothing wrong, he was the victim in this case," his attorney, Richard Schonfeld tells PEOPLE. "We look forward to vindicating him and pursuing his rights."

Earlier this year, the boxer's 4-year-old daughter, Exodus, died in Phoenix after accidentally getting her neck wrapped in a cord from an exercise machine. In November 2007, Tyson was sentenced by an Arizona judge to 24 hours in jail and three years probation for drug possession and driving under the influence.

It remains to be seen whether the airport incident will be deemed a violation of his probation terms.

Paparazzi peeved: Mayor's film office changes the rule on giving out info on film shoot locations

The guy with the flash thinks this policy's trash.

The public will no longer be allowed to leaf through the weekly stack of city film permits - a longtime treasure-trove for celebrity-hunting paparazzi - at the Mayor's Office of Film, Theater and Broadcasting.

Instead, starting Dec. 1, anyone who wants to see the permits, which detail when and where movies, TV shows and ads are being made, must request them in writing under the Freedom of Information Law.

Mayoral spokesman Andrew Brent said the film office is committed to turning over requested documents within a week.

Christopher Peterson, a photog with Buzz Foto agency, fretted that by the time the agency gives up the info the lights, cameras and action may be long gone.

"If you shut down Fifth Ave. so Angelina Jolie can [film a movie], you're not entitled to think you can just sort of cloak it and keep it from people," he said.

The 15-year-old policy of letting the public leaf through the permit pile is being changed in part because of staffing issues, office space constraints and complaints about copies being pocketed - not complaints from the stars, officials said.

The permits "were essential to a number of people making a living," said freelancer Dennis Van Tine, who has photographed news and celebs in the city for 13 years.

It's not just the paparazzi who call the change questionable. "Access to that information should be as easily and readily available as possible," said AP Senior Managing Editor Michael Oreskes.

Raise a Glass to A.J. Sokalner

Those of you who could not attend the funeral this past weekend, come "Raise a Glass to A.J. Sokalner" at The Black Door, 26th between 6th and 7th ave. Friday, November 13th, from 6-9pm.

Remember Veterans Day 

Honoring All Who Served

In Memorandum: Photographer AJ Sokalner

AJ Sokalner: Photographer and Friend

I had the distinct pleasure to be working shoulder to shoulder with him on that tragic night. I would like to share my story of the last hours I spent with AJ:

Photographers gathered outside Cipriani on 42nd Street well before 5pm for the7:30pm event.

We were working the ACE Awards. There was a group of about twenty five photographers working outside waiting for Lady Gaga to arrive. There wasn't much space to accommodate all the shooters. Photographers were two and three rows deep, on ladders, awaiting her arrival.


AJ was concerned about getting a spot, but managed to find a spot right next to me by the curb where the talent was arriving. AJ and I decided we would work together until "all hell broke loose" when she arrived. We couldn't block the sidewalk and obstruct the flow of pedestrian traffic. But, once she arrived, we decided we would swing out and get the shot.

Not to our surprise, Lady Gaga wasn't to show up until about 9pm.

During that time, AJ and I were having one of our usual sarcastic conversations. We poked fun at the nature of our business, we reminisced about previous events we had covered together. We even got into a funny conversation about STP. "The gas company with the orange logo?", I asked. "That's tells me how old you are!" AJ responded, as he was referring to a LSD-like drug from the 60's. He always had great wit to his words. We had spent a good four hours together, shooting the breeze and passing the time with humor.

Lady Gaga arrives and AJ and I sprung into action. Just our luck, she posed right in front of us! We shot like madmen, lighting up the night with a barrage of flashes.

As she went inside we all started to pack up our gear and seek warmth from the chill in the air. I had just left my spot and said my goodbyes to everyone when someone yelled "AJ fell..."

I ran back to where he and I had been standing just a minute prior and saw AJ on the ground. I ran up to him and touched his face "AJ, AJ...you alright?" I got no response. "AJ?". People gathered around, the other photographers now noticed what had happened. "Call 911!', someone yelled. A bystander said he knew CPR. "Get in there!" I yelled. He started to pump his chest. Where's the ambulance? Within minutes we saw EMS coming down 42nd Street. We ran into the street, waving frantically to alert them to our position.

