Anti-Paparazzi Sunglasses

This is fun. Though it takes some wiring. You have to fit bright LED Light-emitting diodes to your glasses so they can be switched on and make you “invisible” to cameras.

Gizmag has a feeling this is going to appeal more to bank robbers than celebs.

Watch the how-to video.

Jolie report gives birth to high-stakes media frenzy

Attention all cameraphone reporters. According to the IHT, what might turn out to have been a false report about the birth of Angelina Jolie's' twins has caused a media frenzy with the first photographs of the babies estimated to sell for seven figures. Online reports say that the bidding war is already well under way.

Paparazzi for the rest of us

Being photographed by the paparazzi was once an (often dubious) honour bestowed only on the rich and famous, but today a new service is bringing the possibility to every consumer.

Upon request, New York City-based Methodizaz will send an anonymous photographer to surreptitiously capture select moments in a consumer's life and immortalize them with a portfolio of professionally produced photos.

To arrange the service, the consumer provides a self photograph ahead of time along with details of their schedule and any specific emotion, mood or theme they hope to capture. MethodIzaz's photographer will then show up at some undisclosed point during the day and photograph the subject walking through the streets or going about their daily business, without posing or artifice.

For customers, the final result is a new perspective on how they appear to others as well as tangible documentation of how they lived their lives at that point in time—in short, the ultimate in gravanity-stroking.

Pricing is based on MethodIzaz's time to travel, photograph, edit and produce the photographs, ranging from USD 300 to USD 400 per hour.

Founded late last year, MethodIzaz already accepts assignments worldwide, but it also hopes to expand its presence accordingly.

[via Springwise]

The Rise of the 'Citizen Paparazzi'

Photo agencies are increasingly relying on submissions from regular folk who either happen to bump into celebrities while carrying digital cameras, or who have injected themselves into the cat-and-mouse game of celebrity snapshots, despite any formal training. The Wall Street Journal reports.

This has led to an explosion in the number of photographs available to magazines and websites. And it has created friction with the old-guard paparazzi, who often find themselves navigating throngs of amateurs at red-carpet events. The pros complain that the newcomers are partly to blame for depressed prices, since they sometimes agree to sell shots for $25 or $50 that could have commanded several hundred dollars before. What's more, they gripe about rude and particularly aggressive behavior from some of the amateurs – no small allegation in an industry long known for its anything-goes tactics.

... Increasingly, nonprofessionals are positioning themselves alongside press photographers, said Brian Ach, a full-time freelancer for celebrity-photo agency WireImage, which is also owned by Getty. "It becomes difficult when there are marked spots for traditional agencies at an event, and somebody with a little point-and-shoot shows up and says, 'Well, I'm with so-and-so Web site," he said. "It happens at every single event."

... The reason these services are thriving, said Darryn Lyons, the founder of the London-based Web site Mr. Paparazzi, is that the general public is more likely to come across a million-dollar sighting than a photographer dispatched to capture an image.

Holy Moly attacks 'seedy' paparazzi

UK's online celebrity and gossip Holy Moly started life as the website that brought you the celebrity gossip the tabloids would not.

But now it has started self-censoring the pictures it uses in the wake of concern over the paparazzi's treatment of celebrities such as Britney Spears and Amy Winehouse.

In a statement on its website Holy Moly said there had been a "definite change in the perception of paparazzi pictures" and it would no longer publish photos of celebrities being chased in cars or on bikes, celebrities with their children or people "in distress" at being photographed.

Celebrities who attend press launches and premieres and "idiots who go to places like The Ivy ... for a quiet bite to eat" remained fair game, as do "blatant photo opportunities" where the press are tipped off in advance.

... "Both reader and the publisher alike are getting a bit uneasy about it all when you can clearly see two or three people have been driven to the brink of mental illness because of it, said the creator of Holy Moly, who prefers to remain anonymous.

The statement said British photographer Nick Stern, who resigned from Los Angeles-based photo agency Splash Pictures last month in protest at the paparazzi's treatment of Britney Spears, had influenced the decision.

Holy Moly said: "We're going to do our best to stick to this, because let's face it, when one of the biggest names in paparazzi jacks it in due to ethics and morals and the world's biggest popstar gets her knickers photographed by 30 people an hour after being released from a mental institute, you know there's a problem on the shop floor."

