We are currently completing not only the biggest but the longest running Paparazzi Abatement Operation in Australia.Twelve weeks so far and another three to go...
From the Sunday Age Newspaper...
TOM REILLY.
July 4, 2009. The Sunday Age.
HOLLYWOOD'S golden couple, XXXX and XXXX, touched down at Essendon Airport on Tuesday with daughter XXXX, masses of luggage and several assistants, but they also had an unofficial retinue — paparazzi.
At least 30 photographers have been staking out the family, including some of Australia's top freelancers and others who have trailed them from America.
"They are Hollywood royalty, perhaps the biggest couple in the world, so there is always going to be huge interest in them," explains leading photographer Peter Barnes.
With that interest comes the big bucks. A photo of the couple could be worth anything from a few thousand dollars to a few hundred thousand depending on the quality of the shot, what they are doing and how many others have the picture.
This week such opportunities were thin on the ground. Ironically, the most valuable picture of XXXX,XXXX,and XXXX shot so far this week was taken by an amateur in the Melbourne Aquarium.
The Sunday Age understands that the photo — the first of the trio out together in town — was bought by the Herald Sun for just $1000, when its true market value — excluding lucrative overseas syndication rights — was about 20 times that.
Los Angeles photo agency X17 decided the opportunity of XXXX, XXXX and XXXX overseas was too good to miss and sent one of their most trusted snappers. "It was a tough decision as it costs a lot to go to Melbourne and it also means that we lose the output of the photographer we send from our team here," explains Brandy Navarre, X17's vice-president.
"With the whole Michael Jackson thing going on over here it's a big risk — especially as our man is going to be working in a city he's not familiar with and where we don't have strong infrastructure."
And he is up against stiff competition. Australia's most infamous paparazzo, Jamie Fawcett, is in Melbourne and has at least three people working for him. The Big Picture agency, owned by Darryn Lyons, a Victorian who has made millions photographing the stars around the world, also has three on the job.
But perhaps the biggest difficulty is the sheer size of the Crown Casino complex, where the couple and their daughter are staying, and the skill of the Security team in ensuring no photograph gets taken without their approval.
"There are at least six entrances and exits from Crown by car, so if you're going to do the job properly, you'll need at least that many photographers," explains Barnes.
That sort of effort sometimes pays off. Australian women's magazines have been known to pay over $100,000 for a set of photos that they can run over a few pages, and photographers can resell those same images to publications around the globe. But such sums depend on sparking a bidding war between rival newspapers and magazines and require a set of pictures to be "exclusive".