An EMT woman was first on the scene to attend to AJ. She started to pump his chest. Another EMT brought out a heart monitor. They went to work on helping AJ right there. Fire engines arrived, police arrived. Another ambulance arrived. They brought out a stretcher and transported him to the ambulance.

They worked on AJ, pumping his chest. They were doing everything in the world to help him. "Hold on AJ!", I yelled into the ambulance. We all stood there, feeling helpless, hoping our friend was ok.

We all started to call people he knew, his girlfriend, his job. We all wanted to make sure he was alright. A few photographers went to the hospital. Another photographer picked up his girlfriend and dropped her off at the hospital.

After everyone had left, a group of us stood outside Cipriani's dazed. What just happened?

It was about 10:50pm when I heard that AJ passed away. I called and let a few of my colleagues know about the tragic event.

AJ, we will miss you buddy.
Erik Pendzich

Funeral Service for AJ Sokalner:

Friday, November 6, 2009, 10:30am

Beth Israel Memorial Park

Woodbridge, NJ

Nicole Richie gets restraining order against 2 paparazzi

Nicole Richie and her team of lawyers have successfully obtained a temporary restraining order against paparazzi Eduardo “Bam Bam” Arriveben and Ivon Miguel, TMZ.com reports.

The two photographers have been ordered to stay 100 yards away from Richie, 28, her two children (daughter Harlow, 20 months, and son Sparrow, 6 weeks) and her staff. Richie’s statement notes that the duo harass her “on a daily basis” and have been “stalking our home, as we try to go about living our lives.”

On Oct. 6, the two photographers rear-ended Richie’s Land Rover, leading her to seek private medical treatment for minor injuries. Arriveben, the driver in the incident, was arrested for driving without a license.

New movie takes aim at celebrity journalism

LONDON — What do Amy Winehouse's flaming beehive and Guy Ritchie's self-inflicted black eye have in common?
Both stories appeared in the pages of Britain's tabloid press. Neither is true.
The two incidents were fake showbiz news tips phoned into newspapers by the makers of the new documentary "Starsuckers," to see whether they would be used without fact-checking. The fact that they were forms part of the movie's argument that the culture of celebrity has undermined journalistic standards and warped society's values.
"I didn't realize quite how much of our news is public relations, or lies, or on the basis of criminal acts," said the film's 33-year-old director, Chris Atkins.
"Starsuckers," which premieres Wednesday at the London Film Festival, takes aim at Britain's fiercely competitive tabloid press, but its real target is much broader. Atkins believes that society's obsession with fame — gaining it and being near it — has distorted everything from the way news is reported to our children's aspirations.
The film opens with the statement that "everybody is naturally and powerfully attracted to fame," and tries to show how big companies in entertainment, media and PR use that desire to create a world full of insatiable consumers.
Through a series of stunts reminiscent of Michael Moore's movie polemics, Atkins aims to show how dignity, truth and even the law go out the window in the pursuit of celebrity.
Atkins is particularly scornful of reality television — the way such shows distort reality and stretch the limits of what people will do to be on TV.
The film introduces viewers to a Nevada boy named Ryan, who wants urgently to be famous — at five years old, he is already a veteran of agents, auditions and public appearances.
In another sequence, Atkins set up a booth in an English shopping mall purporting to be casting for children's reality TV shows. The filmmakers recorded as parents happily signed waivers for their children to appear on shows with titles like "Baby Boozers" and "Take Your Daughter to the Slaughterhouse" — for which he filmed children cheerfully trying to decapitate rubber chickens.
Critics might say Atkins manipulates people in the same way as the shows he criticizes.
"We tricked people into being in our film," acknowledged Atkins, whose last film, "Taking Liberties," looked at what he saw as the erosion of civil rights under Prime Minister Tony Blair.
"Yes, we had moral qualms, but I firmly believe we're doing it for the wider point. There was subterfuge involved to serve a wider public interest."
Atkins uses the same defense for his attempts to dupe newspapers in a bid to prove that Britain's tabloids won't let the facts get in the way of a good story.
Checkbook journalism and stories sourced to anonymous "friends" are long-standing practices in Britain's popular press. Even murkier tabloid methods have come under scrutiny since 2007, when a News of the World journalist was jailed for illegally hacking into the phones of royal officials. The newspaper insisted it was a one-off blunder, strongly denying claims that phone-tapping of celebrities was widespread.
"Starsuckers" suggests that some tabloids, at least, won't let the truth get in the way of a good story. Newspapers as far afield as India printed the too-good-to-fact-check claims that a blown fuse had singed Winehouse's signature hairdo and Ritchie had given himself a black eye while juggling cutlery.
Even more worryingly, perhaps, Atkins also secretly filmed tabloid reporters as he offered to sell them medical records of celebrities' cosmetic surgery.
Buying such records is illegal in Britain, but the reporters seemed keen. They didn't know that the documents offered by Atkins — purporting to prove Hugh Grant's facelift and Guy Ritchie's chemical peel — were fake.
"We're trying to turn the tables — to put the boot on the other foot," said Atkins of his stings, which also included covertly filming celebrity publicist Max Clifford as he talked about the famous clients who pay him handsomely to keep damaging stories about them out of the headlines.
Atkins said his tactics had prompted letters from lawyers, including those working for Clifford, threatening legal action against the film.
Some viewers of "Starsuckers" may feel that Atkins doesn't give people enough credit. Surely most people know that what they see on reality shows or read in the showbiz pages of tabloids might not be 100 percent true?
Clifford, whose clients include Simon Cowell, said a lot of celebrity stories are "25 percent reality and 75 percent exaggeration" — but that we shouldn't worry too much about it.
"It's entertainment," he said. "The public believe what they want to believe."
The subjects of celebrity stories are less easygoing about it. George Clooney, asked about "Starsuckers" by The Associated Press, said a combination of shrinking newspaper staffs and the Internet meant misinformation could spread instantly around the world.
"Somebody will write a story and it will be in 1,800 different outlets from one person's story," Clooney said.
"It'll be false, and you'll go, 'It's not true.' And they go, 'We're not saying that, we're saying that a London tabloid has said it.' They're just reprinting and reprinting things that aren't necessarily true."
Atkins says the problem is that the blurring of fact and fiction is not confined to celebrity stories. British newspaper editors are frequently former showbiz reporters.
It's hard not to see symbolism in the career of Piers Morgan, who went from entertainment reporter to editor of The News of the World and the Daily Mirror. After he was fired by the Mirror — for running fake photos of British soldiers allegedly abusing Iraqis — he became a celebrity himself, as a judge on "Britain's Got Talent," which launched Susan Boyle to stardom.
"It's the same journalists who write about Amy's hair who write about weapons of mass destruction," Atkins said.

Britney Spears Settles Lawsuit with Paparazzi

Britney Spears has settled a lawsuit with a photographer who claimed she ran over his foot in 2007.

On Monday, a notice of settlement was filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, and while the terms of the agreement have not been released, the photographer, Ricardo Mendoza, had originally sought more than $200,000.

The Oct. 2007 incident occurred as Spears was driving her white Mercedes out of a Beverly Hills parking garage. It was an especially bad day for the singer: Earlier, a judge had temporarily suspended her rights to see her sons Preston, now 4, and Jayden, now 3.

Mendoza, who was working for TMZ.com at the time, claimed the singer intentionally ran over his left foot and told the site that Spears's handlers should have been aware that she "was not in the mental, emotional and/or physical condition to operate the subject motor vehicle in a safe and reasonable manner."

TMZ.com later auctioned off Mendoza’s tire-stained sock and donated the money to charity.

Nikon D3S Digital SLR Camera

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CANON EOS-1D MARK IV DIGITAL SLR CAMERA

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Shepard Fairey admits to wrongdoing in Associated Press lawsuit

In a strange twist to an already complicated legal situation, artist Shepard Fairey admitted today to legal wrongdoing in his ongoing battle with the Associated Press.

Fairey said in a statement issued late Friday that he knowingly submitted false images and deleted others in the legal proceedings, in an attempt to conceal the fact that the AP had correctly identified the photo that Fairey had used as a reference for his "Hope" poster of then-Sen. Barack Obama.