The snapper who snapped

When paparazzo Nick Stern moved to LA he knew it would be rough but the hounding of Britney Spears was too much. He explains why he quit the pap pack in The Guardian.

"After a decade spent snapping celebrities in the British drizzle, Nick Stern moved to Hollywood for a "bit of sunshine". Seven months on, he has become a minor celebrity himself after making a public protest at the way the paparazzi are hounding Britney Spears.

His resignation from the LA-based photo agency Splash last month and subsequent appearances on TV - shot in silhouette to protect his anonymity - have highlighted the no-holds-barred behaviour of photographers scrapping for the shot that could be worth a fortune."

Paparazzi deflating myth of celebrity

The Paparazzi have gone overboard. An interesting article by Steve Penhollow on the paparazzi's antagonistic coverage of celebrities for The Journal Gazette.

"... According to The Associated Press, paparazzi greeting an ambulance carrying Britney Spears to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in early January banged on the doors of the vehicle.

“They were just doing their job,” some bloggers wrote afterward.

I know it has become fashionable to find something admirable in every occupation or vocation, from being a stripper to being a mortgage rescue scammer. But I think it’s safe to say that if your job involves banging on the doors of an emergency vehicle carrying a sick person to the hospital, you have squandered whatever potential was gifted to you at birth.

If these celebrity photographers are in fact “just doing their job,” how did that become their job?"

Full article.

Golf Champ to sue over injury due to cameraphone snaparazzi

Golf champ John Daly is considering filing a lawsuit against the insurance company that represents the Palm Beach County-based Honda Classic because of an injury he suffered last March when a female fan snapped a picture of him in the first round. the Pallm Beach Post reports.

"Daly was injured on his third hole when the woman took a picture while Daly was hitting his drive. When he heard the clicking, he tried to stop his swing and injured his ribs and shoulder. He didn’t finish the hole, leaving to seek treatment in the medical trailer.

Daly reportedly believes the PGA Tour event didn’t provide proper security because 1) fans are not supposed to have cameras on the course during the tournament and 2) the woman who took the picture didn’t have a ticket to the tournament, instead walking onto the Champion Course from a nearby condominium at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens."

Related articles on unruly golf fans:

-- Woods Experiences Golfing in China: Click, Ring, Take a Swing

-- Golf Rules leave fans pining for phones

-- Call for Cameraphone ban on Golf Tournaments

Is Paris Hilton behind pirated photos of Nicole Richie's baby shower?

Nicole Richie and rocker Joel Madden held their baby shower at the Beverly Hills Hotel last Sunday, with exclusive coverage granted to InStyle magazine.

But according to the New York Daily News, "pirated pictures were being offered by a source to competing magazines. And one pal suspects Richie frenemy Paris Hilton might have had something to do with it. "All the photos that were offered had Paris right in the center of them, as the star," sniffs the insider. "They look set up."

Hilton's rep told the NYDaily News: "Paris was a hostess of the shower, which a large number of people attended. Many of these guests were taking photos with camera phones . . . there is no way she had anything to do with this."

Just One More Before Bedtime!

The New York Times reports on children paparazzi in Hollywood. [via Ypulse]

"... Since February, Blaine, 15, and his best friend, Austin Visschedyk, 14, have been spending late nights skulking around nightclubs, restaurants and private parties, staking out the likes of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan and Paris Hilton (older women, all), declaring themselves the youngest paparazzi in the business.

“They’re pretty shocked to see us,” said Blaine, a thin, soft-spoken shutterbug who runs his own photography company, Pint Size Paparazzi.

In one sense, the boys are another example of precocious Hollywood youngsters, following their show-business dreams a little ahead of schedule. Viewed another way, however, they may be unprepared innocents, colliding with one of the roughest sides of the entertainment industry.

... “I’m going to let this go as far as it takes me,” said Blaine, fidgeting with his V800. “I want to be friends with the celebrities more than take photos of them. I kind of wish I was going to the parties with them.”

Austin has sold photos to The Daily News in New York and OK! magazine, among other publications, while an image Blaine shot of Ms. Spears extending her middle finger recently fetched $500 at a local art show.

