How The Paparazzi Find Celebrities

It is sometimes not easy finding celebrities out and about. It takes a lot of hard work and great information. Most of the information comes from informants and tips. A good Paparazzo will be able to cultivate these sources into a profitable business. And, all the good Paparazzo's who make a lot of money have these informants.

LA is the town of informants. Everyone is willing to sell out a celebrity for a price. A celebrity can not go anywhere in this town without risking being given up for cash to the Paparazzi agencies or individual photographers. Sometimes the celebrities themselves or their agents and managers will tip off the Paparazzi for some fast and free publicity.

If you are a parking attendant or doorman and work where celebrities shop, eat or have fun, you can handsomely supplement your salary by tipping off the different Paparazzi agencies. Minimum cash fee is $100. Depending on who the celebrity is or who they are with and what they are doing, prices for informing can go much higher. In certain instances Paparazzi's have paid tipsters a couple thousand dollars for very good exclusive information on A list celebrities.

A celebrity's secretary, maid, chauffer, gardner or security personal all can be bought. Give anyone enough cash and they will spill the beans fast. There are always rumors that a Paparazzi Agency or Celebrity magazine has this A list celebrity's personal in their pocket.

A good tip off is when photos appear of a certain celebrity over and over by the same photographer or Paparazzi agency. They are paying someone for information in the celebrity's camp.

Luck plays a very small part in the Paparazzi business. As the saying goes, "Cash is King." And, in LA there is always someone wanting more cash.

Paparazzi Gang's of LA

There are now so many Paparazzi photographers chasing the same A list celebrities that fights are starting to break out between the photographers in LA.

It is rumored that there are between 180 to 230 Paparazzi photographers trying to make a living in LA. It could be more because a lot of European Paparazzi are arriving in LA each month.

Most Paparazzi work for a few different photo agencies. Some work for themselves by submitting their photographs to different agency's as freelance photographers. But, it is getting harder for the freelance photographers to work for themselves in LA especially when it comes to the A list celebrities. And, either the freelancer gives in and joins one of these agency/gangs or he will have a hard time earning a living as a photographer.

Some of the more hard core Paparazzi agencies are acting like street gangs and using cameras instead of guns. Yes, these Paparazzi photographers are acting more like street gangs people read about in the magazines and watch on TV then photographers. They will threaten or fight other Paparazzi photographers in order to protect their celebrity turf. Photographers are told in no uncertain terms to stay away from certain A list celebrity’s that are special to these photographer gangs.

An example is Britney Spears. Britney is probably the top celebrity in LA right now. And, every magazine wants a photo of pregnant Britney and her husband out and about in LA. Certain groups of photographers specialize in following and trying to photograph Britney wherever she goes. If a rival group tries to work on Britney and follow her around, then fights happen.

The Paparazzi groups will physically block each other with their vehicles when following. The group with the most photographers usually will be able to follow the celebrity. These groups have photographers and blockers. A few of the Paparazzi from the group will block rival groups from following. This allows the main photographers to follow and take exclusive photographs.

If a lone freelancer try's to follow they don't have a chance. They will immediately be set upon by a few vehicles and prevented from following the celebrity and the rival photographers. This is leading to a lot of frustration among the photographers and fights starting to break out.

Yes, it is getting ugly in LA.

Charisma Carpenter of "Buffy" Meets The Paparazzi

The Paparazzi were about 18 strong in Malibu this weekend. There were a large proportion of French and German Photographers floating around. They were after no one in particular. It was a beautiful day in LA and all the photographers hoped that the celebs would be on the beach in Malibu.

Towards the end of the day the photographers usually end up at the Malibu shopping center, where they might see a celeb coming to do some grocery shopping or even buy a few items from the many boutiques. In the middle of the shopping center is a playground and eating area. A lot of celebs bring their children there to play.

It was at the eating area where the Paparazzi were hanging out watching each other and watching the families on the playground. The photographers tend to sometime play a game when they are bored. They will watch each other to see who if the competition is getting ready to take any photos. They will try to find out who the competition is photographing and then jump and also take photos.

Well, all of a sudden one photographer spotted Charisma Carpenter, her husband and their son on the playground. Chrisma was an actress from the "Buffy the Vampire Slayer" TV series. The interesting thing is Chrisma is not a household name and many people don't recognize her. In fact almost all of the Paparazzi failed to spot her or didn't care to take her photo except for one photographer who started taking photos.

