Author Archives: Colin

Make no mistake, Tom Cruise as a Superstar is finally over! Unless Tom can find a new drop dead gorgeous celebrity to place on his arm, you will no longer see him gracing the cover of magazines, or in the tabloids.

Over the years Tom has always been a nice guy to his fans and even treated us paparazzi very well with memorable photos of him, Katie Holmes, and the best baby photos of his daughter Suri that no other celebrity can match.  He has allowed us to photograph Suri doing the normal things kids do and the kind of photos magazines couldn’t help but buying.  Just think of all those adorable photos of Suri walking with her teddy bear, eating a cupcake, or just holding on to her blanket.  On behalf of all the paparazzi, I just want to say, “Thank you Tom.”

So here is where reality comes in to play, now that Tom doesn’t have a beautiful daughter to tote around everyday, or a voguish wife anymore to compliment him around town, be prepared to see less paparazzi even caring what Tom does anymore. There are those of you who think that’s exactly what celebrities want, not to be bothered, but we in the streets and the media know better.  When your a celebrity you want your brand to be visible at all times, and like they say, any press is good press, unless your Tom Cruise and they keep attaching Scientology to your bad press.

Caught up with Jordin Sparks yesterday while she was rushing out of Reagan National Airport looking nice & natural.  I love photos like this because it shows celebrities rushing or just looking normal.  Too bad Jordin isn’t a big name yet, but after her movie (Sparkle) drops this summer, the kid is gonna be on fire!

Sorry about being away so long, but trying a new formula and will be bringing you a different look as the campaign starts to heat up here in Washington D.C.  I have been really thinking hard on doing something that is outta the box from a paparazzi stand point, but still be able collect a pay check.  Let’s not fool ourselves, we all work to eat!

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt have finally gotten engaged.  I’m sure everyone is happy except one person, (No not Jennifer Aniston) just me, and probably every other paparazzi who ever dreamed of getting the first set of photos of Angelina’s new engagement ring.

I will tell you this, that photo is easily worth more than the actual ring itself.  Before it’s all said and done, that photo will sell for no less than $800,000.  With every newspaper, magazine and T.V. show airing the new photo of Angelina’s ring, your probably thinking that the photographer who took the photo will be getting a heavy check next month right? Well actually no because the photo was a set-up.  When I say a set-up, I mean the whole photo was set-up by Angelina’s team (publicist/manager) that’s why you only see two of those photos on the internet.  It was done at

Sometimes pressing a Celebrity to answer a question can be quite simply.  Just stay persistent and usually they give in.  In this video you can tell initially Randy Orton wasn’t about to answer any of my questions, but then he must have noticed I would have continued following him throughout the airport so he decided to talk.

These types of videos usually turn out good especially if it’s a situation where you catch a Celebrity or Politician fresh off a scandal and they want to use me (the harmless paparazzo) as there way to prove a point or just to get their voice out in the media from a different medium.  People are finally starting to realize that at times the paparazzi can actually help.  Too bad in this situation with Randy Orton it wasn’t a big story or should I say a big enough Celebrity to whom people cared enough about to know that he got kicked off a movie because of him being discharged from the Marines during his actual military days.

The good part about being in this paparazzi business is watching artist grow and seeing how they respond to you on their journey to the top.

Here is a prime example of this young teen heartthrob Cody Simpson who seems real cool with me now, as he talks and gives up photos so easily.  He realizes that the paparazzi can help his career and get him in those magazines and entertainment shows that come on nightly, so he plays ball with me.  Now if this kid blows up like we all predict, you’d have a better chance of Mitt Romney getting into the White House than this kid even looking at me without his handlers saying I’m bothering him next year.  And oh yeah, he’ll also be walking with two new HUGE bodyguards.

Sometimes set up photos can be a blessing for both a paparazzo and also the celebrity as it usually eases the tension on both ends.

This only occurs when a Celebrity does not want to be bothered and usually their bodyguard will come up and say, “hey we’ll give you a few photos, just stay your distance, then leave us alone.”  Now it’s up to me on whether I want to go for that deal or not.  With me, I usually will be like O.K. just as long as it’s a pretty set of photos and the Celebrity is willing to do what I ask them to do in the photo, whether it’s holding hands or pretend like their shopping or smiling. Then there are times if your working

Sometimes it can be mind boggling when you have to decide whether to take photos or do video when you only get one opportunity.  Here’s a scenario where I thought long but thought wrong.

It’s an event that I knew Bill Clinton was at and he would be leaving through the front entrance so I decided to pick up my video camera because Bill usually talks and is very witty.  Of course I’m looking for the conversation because during election time anything a politician says, it ends up usually doing well as far as sales, and as we know, everybody loves Bill.  Here’s where I make the big mistake though, I also knew his daughter Chelsea Clinton was inside, and I had information that she was wearing a cast on her foot.  Now anytime a picture can tell a story, your better off using your camera and photographing it than doing video.  To make matters worse, Chelsea came out in a beautiful pink dress, and as you know I love it when woman wear anything colorful because that makes me see $$$ signs.