“What struck me originally about them is that they both have a good eye,” said Brad Elterman, an owner of Buzz Foto, an agency that brokers sales of celebrity photos."

Paparazzi business being redefined

Peter Gilstrap on Variety on the re-defining of the paparazzi industry as the MOPS - industry jargon for Members of the Public - join the fray.

UPDATE: Thank you BBC for quoting me in your section From the Blogosphere, but all the credit goes to Peter Gilstrap from Variety, whom I quoted (reBlogged part of his article).

EXCERPTS: ... "It's crazy, it's exploding," admits Mark Kuschner, Getty's global VP of entertainment. "People cannot get enough information, especially when it comes to entertainment. On their mobile phones, on the Internet, in newspapers and magazines, TV shows, you name it. And it's a massive global trend.

More and more, individual photogs connected with existing companies are branching off and forming their own concerns. And there are plenty of non-photographers turning pro: ex-gang members, valets, waiters, dog walkers, even the homeless are working for agencies, bringing their own particular skills and vantage points.

Another upstart player in the photo game are the MOPS, industry jargon for Members of the Public. With cheap, user-friendly digital units and cell phone cameras, a money-making snap can potentially be captured by almost anyone". Read on.

Related: - Phone snappers put squeeze on paparazzi

Clooney is hounded by cameraphone paparazzi

Ocean's 13 star George Clooney has hit out at fans with camera phones - insisting they hassle him more than the paparazzi.

The actor claims he is snapped by wannabe photographers everywhere he goes.

Clooney adds, "If I walk out of a whorehouse with a hooker on my arm, then I deserve what's coming to me. If I am at the airport with my secretary and these kids jump in and ask 'who's the chick?', then you have to defend her...and that gives them their story."

[via Contact Music. Image from SightsSounds ]

Laid-off Papparazzi sue Judge who put Paris back in Jail

Not sure this is true, but it's entertaining.

According to Dateline Hollywood one laid off paparazzi is suing Judge Miachael Sauerwork for putting Paris Hilton back in the slammer, out of the public eye and uh, out of the range of his photo lense.

"I am out of work now because that bastard, Judge Michael Sauer, took her away from us,”said celebrity photographer Michael Lantora, who lost his job after Hilton returned to jail.

Celebrity photo agencies throughout Hollywood laid off over 100 paparazzi Monday, claiming the move was necessary due to the unexpected absence of their two most popular subjects.

Paparazzi industry insiders say their industry’s recession is only worsened by Britney Spears’ decision to vacation in Puerto Vallarta.

... Celebrity media ethicists argued that while photo agencies may save money in the short-term, the layoffs are bad for the industry and democracy in the long-run."

Phone snappers put squeeze on paparazzi

The Guardian writes that a top paparazzo has said business for celebrity photographers is under serious threat from an army of amateurs and opportunists snapping stars on their mobile phones.

"German Hans Paul who says he once earned $120,000 for a picture of a then-pregnant Julia Roberts, said fees for paparazzi had been driven to new lows as even fans and autograph hunters now know how to market their pictures.

He said: "There is no doubt that we paparazzi are suffering from this. There is hardly any money to be made in the everyday business."

But Mr Paul added that the only business paparazzi could now rely on was exclusive photos taken using stealth tactics such as following A-list stars using light aircraft or pretending to be postmen or decorators".

[via Moco News]

Video sold of battle to save Anna Nicole Smith

Grainy video footage of paramedics working on the unresponsive body of Anna Nicole Smith turned up on the Internet and on German Television on Friday, reports Reuters, a day after the sudden death of the former Playboy model in Florida.

"The brief video, shot by the Los Angeles-based Splash News and Picture Agency, captures Smith being wheeled on a stretcher on Thursday from the Seminole Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Hollywood, Florida.

Splash said it had sold the rights for $500,000 to a buyer it declined to identify. The footage showed up on several Internet sites and on German's RTL TV channel."

There is no mention that footage was taken with a cameraphone. But it could have been and wouldn't change the story.

Calling All Mobile Paparazzi

If you have a mobile phone and an eye for a story, websites Pocket Picks and Scoopt are giving away an amazing top of the range Nokia N73 multimedia phone for the best mobile snapper.

