Pleasure's Delight

I am not paparazzi, nor do I want to be labeled as one. I hold them in the same regard as most of the general public do: that they are scum of the earth who need to get a life and leave their poor subjects alone. An article that was published in the Chicago Tribune only strengthened by views on that particular line of work. You can read the article here. To me, it's absolutely ridiculous how these people sit in their cars all day waiting for celebrities to come out, then chase them around town in their cars (with little or no regard to public safety), and then go and try to get photographs of them running errands. As quoted in the Tribune article "We aren't trespassing, we're just trying to get a story."

What story? Angelina Jolie visits toy store in Chicago? That's not a story!

So why this rant right now? Well, I was assigned to go photograph Gwyneth Paltrow at Macy's in Chicago. I don't consider this assignment paparazzi because I didn't have to stake out her house or chase her through the city streets or anything like that. I just got the assignment handed down to me by the AP's assignment editor knowing that she was going to be doing a sponsored, public appearance to sign bottles of her new fragrance.

And even though it controlled environment, it was crowded as hell. Photographers I have never seen before from organizations I have never heard of up the wazoo. All of us regular photojournalists (like the Tribune and Sun Times photogs) as well as regular TV guys just looked at each other and rolled our eyes. Ugh.

I thought it was funny how Paltrow was once quoted as saying she loved Chicago because there are no paparazzi. I think she was in for a shock, because that sure wasn't true because Bradgelina was in town!

Despite the working conditions, it was a pretty simple assignment. See Gwyneth Paltrow, photograph Gwyneth Paltrow. Check, and check: