Saturday July 25, 2009
Shooting stars
By ROSE YASMIN KARIM
Celebrity status brings popularity and endorsement deals. In Malaysia, these days, you also get a pack of paparazzi.
It’s 6.45pm, and Bob Jr, 40, is hanging around Pavilion Kuala Lumpur. He’s a paparazzo on the scent of celebrities that would keep his editor at Jomstar.com, an on-line entertainment magazine, happy.
Some 45 minutes later, Bob spots an up-and-coming actress in the company of a gentleman. Hoping to capture the two in a private moment, he trails them as they enter a clothes shop.
Look out stars, paparazzo Bob Jr may be lurking nearby! — MOHD FAIHAN MOHD GHANI/The Star Lens in his sweaty grip, Bob fingers the trigger. The second the oblivious couple exchanges simple acts of public affection, he fires off 10 frames. Blinded by the flash, the startled pair hold their composure but it’s obvious the attention overwhelms them.
“Shopping for your wedding?” pries Bob, trying to wrangle an interview out of the couple.
“No, we’re just hanging out,” comes the coy reply from the actress who instantly recognises Bob from the many functions they’ve both attended.
The boutique assistant, arms akimbo, throws Bob a snarling look normally reserved for men under arrest, before asking him to put his equipment away. Scanning the LCD display of his camera, Bob notes that seven of the shots taken are in focus, so he willingly obliges.
“Malaysian celebrities are not quite used to being accosted by paparazzi, so oftentimes, it may seem flattering, even hilarious to them,” remarks Bob, looking grey from a diet of coffee and cigarettes.
Hans Isaac and a friend at a dinner Being an urban sniper, says Bob, is pretty much a man’s game.
“Staying on the streets into the wee hours of the morning when celebrities are leaving the clubs and looking a little worse for wear, standing in the scorching sun, baked to the core — it’s not for everyone,” he comments.
And then there’s the waiting.
“For the right image, you have to be patient. You must know your subject, trail them, be with them and be at the ready to snap the shutter when the time is right. You’re bound to miss a few meals or bathroom breaks.
“Before I leave for work, I decide on a circuit: maybe KLCC, Bukit Bintang, Jalan Yap Kwan Seng, hoping to catch celebrities in their natural habitats — shopping, drinking coffee, letting their cellulite show — the money shots,” he laughs.
“It would help if the celebrity shows some skin,” opines Ahmad Razlan, a freelance paparazzo, 32.
Actors Ayu Raudhah and Pekin (Mohd Iznan Ibrahim) were snapped shopping “Or perhaps roll a joint, stumble or kiss. It would also help if they could do these things in open spaces and not in crowded nightclubs where bouncers abound.”
Most of the photos in his portfolio show the stars being caught off-guard, and to a certain extent, many of these images were stolen.
“Flattering, mocking or shocking shots — it doesn’t matter, as long as it’s juicy enough to get people’s attention,” he says.
That dirty feeling
“I felt a little dirty chasing one of my favourite singers past the store fronts of KLCC,” says Ahmad, recalling his first day on the job in 2003.
“But that unclean feeling was scrubbed away by the adrenaline and questions bouncing around in my head. Will I get the photo? Will the photo sell? It’s the mad, addictive rush of a big strike,” he says.
Abby Abadi at the airport “I ran about 20m ahead of her, pointed my camera and clicked away. My hands shook as I steadied the camera. I was not much of a photographer then, so I relied on the magic of my camera’s auto-everything. It was that fisherman feeling, the thrill of landing the big fish, that infused me. Nothing mattered but getting the shot.
“Stone-faced, she walked purposefully ahead, passing within inches of me. I repeated the process and reeled off more photos. She ducked into a shop and I loitered outside, feeling ridiculous. Heads were turning. I didn’t want people to think I was a stalker, so I left.
“In the car, I looked at the digital photos. Most were either out of focus or poorly framed. But then I found one that could work and pitched it to a tabloid. One editor told me that the celebrity was too old to attract the attention of readers and suggested a magazine that might have an older readership,” Ahmad says.
“The feedback I got was: ‘You need to find a young celebrity to photograph. Youth sells. Over the next few days, I couldn’t find a buyer for the photo.
“At 42, one of the great singers of our time was deemed too old. I thought I had failed at being a paparazzo. I had taken a celebrity photograph that no one wanted to buy. If she was a fish, I’d have to throw her back.”
The celebrity-tracking business is not for the reserved.
“My favourite photo is of Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and her husband, Datuk Khalid Jiwa, at her sister-in-law’s house in Kemensah during a private Hari Raya do. Uninvited, I rang the bell, and Siti was kind enough to welcome me in. You have to be thick-skinned to be able to do this,” laughs Bob.
Sometimes, Bob does take pictures that the celebrities and their managers want taken.
“I also attend events I’m invited to — movie premières, humanitarian functions and award shows. I’m not always hanging out in bushes or living in trees outside celebs’ houses,” says Bob.
“Paparazzi quench the insatiable thirst of celebrity-hungry fans with photographs of the highs and lows of politicians, celebrities, athletes and other personalities,” remarks Ridzuan Omar, 40, proprietor of the subscription based, Jomstar.com.
“People love to read about every sordid detail of someone else’s life. They’re curious to know what famous people are up to, who they are dating, what they are wearing. Our website reports up-to-the-minute details on the stars’ personal lives, with feeds updated every other hour.”
Launched in 2008, Jomstar.com, says Ridzuan, was the first to break the news about a film director who tied the knot with a 22-year-old, only to have the Syariah court declare the marriage null and void because the woman was already married to another.