The competition is being run jointly by website Pocket Picks, which covers all things mobile, and Scoopt, the world’s first commercial citizen journalism agency with more than 10,000 members in over 90 countries.

For the whole of October anyone with a cameraphone and an interesting story to tell can submit their pictures along with a short caption. At the end of the month the person who submits the most interesting and impactful story will win a brilliant Nokia N73 mobile phone, which includes an integrated 3.2 megapixel camera with Carl Zeiss optical lens for print-quality photos.

If you’ve got a story to tell, a whistle to blow or something to get off your chest – or if you simply happen to find yourself in the right place at the right time – get your mobile out and take a picture! The best picture(s) will be published on Pocket Picks , with a public vote for the best overall entry.

Porn Star arrested because of snaparazzi

A Japanese actress featured in scores of pornographic movies was arrested for walking nude in Yokohama while a producer filmed her, according to The Washington Times.

"The actress, Arisa Shimuzu, and the president of a company that makes pornographic videos, were both charged with indecent exposure. "A man and a teenage girl used their cell phones to take pictures of them and then turned over the results to police".

Related: - More ordinary citizens have been using their camera phones to dispense high-tech, low-cost justice

Readers are the new paparazzi

The IHT reports on the press' growing dependence on citizen reporters and how some celebrities are fighting back - citing human rights violations. Picture left from Scoopt.

German Tabloid "Bild's "Leser-Reporter" feature, introduced during the World Cup, brought its readership daily shots of celebrities, politicians and soccer stars - taken from the cellphone cameras of quick-thinking passers-by. The photos were either uploaded onto the Bild home page or sent as e-mail attachments or multimedia messages to a special number the tabloid set up.

The paper paid €500 to €1,000, or $638 to $1,270, for photos printed in the Reader-Reporter pages, and by the end of the World Cup soccer tournament, as many as 1,000 photos were streaming in daily.

... "Amateur photographers are omnipresent, and that's an interesting development," said Nicolaus Fest, who sits on the Bild editorial board.. "Whether you see them with fear or hope, that depends on your point of view."

Christian Schertz, a lawyer to the stars, is clearly in the first camp. "I'm reminded of George Orwell. The normal citizen is encouraged to watch a fellow citizen," said Schertz, who counts Bild among his most consistent sparring partners. "And he even gets money for it."

... "The restriction in the private lives of celebrities is already at the point where you can talk about a human rights violation," said Schertz, the walls in his elegant office decorated with gifts from his prominent clients.

Indeed, lawyers like Schertz have the legal backing of the European Court of Human Rights in their quest to preserve the private lives of their clients".

Open ban on mobile phones unlikely despite concerns

The death of a spectator from a heart attack is one reason cameraphones will probably not be banned from the Open championship, reports the Scotsman.

"Winner Tiger Woods complained about the number of times he or playing partner Sergio Garcia were distracted in the last round at Hoylake.

But David Hill, director of championships for the Royal and Ancient, said that while the situation will be examined, the incident on one of the practice days will make them think long and hard about a future ban.

You have to consider that people like to have mobiles with them for matters of urgency and have needed to get medical attention quickly. We have considered electronic screening. It's a step we would prefer not to take, but if the committee feels we have got to the stage where we have to do it we will. It would mean delays at the gates, but we will certainly be looking at it."

Related articles:

-- Tiger snaps at fans taking photographs

-- Woods Experiences Golfing in China: Click, Ring, Take a Swing

-- Golf Rules leave fans pining for phones

-- Call for Cameraphone ban on Golf Tournaments

Tiger snaps at fans taking photographs

British Open champion Tiger Woods complained about the amateur photographers he and playing partner Sergio Garcia had to contend with during Sunday’s final round, reports MSNBC.

"We had it at every hole,” Woods said after a closing 67 gave him a two-shot victory over Chris DiMarco and the 11th major of his career. “We had never seen anything like it before. It wasn’t the professional photographers, it was the gallery. They had cameras or camera phones.”

Woods said he and Garcia, who finished with a disappointing 1-over 73, were constantly distracted.

“The cameras kept going off while we were over the shot or preparing to hit the shot, or even hitting the shot they were going off,” said Woods, who also won the British Open at St Andrews in 2000 and 2005."