"Throughout the case, there has been a question as to which Mannie Garcia photo I used as a reference to design the HOPE image," Fairey said. "The AP claimed it was one photo, and I claimed it was another."

New filings to the court, he said, "state for the record that the AP is correct about which photo I used...and that I was mistaken. While I initially believed that the photo I referenced was a different one, I discovered early on in the case that I was wrong. In an attempt to conceal my mistake I submitted false images and deleted other images."

In February, the AP claimed that Fairey violated copyright laws when he used one of their images as the basis for the poster. In response, the artist filed a lawsuit against the AP, claiming that he was protected under fair use. Fairey also claimed that he used a different photo as the inspiration for his poster.

After Fairey's admission, a spokesman for the Associated Press issued a statement saying that Fairey "sued the AP under false pretenses by lying about which AP photograph he used."

Fairey said that his lawyers have taken the steps to amend his court pleadings to reflect the fact that "the AP is correct about which photo I used as a reference and that I was mistaken."

The artist expressed his remorse in his statement, saying that he is taking "full responsibility for my actions which were mine alone. I am taking every step to correct the information and I regret I did not come forward sooner. "

He added: "I am very sorry to have hurt and disappointed colleagues, friends, and family who have supported me in this difficult case and trying time in my life."

Fairey's statement said he regretted that his actions would distract from the issue of fair use for artists. "Regardless of which of the two images was used, the fair use issue should be the same," he said.

Gerard Butler aim at nightmare paparazzi

Hollywood actor Gerard Butler has hit out at rude paparazzi who made shooting of his latest film with actress Jennifer Aniston almost

Gerard Butler

impossible.

The 39-year-old actor thought he was used to the coverage location shoots get from snappers until he teamed up with Aniston in 'The Bounty', when the paparazzi blocked shots and forced them to re-take, reported Daily Express.

"Unfortunately for poor Jennifer, this roadshow comes out all the time, and then of course there were all the rumours about her and I dating, just because we're doing a movie together, which brought out even more paparazzi," the actor said.

"A lot of the paparazzi are really good people but some of them are a nightmare. They go out of their way to disrupt filming and it's really sad because you're there with a crew of 200 just trying to make a living. You're there for 16 hours a day and you have these guys who don't care if they're standing in your shot," Butler added.
The '300' star also said that he was shocked by the way photographers conduct themselves around a outdoor shoot and the liberties they take.

"They'll flash, so the film you just shot is useless. It's unbelievable sometimes what they do and you're thinking, 'This is allowed?' That can be very frustrating," Butler said.

Schwarzenegger signs tougher anti-paparazzi law

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has signed an anti-paparazzi bill making it easier to sue media outlets that use photos that invade celebrities' privacy.

A statement issued Monday says the former "Terminator" star had signed a number of bills, including the amendment to a decade-old law that allows fines against paparazzi who illegally or offensively take photos or recordings.

The amendment permits lawsuits against media outlets that pay for and make first use of material they knew was improperly obtained.

Tabloid magazines, TV shows and Internet sites sometimes pay millions of dollars for celebrity fodder.

The amendment takes effect in January.

Nicole Richie Hurt, Rear-Ended by Paparazzi

Actress Nicole Richie was hurt Monday after being rear-ended by paparazzi, according to Beverly Hills police.

Lt. Mike Hill of the Beverly Hills Police Department says the 28 year old actress was rear-ended by two photographers driving in a car behind her at the intersection of Wilshire Boulevard and Canon Drive about 2:00 p.m.

"There was a complaint of pain injury. She told officers at the scene that she's going to seek her own medical treatment, " according to Lt. Tony Lee. It's unclear what her injuries might be.

No ambulances were called and the damage to Richie's Land Rover is said to be moderate, Lee said.

Freelance photograher Eduardo Arrivebee, 29, the driver of the car that rammed Richie, was arrested and booked for driving without a license. His car was impounded.

Richie had an adult passenger in the car. There is no word on his condition.

Neither of Richie's two children was involved in the crash. Sparrow, who was born last month, and big sister, 2 year old Harlow, were at home when the accident took place.