Right…
Now you know how I started as a 'pap', the second most frequent question I get
is, "If I wanted to become a pap what rules or tips can you give me".
Well here are five of my most valuable tips that I can give you. I can't tell everyone how to be a photographer because everyone's style of photography is different, however I can tell you what I have learnt are important.
1. Sleep?
Don't do that too much!
Don't get
me wrong, sleeping is very important and everyone needs sleep but, understand
that as a paparazzi photographer, you have to plan when you sleep or its very
likely that you will miss something important. Because trust me, you
don’t want to miss a phone call from your agent telling you to get your ass to
Heathrow in an hour as there’s been a tip off that Lady Gaga is meant to land
soon or you reading an email too late and finding out that Princess Beatrice is
at The O2 at 8am. Believe me when I say, there’s been so many occasions where
I’ve slept and missed important opportunities so this is definitely one of my
top 5.
2. Know who the celebs are!
There
have been events that I’ve been sent to before where there were
celebrities/high profile guests that I’ve never heard of in my life! I didn’t
know whom I was looking for so most (if not all) celebrities will walk straight
past me. You have to remember, celebrities are normal people, and they don’t
have a stamp on their head saying, “I’m a celeb take a picture of me”. So get
to know who the celebrities are and remember their faces. Even if that means
going onto Google, looking up each celeb on the list and saving their pictures
(I’ve done it).
3. Consider transport.
Before I
got my “papmobile”, I used to travel around by Tube.. This meant that I
couldn’t pap for too long at night or I would miss the last train. Of course
this is terrible, having a curfew (set by TFL) meant I couldn’t do most of the
fun stuff. The fun stuff being celebs leaving clubs/events drunk at 2am in the
morning! However, once I got my pap mobile, the same day my pictures and myself
made it into the DailyMail. Think about the event you’re planning on covering..
Have you thought about the time it’s going to finish or how you’re going to get
home after?
Spot me at the front in the grey north face jacket
4. Dress appropriately
I’m sure
you’re thinking, “Why the hell do I need to dress properly to be a pap”. That’s
not what I mean. What I mean by dressing appropriate is WRAP UP WARM when it
gets cold! Get yourself a really good jacket. If you’re going to be waiting for
Drake to leave his after party at DSTRKT, you really do want to be warm because
being outside at 4am in the freezing cold isn’t fun. Of course once you see his
head pop out of the clubs fire exit while you’re at the main doors and you have
to sprint all the way to up to him you might get hot. But at 4/5am in the
morning, I’m sure that’s the only time you will be hot.
5. Get right in the action
Don’t be
afraid to get right up at the front of the pack when you’re taking pictures.
Focus on the pictures you need to provide to your agent because I promise you,
all the other paps are doing the exact same. Get there early, find a good spot
(you’ll eventually learn how to know what is and isn’t a good spot) and stay
there. Don’t leave that spot because, if it is a good spot…within a few seconds
it would have been taken by someone else. Having a good position is only the
first step for a good picture to be quite honest with you. You want the celeb
to look right into your lens right? Well yes of course you do.. Well let the
celeb know this. You’re going to have to vocally battle with the rest of the paps
to get the celebs attention so Don’t be afraid to shout out to Naomi Campbell
“Naomi, Look over here darling! Look at this camera! The short guy with the
grey jacket!” I’m sure if you are loud enough the celeb will look at you at you
will get a good shot!
I’ll let you know now, these are only a few tips, there’s a lot more like ALWAYS bring spares or always charge your batteries or get yourself a camera with a high fps rate but I’m sure, sooner or later.. You will learn what you need to know.
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