Its not the first time Tiger Woods or other golf tournaments have been plagues by cameraphones. cf related articles:

-- Woods Experiences Golfing in China: Click, Ring, Take a Swing - Golf and golf etiquette is so new in China, and the sport's fans are so crazy about Tiger Woods, that the The HSBC Champions Tournament in Shangai was quite a scene.

-- Golf Rules leave fans pining for phones - At a golf tournament, silence is not only golden, it is mandatory.

-- Call for Cameraphone ban on Golf Tournaments - Officials at this year's US Masters introduced airport-style metal detectors and bag scanners at the main entrance to Augusta and confiscated all mobile phones and cameras.

Snapparazzi cause Tour de France crashes

The Sun reports that Tour de France organisers want a crackdown on fans taking photos with mobile phones after three crashes in the first five days of this year’s race.

... "Sandy Casar's Casar's fall was the result of a collision with a drunken spectator trying to film the action with his mobile phone, according to eurosport reports. "

... "Tour director Christian Prudhomme warned: “There is a new phenomenon which is worrying us — arms stretched over the safety barriers and often at the end of those arms a mobile phone used as a camera".

Pics of Swiss President vacationing jolt Swiss into awareness of the new snaparazzi

We're a little slow here. Yesterday Swiss daily newspaper Blick published a series of pictures of Switzerland's president, Moritz Leuenberger with his partner Gret Loewensberg, in their bathings suits on a beach in Oman. The picture was taken by a Blick reader who forwarded his snapshots to the daily and has created quite a stir, according to Lunch over IP.

Picking up the story, Le Temps commented "on the unstoppable evolution of citizen reporters camera phones and the Internet."

"Swiss president Leuenberger's spokesman said that the president may consider suing the newspaper; another daily, Tages-Anzeiger, suggested that he could bring up the issue in the next government meeting", writes Lunch over IP

Other than catching on (belatedly) to cameraphone reporters and the new snaparazzi, what is really at issue here is the violation of a public figure's private life - generally respected until now - brought on by new technology.

The People Paparazzi

Check out what looks very much like a promotional video for Splash News' citizen journalism agency, on extraTV.com - ending with a catchy "Becoming a paparazzo is as easy as snap, send and sell!"

"Us Weekly's resident trend spotter Katrina Szish told us (extraTV.com) that Average Joes are now, "Snapping pictures of celebrities with their cell phones or digital cameras, and then trying to cash in on those pictures."

Some useful information from the article:

-- Britney Spears' wedding photo made $150,000 for the lucky guy who took it,

-- Colin Farrell's kiss was worth $4,500

-- Brangelina in a mall brought in $30,000

-- Paris in a make out session was worth $7,500.

Related: - Splash News & Picture Agency taps into citizen journalism

The paparazzi are now everywhere

The Sunday Times Scotland has a wonderful interview of Kyle MacRae, the founder of Scoopt, the first agency to broker cameraphone pictures for amateur paparazzi and citizen reporters.

Excerpts

"On July 4, the website launched. Three days later London was bombed. “At the time, it was disastrous for us,” says MacRae. “Pictures of maimed bodies and people in distress were allegedly making their way onto the internet, and to be associated with that would be bad news both from a business and a personal ethical perspective.”

Many of the most iconic images of the attacks were taken on camera phones, however, in Tavistock Square and on the devastated trains. “Over a longer period, that helped to close the credibility gap and convince people that we had an idea that could work,” says MacRae. Scoopt was picked up by, among others, CNN, Wired magazine and Newsweek. A bandwagon was rolling.

Six months later, MacRae has crow’s-feet from working round the clock, and the site has 5,500 members in 86 countries. More significant, perhaps, are its imitators — sites such as The Snitcher Desk and Cash Your Pics. Last week Splash, one of the biggest picture agencies in America, announced that it too was starting a service for members of the public who wished to “snap, send and sell”.

But some of the successes appear to have taken even MacRae by surprise: “The highest single-value picture we’ve sold so far was of the new Dr Who monster, Sycorax. A Dr Who fan was watching the filming in June in the Forest of Dean, and this monster came out of the dressing-room trailer, so he took a photograph of it.

