Famous: Through the Lens of the Paparazzi

Striking black-and-white images hark back to the golden age of photo-journalism and capture the drama of life in the spotlight

Celebrities rule the modern world, and following close behind them are the paparazzi, fueling the media’s endless fascination with the rich and famous, while they themselves keep a low profile, fading chameleon-like into the background. 

For more than forty years, Bruno Mouron and Pascal Rostain have photographed movie stars and models, rock stars and royalty. Over the decades, they’ve honed the instincts required to capture the moment when a glance, a pose, and a setting are most perfectly matched. From London to Paris, Hollywood to Cannes, here is a star-studded selection of people who live their lives in the spotlight, sometimes welcoming the camera, sometimes pursued by it. Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Michael Jackson, and Kate Moss are among the iconic faces glimpsed at unguarded moments, in encounters that can be intimate, witty, or confrontational. 

108 illustrations

Bruno Mouron is a Paris-based photo-reporter and co-founder of the agency Sphinx.

Pascal Rostain is a Paris-based photo-reporter and co-founder of the agency Sphinx.