But, Bedlum ensued. One after another photographers whipped out their cameras. The ones that had left their camera in their cars ran to fetch them. From every corner of the playground photographers snapped photos. But, the funny thing is that when asked nobody new who they were photographing! They took the photo because the competition was taking photos and no one wanted to go home empty handed in case this was someone important.

Charisma seemed to not mind. In fact she seemed a little surprised by all the attention. Her son intially started to cry with all the commotion, but he was soon quieted down by Charisma and had fun playing in the sand. Charisma never uttered a word to the photogaphers. She just played with her son. But, it will probably be a long time before she comes back to Malibu on a weekend.

Mel Gibson is a Cry Baby

Mel Gibson hates to have his picture taken when he is out and about LA. He usually has a temper tantrum when he spots a photographer. He screams and yells at the photographers who try to take his photo. It is kind of funny to watch because Mel looks so stupid when he gets angry. Mel, it is only a photo!

He shouldn't really be too upset, because his celebrity has diminished in the last few years. He is getting older and there are just too many hot young celebrities that have taken his place in superstardom.

The photographers tend to take his photo because most of the time they are either bored and he just happens to come by. Or a photographer needs a quick photo to give to their boss to show them that they have earned their salary for that day.

No photographer starts their day in LA saying let's take Mel's picture. They are more interested in Britney Spears, Jessica Simpson, Brad Pitt, Tom Cruise and a few others. Not, Mel Gibson. The Paparazzi know it is quite hard to market of photo of Mel Gibson. So, in a way they are doing him a favor taking his photo. He should feel good to have the attention.

I don't understand a lot of these celebrities. They earn unbelievable amounts of money. They live glorious lives. They are given anything they ask for. They have every material thing they could want, and they get annoyed because the Paparazzi bother them.

Mel, I will trade you. Give me your houses, your wealth, and your celebrity and I promise you I will not complain one iota. The Paparazzi can take my photo at anytime while I am on the streets of LA or near my house. If they find me when I am on vacation, they can go right ahead and snap away. I promise I won't complain. I will be having fun just doing nothing all day and spending money on things I really don't need. I will feel very lucky that I have the life I have and not have to work a 9 to 5 job and live like most others.

Mel, we all know you would never give up all the wealth, the homes, the material things you have. You like them too much.

So, stop being a cry baby.

Lindsey Lohan is Fed Up with the Paparazzi

Add Lindsey Lohan to a list of celebrities who are getting fed up with the Paparazzi. The 19 year old seemed to like all the attention at first. Now she is getting a little tired of the constant attention. Wherever she goes there are a few photographers right behind her.

Yesterday afternoon she had lunch at the Orso restaurant on Third street in West Hollywood. She was with a few friends. When she exited the restaurant she found out there were 7 photographers waiting for her to go to her car, a V12 Mercedes. When they started snapping away she ran back inside the restaurant and had a friend go to the parking attendant to have her car ready to make a quick getaway.

With her car in front she ran through the gauntlet of photographers all snapping her photo. She seemed a little pissed. But, this was only the start. When she got into her car she couldn't figure out how to get her seatbelt on because she was trying to duck the cameras. She finally put up her purse to block her face from the snapping Paparazzi cursing up a storm at the guys. She managed to get the seatbelt set and pull away from the restaurant with the Paparazzi vehicles on her tail.

She drove around Beverly Hills and West Hollywood trying to shake her pursuers. It was just no use. There were just too many Paparazzi cars following her. At one point she did a quick U-turn to try to get away from the lead cars. That didn't work because there were so many cars following her that the rear cars did a U-turn with her in sync and got in front of her. She then did another U-turn but there were more cars in front of her again. She looked very perplexed as to what to do next. Wherever she turned, there was a Paparazzi in a car.

So she did the next best thing. She found a Beverly Hills boutique with a parking attendant. She jumped out of her Mercedes, threw the attendant the keys on a run and dashed into the boutique to do some shopping and some thinking about how to get away from the photographers. She seemed to be hoping they would all just go away.

To her dismay, they stayed. They photographed her shopping, and trying on clothes. She stayed in the store for quite some time. And, the photographers stayed outside taking picture after picture. Finally, when she was about to leave she got the store personal to go and have the parking attendant bring her car to the rear exit of the store. Now, many celebrities try this trick and all Paparazzi know that the leave from the back exit is being tried on them. And, it never works, but still the celebrities try, maybe out of frustration.

Lindsey's Mercedes was driven to the rear exit along with a few photographers tailing her car. And, to her dismay, they photographed her leaving the store and followed her all the way back to the hotel, where as if to admit defeat she gave them a reluctant photo opportunity by not running into the hotel.