“That’s a good example because it was just an opportunistic moment. Nobody was hurt. Nobody killed. No damage done. The photographer made a thousand quid just before Christmas. He was delighted.”

... For all the animosity between celebrities and paparazzi, professional photographers know the rules, where the legal and ethical boundaries lie — even if they sometimes choose to overstep them. The amateurs of Scoopt don’t.

True, the site offers guidelines and has some safety checks built in: all contributors must be over 18; Scoopt will not accept any pictures of children; nor will it take pictures obtained through what MacRae calls an overt breach of privacy (such as breaking into somebody’s house).

But it seems almost inevitable that amateurs will overstep the mark. “They won’t think twice about sticking a camera in somebody’s face,” says MacRae. “Is that something I feel happy about? No. But it’s not something we encourage either. "

We are all paparazzi now

According to ZDNet Blog, Kate Moss was caught by a camera phone - How did I miss that? - apparently using an illicit drug, because of which she lost several large endorsement contracts. She subsequently checked into rehab where, presumably, camera phones are not allowed.

So what?

"We are all paparazzi now…and we are all stars. The popularity of camera phones in some markets means that any important event (a car accident, a mugging, a wardrobe malfunction, etc.) is increasingly likely to be documented by ordinary people. As phones become more sophisticated, video (rather than still) recordings will become the norm."

Accenture Technology Labs has some thinking around the implications of ubiquitous cameras. Check it out here.

The Paparazzi Costume

File under fun. A paparazzi costume for Halloween. [via eyebeam reBlog]

Schwarzenegger signs Calif anti-paparazzi law

California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger signed a law on Friday tripling damages celebrities can win from paparazzi if they are assaulted during a shoot and denying the photographers profits from any pictures taken during an altercation. [via Reuters]

"The new law comes as Los Angeles authorities try to crack down on aggressive photographers following a series of altercations involving actresses Reese Witherspoon, Lindsay Lohan and Scarlett Johansson, among others."

Picture from Digital Journalist

Enter the Blogarazzi Era

Mobile blogging is turning celebrity chasers into bona fide paparazzi, according to the China South Morning Post via Moco News.

"Snap happy: In Britain, mobile bloggers are swapping instant candid clips of celebrities - but Hong Kong may have to wait to give chase.

Since Hutchison launched mobile blogging services at its British operations last month, star-struck 3G users have discovered a new pastime: the candid celebrity photo.

"Yet despite the popularity of blogs with young people in Hong Kong - not to mention a strong mobile-phone culture with a penetration rate well in excess of 100 per cent - Hutchison Telecommunications and other Hong Kong carriers say they have no plans to introduce mobile blogging tools.

Operators claim they are not out of touch - they just do not see mobile blogging as viable business opportunity, though the services would give carriers another opportunity to earn revenue on data transmission.

"Right now, 3G service is still too expensive for the general public in Hong Kong.

Mr Yeung suspected closed blogging, in which users share content with a defined group of friends, would be more popular than open blogging, which is content that is shared with the world. Most Hong Kong blog authors preferred closed blogging, he said."

The dashing politician, the crystal heiress and a shattering kiss in Paris

The glamorous 36-year-old Minister of the Austrian Economy, Karl-Heinz Grasser was caught readhanded by amateur paparazzi armed with cameraphones , kissing a woman at Paris Charles de Gaulle airport who was not his official fiancéee, but Fiona Swarovski, heir to the Swarovksi crytal family.

The pictures were splashed across the pages of Vienna's News magazine. The European press had a field day with this.

via Largeur.com (in French) and The UK Telegraph

Paparazzi pledge to sort pros from cons

The father of Sydney's paparazzi, Peter Carrette, is planning to set up a school for celebrity snappers complete with traditional Italian props, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

"Carrette reckons that thanks to modern technology and all those stories about big dollars paid for killer shots "any jackass with a digital camera" thinks they can do the business.

So he wants to set them straight.

"I will talk about what the profession is and basically teach them some manners," he said.

Carrette said he is talking to an entertainment show about filming his eager charges; would like to sign up some Vespa sponsorship to honour Tazio Secchiaroli, the scooter riding photographer who started it all in Rome in the 1950s.