After getting the video of the two together, I honestly felt like throwing my video camera across the street because I knew I messed up.  In my mind I knew it would have been a good (two shot) of father & daughter together.  That’s a photo that not too many photographers have, especially of them on the street.  The word two shot is something we use a lot.  You’ll hear me say it when referring to a couple walking together or mother & daughter, or even just two important subjects in the same photo.  End result, my video sucked because Bill didn’t even end up talking because a crowd gathered around and his secret service kept everyone at bay.  Lesson learned here today, when a female is involved, PHOTOS PHOTOS PHOTOS!

Rule number one when dealing with a celebrity that is not an A List actor or actress is never let them dictate where they give you the photo.  I don’t know what was on my mind that day when photographing American Idol winner Jordin Sparks, but somehow between me being on my cell phone or not having enough to eat that day, I let young Jordin treat me like I was a rookie paparazzi.

She was at the airport leaving D.C. and I grabbed a few photos of her getting out the car outside the airport, then wanted to get probably about a few more of her inside the airport.  Nothing big, because she’s not a big seller, but she does sell.  Well anyway, I gave her space and didn’t get any inside because I was going to let her get her ticket from the ticket counter first and then before she heads downstairs just snap a few photos.  Then Ms. Sparks catches a diva attitude and tries to shoo me away, her assistant comes over and say’s, “O.K. that’s it, no more.” I instantly turned around because I figured she wasn’t talking to me because first of all, I don’t have to ask for any photos, second of all, I was being as respectful as a paparazzi can be.  I politely told her assistant that I was still gonna take a few more photos of her because I hadn’t gotten anything good.  Her assistant went back over to the ticket counter and relayed the message to young Jordin Sparks, who then sent her assistant back to me and said she’ll give me and another paparazzi who was also there, one photo each.  I couldn’t help but laugh because in the back of my head I’m saying that doesn’t this girl know if I want to, I can snap off over 100 more photos of her walking to the gate before she gets on her flight.  Needless to say, she came over and angrily posed for each of us inside the airport.

Now this is the part where I got punk’d.  I know photos of celebrities just standing there smiling at the camera doesn’t do anything for me.  The photos you want are of them walking with either a coffee in hand, or a handbag around their shoulder smiling at you.  I must be losing my touch to let this young singer/actress tell me she’s giving me one photo or her standing still, but that’s what I ended up getting.  After walking back to my car I couldn’t believe that I allowed myself to be put in that position, now if that was say Madonna, Beyonce, Angelina Jolie, Oprah, Lady GaGa or even Nichole Richie, then maybe yeah I would have played by their rules, but not JORDIN SPARKS!

Sometimes going after stories that’s newsworthy is difficult on my end because you actually have to take off your emotions hat and become a reporter and ask the questions that’s relevant to what people want to know.

Yesterday I saw Trayvon’s dad Tracy Martin and wife arriving to Washington D.C. to testify on Capitol Hill.  When doing video, these type of questions have to be very delicate because you are normally dealing with people who didn’t ask to be in this position, but then again it’s still a news story and I have to cover it.

As far as sales go with video or photos of normal people who’s story becomes newsworthy, usually the sales are only good for a day or maybe a week.  Unlike celebrity photos which can last months at a time and the residual sales keep coming in the mail week after week.  I like to call those photos mail box money.

Congressman Barney Frank seen actually chill’n at Reagan National Airport with newspaper in hand gives me a nice sit down.  O.K. he was sitting down and I was literally walking by when I spotted him.

I talked to the departing Congressman about his thoughts on protesters throwing powder or confetti on politicians & celebrities.  Of course the usually witty Frank wasn’t  snarky with me and actually gave me a great understanding on how he really felt on that topic.  I really wanted to know what he would have done if someone would have thrown powder on him, but Frank wasn’t go there with me on that one, and yes he made it clear on that. I should have asked him about his upcoming wedding, but I wasn’t quite sure if Frank would have scolded me with his eyes or just threw the paper at me, so I left it alone.

Now I was actually at the airport waiting on a celebrity but that didn’t pan out, but those are the times when walking through the airport or anywhere as a paparazzi you have to always keep your eyes open and constantly look in people’s face to see if you recognize them.  I must say, this is a big part of the job that I actually don’t like because after doing this for so many years, everyone that passes me I find myself staring at them.

So not thinking I got anything good yesterday without getting a major big name, I just found out that the T.V. show TMZ bought my Congressman Barney Frank.  See you never know what sells.