Paparazzi : and Our Obsession with Celebrity

Stealth, impersonation, bribery, lock picking, ducking the cops. Oh, yes, and the odd bit of photography, too.

No, the paparazzi don't have it easy. They're reviled by their subjects, by their employers, by their voyeuristic audience—and by the fashion and news photographers who think of themselves as artists and the paparazzi as creeps with cameras. They're the bottom feeders who shoot celebrities in all their infamy: drunk, undressed, distressed, lip-locked wih folks who aren't their spouses. They're the hunters and chasers who've nabbed on film everyone from Pamela Anderson to Princess Diana.

And we all love it. We may not want to admit it, but we can't get enough of these photos, keeping the paparazzi in business by buying everything from People to the National Enquirer and all the fan magazines and tabloids in between.

Paparazzi turns the spotlight on these photographers and their highly paid profession; on the celebrities who are the object of their lenses; and on the society that begs them to capture these megastars in both ordinary and compromising positions. The top practitioners of this global pop art, along with the photo agency owners, magazine editors, and the stars themselves, give us stories of the famous and infamous we've never heard before. It's our golden opportunity to get behind the viewfinder and see the hunted from the hunter's point of view. Paparazzi turns the spotlight on these photographers and their highly paid profession; on the celebrities who are the object of their lenses; and on the society that begs them to capture these megastars in both ordinary and compromising positions. The top practitioners of this global pop art, along with the photo agency owners, magazine editors, and the stars themselves, give us stories of the famous and infamous we've never heard before. It's our golden opportunity to get behind the viewfinder and see the hunted from the hunter's point of view.

Peter Howe has served as picture editor for The New York Times Magazine, director of photography for LIFE magazine, and vice president of photography and creative services for Corbis. He is a regular contributor to The Digital Journalist, American Photo, Columbia Journalism Review, and USA Today and advises independent photo agencies and photographers on digital organization, storage, and licensing of their work. A native of London, Howe lives in New York City with his wife.