A recent red carpet experience at the premiere of Ring 2 with Naomi Watts horrified Carrette.

"There were all these punters with photo phones taking pictures. Within the next few years everyone on the street is going to be a paparazzi," he said."

Goodbye to privacy

Nothing new to anyone who follows picturephoning, but snaparazzi articles are always good reading.

Snap-happy citizen paparazzi are on the increase and are likely to make celebrities think twice about appearing in public, writes Steve Dow for The Age.

"If Nicole Kidman isn't able to to go out without being mobbed, then improved technology in the hands of all will soon make public appearances twice as risky.

In just a few years, most Australians will have a mobile camera phone, unleashing potentially millions of citizen paparazzi.

Clandestine images are just the beginning, as we lose control over our public image and privacy laws struggle to keep pace.

The growth in camera phones means newspapers and magazines will receive more pictures of accidents, robberies and beatings, says Greg Borrowman, editor of Australian Hi-Fi. "Everyone will have a camera ready and will be able to use the phone to transmit the images direct to (the newspaper)," he says.

The power of the citizen paparazzi

Celebrity spotting, a favourite pastime of many, is being vaulted to new levels of possibility, reports The Sydney Morning Herald, in an overview of cameraphones and reported incidents with regard to the new citizen paparazzi. Most stories have been posted in this column before, but it's a good recap.

"About 80 per cent of Australians own a mobile phone - expected to rise to a saturation point of 89 per cent by 2008 - and we are already starting to see the effects of people snapping others in places where cameras have previously been precluded by manners and convention.

Ordinary folk, already labelled in the US and Britain as "snapperazzi", with mobiles poised and a gossipy nose for news, are making good pocket money selling their shots of celebs to supermarket weeklies."

Prince Harry wearing a swastika armband was a camphoneshot ?

I followed the headlines of this story in the press like everyone else, but this is the first I've read - in JoongAng Daily - , that the picture of Prince Harry wearing a swastika armband, which broke on the front page of The Sun, was taken by one of the guests at the costume party with a camera phone. The theme of the party was "colonial and native".

"[...] Recently, an amateur paparazzo took a photo of 20-year-old Prince Harry wearing a Nazi uniform. The prince was at a costume party, and one of the attendees there had taken a photo of him with a cell phone camera and sold it to a tabloid. The photo was instantly spread around the world via Internet."

(note from emily) I think this information should be taken with caution, because I've been reading through the UK press and can't seem to find another article on this event that claims the picture was taken with a camera phone.

Picture from the BBC.

How to become a camphone paparazzi

Michelle Henery at The Times went to a private viewing attended by celebrities, armed with a camera phone, to see how easy it is to snap pictures of the famous. Answer is: not that easy.

As you have to position yourself at a not-so-discreet distance from the subject and struggle with four or five commands, you'd be lucky if the subject has not already walked away when you're ready. Besides, many snaps can be out of focus and a few downright unrecognisable.

But it is nevertheless possible to make money from the hobby. Tabloid newspapers and celebrity magazines are bombarded by readers' snaps of stars.

The News of the World and the Daily Mirror sometimes solicit entries from readers and magazines, including Maxim, Loaded and Heat, have sections devoted to these pictures. Heat pays its amateur paparazzi £200 a snap.

The backlash has already started and camera phones are banned from many large corporations, swimming pools and changing rooms.

Celebrities are already camera-phone conscious. Britney Spears reportedly had mobiles confiscated at a party in New York, Prince agreed to grace a nightclub in London with an appearance only after his minders had frisked guests and Sir Alex Ferguson, the Manchester United manager, banned camera phones from his team's Christmas party last year.

Sting harrased by cameraphones at ski resort

Popsinger Sting cut short his ski vacation on the Italian slopes in early January because he was tired of being constantly photographed with cameraphones "even when exiting the sauna", according to the Italian press.

"Sting had been staying with his family at luxury hotel Cristallo in Cortina d'Ampezzo, in the northeastern mountains of Italy, but after a few days he left the noble ski station to escape the harassment of the amateur paparazzi.

The daily Corriere della Sera quotes Sting's snowboard teacher Alberto Belfi saying: "People were continuously taking pictures of him with their cell phones. They were rude, placing themselves without asking and without consideration in front of him at the restaurant or in the line to the skilift to get a close-up".

