Leica All Day
Veteran
Hello everybody, tonight is my last night in America and I am staying with my friend who lives in Hollywood and works for Getty. He asked me if I wanted to accompany him to a "star studded" event and try to "blend in" and work with him and the other guys who work for photo agencies (not paparazzi) and of course I said yes.
It was "The Book Of Mormon" play/musical and it was at the Pantages on Hollywood Blvd. and Vine. I saw the list of actors/actresses who were going to attend and I actually saw some people that I liked, granted I only recognized about 50% of the names, due to the fact that I don't keep up on movies and such, but once I saw that Kevin Smith, Cher, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Alexander and bunch of other people that I wanted to see were going to attend, I decided to go for it.
It was such a new experience for me due to the fact that I usually shoot such different stuff, but I found it "interesting"..... I got to meet a lot of the local photographers here and see how they work. A lot of them know Kristian (rff member) and were pretty nice to me and talked about how they do their work. I had a very good position on the red carpet and I was able to get some nice shots (I think).
I was the only guy shooting film and I decided to use my M6ttl with my 90mm/2 and my M2 with my 50mm Rigid. I got lots of compliments from the actors and actresses about my cameras, which not only surprised me, but it also resulted from comments from some of the other photographers around me. One actor said to me, that is a nice Leica, and I said thanks, and some other photographer said, he's the only guy here who knows what he is doing....and we all laughed....
I was actually surprised how many actors/actresses commented on my camera and at one point a security guy (off-duty LAPD) walked over to me and talked to me about my Leica for 10 minutes.....the funny thing was, I was the only guy on the carpet who wasn't supposed to be there, in the sense that I didn't have any proper credentials or anything, I just sort of stuck with the Getty guys and "slipped" in with them.
At one point, as we were going to shoot the after hours party at some nice club, it was the first time that I was actually asked for ID and my press pass. The funny thing is, I didn't have anything to show them, but before I could even open my mouth and come up with an excuse, the Getty guys started to explain who I was and then the major P.R. person who I was talking to most of the day said that I am fine and I am allowed to go in and shoot. By that point, I had already shot on the red carpet, had been allowed to shoot the closing of the musical which was quite a big deal, and had been literally guided throughout the venue by the P.R. person earlier on, so I guess in a sense, I did "blend in".
Obviously I do not have any photos yet to post, but I will get them developed in Bangkok in the next couple of days and I will post some when I get a chance.
One thing that surprised me was the paparazzi, I couldn't believe how many of them gathered around the place and were literally chasing the movie stars, it was so strange to witness it. At one point, right after the play ended, the P.R. and I got separated from the rest of the photographers and we walked right into the main exit/lobby area and it was filled with movie stars and all the paparazzi were fenced off on the sidewalk so they couldn't enter. I felt a little weird because I was standing right in the middle of lots of movie stars and I didn't take any photos, out of respect that the P.R. guy and the security guys allowed me to hang out there and wait for one of the photographers (my friend) who had to get his bag from reception. To be honest, I would of felt really strange taking their photos in that kind of situation. I would of felt like the paparazzi guys barricaded out in front.
When I was shooting the red carpet, the actors and actresses were talking to me, smiling ,posing and were fully aware that I was taking their photos, but something inside just didn't feel right to take their photos while they were just mingling around the lobby and talking to friends after the play. I was seriously the only "photographer" in that room because everybody else had already exited from a side door, but I decided to just people watch and take everything in, it was pretty interesting.
I guess I learned today that I am not cut out to be a Hollywood photographer nor a paparazzi, but I sure had fun on my last night in America, it was a memorable one.
cheers, michael
It was "The Book Of Mormon" play/musical and it was at the Pantages on Hollywood Blvd. and Vine. I saw the list of actors/actresses who were going to attend and I actually saw some people that I liked, granted I only recognized about 50% of the names, due to the fact that I don't keep up on movies and such, but once I saw that Kevin Smith, Cher, Neil Patrick Harris, Jason Alexander and bunch of other people that I wanted to see were going to attend, I decided to go for it.
It was such a new experience for me due to the fact that I usually shoot such different stuff, but I found it "interesting"..... I got to meet a lot of the local photographers here and see how they work. A lot of them know Kristian (rff member) and were pretty nice to me and talked about how they do their work. I had a very good position on the red carpet and I was able to get some nice shots (I think).
I was the only guy shooting film and I decided to use my M6ttl with my 90mm/2 and my M2 with my 50mm Rigid. I got lots of compliments from the actors and actresses about my cameras, which not only surprised me, but it also resulted from comments from some of the other photographers around me. One actor said to me, that is a nice Leica, and I said thanks, and some other photographer said, he's the only guy here who knows what he is doing....and we all laughed....
I was actually surprised how many actors/actresses commented on my camera and at one point a security guy (off-duty LAPD) walked over to me and talked to me about my Leica for 10 minutes.....the funny thing was, I was the only guy on the carpet who wasn't supposed to be there, in the sense that I didn't have any proper credentials or anything, I just sort of stuck with the Getty guys and "slipped" in with them.
At one point, as we were going to shoot the after hours party at some nice club, it was the first time that I was actually asked for ID and my press pass. The funny thing is, I didn't have anything to show them, but before I could even open my mouth and come up with an excuse, the Getty guys started to explain who I was and then the major P.R. person who I was talking to most of the day said that I am fine and I am allowed to go in and shoot. By that point, I had already shot on the red carpet, had been allowed to shoot the closing of the musical which was quite a big deal, and had been literally guided throughout the venue by the P.R. person earlier on, so I guess in a sense, I did "blend in".
Obviously I do not have any photos yet to post, but I will get them developed in Bangkok in the next couple of days and I will post some when I get a chance.
One thing that surprised me was the paparazzi, I couldn't believe how many of them gathered around the place and were literally chasing the movie stars, it was so strange to witness it. At one point, right after the play ended, the P.R. and I got separated from the rest of the photographers and we walked right into the main exit/lobby area and it was filled with movie stars and all the paparazzi were fenced off on the sidewalk so they couldn't enter. I felt a little weird because I was standing right in the middle of lots of movie stars and I didn't take any photos, out of respect that the P.R. guy and the security guys allowed me to hang out there and wait for one of the photographers (my friend) who had to get his bag from reception. To be honest, I would of felt really strange taking their photos in that kind of situation. I would of felt like the paparazzi guys barricaded out in front.
When I was shooting the red carpet, the actors and actresses were talking to me, smiling ,posing and were fully aware that I was taking their photos, but something inside just didn't feel right to take their photos while they were just mingling around the lobby and talking to friends after the play. I was seriously the only "photographer" in that room because everybody else had already exited from a side door, but I decided to just people watch and take everything in, it was pretty interesting.
I guess I learned today that I am not cut out to be a Hollywood photographer nor a paparazzi, but I sure had fun on my last night in America, it was a memorable one.
cheers, michael
