As a Paparazzi photographer, I’m sure as you'd
expect.. I get a lot of excited people asking me what its like to be a
"Pap" and what’s more interesting, to be the Youngest Pap in London.
In this blog, I'm hopefully going to answer all your questions and recall some
of the most exciting experiences I've had over the past few years.
In the Beginning
Incase you didn't know, I never grow up wanting
to be a pap, I grew up wanting to be the either a Spy like Alex Ryder or the
next Jamal Edwards. I was 16 armed with my first camera (a Pentax K-X which I
got for a my birthday present) shooting amateur music videos for a YouTube
channel that I started up for fun. I studied creative media and had a passion
for filming and wasn’t really into photography because I thought it was long
and really boring... Little did I know I’d go into a career in it eventually!
My first Pap Experience
I can still remember my first pap experience
like it was yesterday. I was at my secondary school when I was talking to one
of my favorite friends, Lily. She asked me if I had my camera with me and I
replied, “of course I do, you know me”. She laughed and went on to tell me
about how her mum told her that Kate Middleton would be visiting the local
gallery nearby. I thought, having some pictures of Kate Middleton on my camera
would boost my rep so I literally ran down to the gallery as soon as the school
bells rang and posted myself opposite the gallery and waited.
I ended up sitting on the pavement for nearly 45
minutes till the crowd started showing up. However, once the crowd did come,
the roads were packed within 10 minutes with Photographers on ladders and I
even remember one guy that had climbed up a tree with his camera to get a clear
view. Soon after the crowd showed up, two police bikes drove past us and
started organizing the people as of course; you have to be civilized in the
presence of Royalty (she wasn’t royal yet but ill get to what I mean soon).
Soon after the crowds were organized, the Secret Service Range Rover pulled up
– in my years of photography, every time I see that off-green Range Rover I get
excited – The range was followed by a 61 plate Jaguar.
The first person who stepped out looked familiar
but I couldn’t see clearly as they was across the road. Within second there was
a wild road and people were screaming “PRINCE CHARLES!” and as a reaction I
flicked my camera on and started taking photos. Prince Charles then helped his
now wife Camilla out of the car whilst Kate Middleton climbed out of the car
into the side of the road closer toward me. A war veteran who I think was from
the area greeted her and then she posed for a few snaps before walking into the
gallery.
What do I do now?
After the Royals had gone in, all the
photographers got out their laptops and started editing the photos. At this
time I didn’t understand why they were in a rush to edit the pictures so
quickly so I sat and watched thinking, this is so cool… What do I do now?
I spoke to the kindest looking photographer
there and he asked to see my pictures, I showed him them and we started talking
about his job and what he does. He told me that I should try and sell some of
the pictures I took because they “weren’t to bad”. I asked him where do I sell
them to and he told me a few websites to sign up to when I get home.
Signed up and ready!
To cut a long story short, we all waited for the
Royals to come out for a second opportunity to take some photos. Once they had
left, I ran home (I done a lot of running back then) to sign-up to the sites
that I had written down.
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