Camphones may be kiss of death to secret lives for Bollywood stars

The Times has a story about Bollywood and camera phones.

Over there, kiss remains a taboo. So it was a shock when, recently, one of India's top actresses was caught in a steamy embrace in a restaurant and the images were splashed across newspapers and TV channels as viewers tuned in to see what they are rarely able to at the cinema.

The five-second video clip had been captured on a video-enabled phone by a diner who saw the couple kissing at Bombay restaurant.

Few in Bollywood were convinced by the actress fierce denials that the clip was authentic. Still, there was shock at what appeared to be an unprecedented invasion of privacy.

The paparazzi are an almost unknown phenomenon in Bollywood where compliant photographers play along with the stars' whims for fear of being blacklisted and shut out of events.

The advent of camera phones may change all that. Other young stars expressed horror that they could be the next target. “Today it's her, tomorrow it could be me,” one actress said. “For Christ's sake, don't we have the right to enjoy a private meal at a restaurant? And to pay such a heavy price for being celebrity is just not right.”

The new (citizen) paparazzi

With the public now using their cameraphones to snap celebrities and sell the pictures to the media, privacy has become even rarer. James Herring reports in a witty article on this new trend in The Guardian.

"Armed with cameraphones, any ordinary Joe can become a paparazzo.

Exponents of this popular new pastime, otherwise known as the "snapperazi", are sneeringly referred to as Snappies (Slightly Nutty Amateur Paparazzi Imitators), or dismissed as Nokia Nazis. Snapperazi love celebrities, and they love snapping pictures of them.

Best of all, from the media's point of view, the snapperazi know what kind of shots can be turned into hard cash. For years they've pored over grainy shots in the red-tops of the famous doing what they oughtn't with people they shouldn't. Now the snapperazi can take the same shots themselves.

The media have been quick to exploit this new resource. It's now commonplace for showbiz magazines to offer the public cash incentives to submit photographs of celebrities. This week's Heat magazine proclaims: "You've been snapped! Armed with their cameraphones, here's who Heat readers have been spying on this week."

There's cash to be made. A holiday-maker covered his vacation costs by phone-snapping a former England cricketer playing away from home in the Caribbean earlier this year. The shots were emailed direct from his handset to a Sunday newspaper's newsdesk, and (in time-honoured tabloid alliterese) the immoral miscreant's extramarital malarkey was all over the media in a matter of minutes.

Once, the public were slack-jawed observers of a celebrity circus packaged and presented by media professionals. Now - equipped with advanced mobile technology - the public can provide active and instantaneous input into the media processes that power the celebrity machine. In the 3G age, we can all participate in the making and breaking of celebrities. The future's bright. As long as you're not a celebrity."

Badge keeps paparazzi out of the picture

Celebrities hounded by paparazzi may at last be able to emerge from behind their dark glasses without trepidation, reports the UK Times Online via Idéespresse.

By wearing a specially designed electronic badge that jams electronic cameras, they will be able to prevent photographers from taking unwanted pictures.

The “privacy protection system” being developed by Hewlett-Packard will allow the publicity-shy to transmit an infrared signal to any nearby compatible camera. Once activated, the camera's software will automatically blur beyond recognition the face of anybody wearing the badge.

Although the technology will offer some comfort to those who are assailed by the press against their will, it will do nothing for hundreds of aspiring starlets to solve the opposite problem — not being photographed enough.

Nokia's Celebrity Mode Feature
To this end, Nokia is developing a new Global Positioning System with which phonecam users will be able to invite paparazzi to take their picture. By clicking a “celebrity mode” button the camera sends out a Wi-Fi signal inviting anyone near by with a compatible camera to take a photograph.

Clip-on Earring takes pictures
Alongside its “privacy protection system”, Hewlett-Packard is developing a camera activated by a brooch or a clipped-on earring which can take a picture of someone without their knowledge.

The earring contains an accelerometer that detects a flick of the head and sends a wireless trigger signal to the camera to take a picture.

Amateur paparazzi thrive

A report by market analysts Continental Research claims the number of picture messages sent each month has almost halved within a year, reports The Independant