“We also cracked the story about a singer who was having an extramarital affair. She was walking hand-in-hand with him in a parking lot when our paparazzi caught them on camera. Hysterically, she denied there was anything scandalous going on and insisted that they were merely discussing business — at 2am.
“In her panic, she threatened to press charges but when she realised the odds were against her, she confessed in between sobs that her ‘friend’ is a married man with two kids and said that if the pictures were exposed it would destroy both of their marriages and ruin her reputation.”
The freedom to harass?
“As far as I know,” says Bob, “there are no laws against following a celebrity and taking their pictures. But while I don’t need to seek their permission to do my work, I respect their personal space. I don’t shove my camera into their faces, nor do I provoke them for a reaction, and I make sure I move around without touching them or getting in their way.”
The ability to sense who’s hot and who’s fading, he says is a skill a paparazzo must possess.
“I research which celebrities are in demand and scout the hot spots they frequent. But when A-listers are lying low, I hunt down just about anyone with a modicum of entertainment value. Sometimes people prefer moderately famous people looking frumpy to A-listers looking picture perfect,” Bob says.
Paparazzi, says Ridzuan, are an honest yardstick of where a person stands in show biz.
“Celebrities check out entertainment web portals, tabloids and magazines to make sure they’re getting enough coverage. It’s free publicity for them.”
Not all celebrities, Ridzuan says, are created equal though.
“People can’t get enough of A-list stars Datuk Siti Nurhaliza and actress/model Nasha Aziz. When it comes to male artistes, there has yet to be a celebrity who is able to surpass rock star, Awie. To have that kind of star power, you must be slightly naughty, a bad boy. That’s the advantage Awie has over goodie-two-shoes like Mawi,” says Ridzuan.
“People used to flip through magazines before bedtime, but now they log on to the Internet,” he says.
“The best part of operating on-line is we can upload a lot of photos for our subscribers to view because we are not restricted by space. And now with broadband, the page takes under 10 seconds to download.”
In their relentless pursuit to meddle in the private lives of the famous, paparazzi risk getting into their subjects’ bad books.
“Many paparazzi shots are consensual,” says Bob. “The stars would willingly pose and smile for the lenses. But if you catch them off-guard, in their least flattering light, be prepared to have them lash out at you. If this happens, remain calm and just continue snapping away.
“If you love the world of celebrities, and you are interested in photography, you can make a living by selling paparazzi photos,” he points out.”
While the guys in Tinseltown make enough moolah to be driving hot wheels, says Bob, the picture here won’t net you enough money to retire on.
“The reality is, it will just about bring in enough cash to live by.”
Ahmad advises aspiring paparazzi to get a good DSLR camera with telephoto lens and a compact camera for sneaking shots in restricted areas.
“Compile a list of tabloids that publish paparazzi photos and call to see if they are interested,” Bob adds.
“Some publications have in-house photographers, so you’ll need to come up with something special for them to sit up and take notice. Editors are more likely to fight over an exclusive photo of a hot-at-the-moment celebrity doing something shocking. Peddle the photos around for the best price for your efforts.”
The price of fame
Ridzuan thinks there’s nothing wrong with what the paparazzi do.
“A certain level of hounding by the paparazzi is the price you have to pay for fame. Why the bad talk about those who make you famous by the publicity they give you? If you choose to be in the spotlight, you have to accept the fact that you’re a public commodity and look over your shoulders before you do something silly.”
Not everyone agrees with him, of course.
“I wouldn’t even begin to defend the creepy stalking of paparazzi but our society demands their work,” says actress Zuliana Ab Aziz, 26, or Jue Aziz.
“I also believe the invasion of privacy is one reason some celebrities are driven to depression. Is it justified to spread rumours for the sake of entertainment?
“However, some celebs use the paparazzi to promote themselves. After all, getting your face in a magazine or on TV can help album sales, get a big movie deal or pick up an advertising contract,” she adds.
The best of them, says Zuliana, are good at manipulating the media.
“It has always been a kind of symbiosis between celebrities, their publicists and the paparazzi,” says actor and model, Aaron Aziz, 33.
“Fame is a choice, and it comes at a price. If you’re being chased by a pack of scruffy young men with long lenses, at least you know that your career is on track,” he jokes.
The fact that celebrities have no control whatsoever over the work of the paparazzi is precisely why these photographs are very appealing to entertainment editors.
“People are fascinated that Fasha Sandha buys her lingerie at La Senza or that Fazura goes to a certain salon to get her hair done because these pictures form a bridge between our ordinary life and their supercharged ones,” Ahmad says.
“Celebrities court us on the way up and on the way down, but when they’re at the top of their game it’s, ‘What are we going to do about these irritating people?’ It’s naive of them to expect that attention to be controllable,” he adds.
But some celebrities, he adds, cope with fame better than others and know how to deal with the paparazzi.
“Once scanning the shops in Mid Valley, I saw a musician with a hip haircut and a bluetooth earpiece standing in front of a hardware shop. I approached him and he graciously agreed to let me take his photo. And then I got a “no memory card” message from my camera. My memory card was in my laptop, 57km away. I was in a panic. I asked him to wait while I went in search of a memory card. When I raced back, he was still there!”
Bob and Ahmad both use valets, restaurant workers, bartenders and taxi drivers as celebrity spotters.
“I get calls when there’s a sighting and if the photographs get published, the tipster gets 20% of the sale,” says Ahmad.
“It’s good fun sometimes, a bit like hide-and-seek. There are obviously conflicts of conscience — adrenaline rush, shame, professional dissociation. But I really genuinely don’t want to hurt people and try to be as professional as I can in my job.”
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