Just what constitutes a celebrity? What makes someone famous?
I was blown away recently when I had my third encounter with what the industry regards as "paparazzi". I was simply walking down the street heading to a meeting when I spotted a flash in the corner of my eye. I flinched but then chose to ignore it and continued walking. It happened again, and again, and again and I spun in my tracks to catch my stalker. There on the other side of the road he was with his camera, and what looked like the lens of someone with ironman muscles (just how does he lift that thing).
I was tempted to run over and yell at him, or to beg him to show me what photographs he had taken, but instead I just shot him a big fat smile and continued on my way to my meeting. I don't know what he was taking photographs for, or whether he even knew who I was or if he just liked my black skinny jeans and white blouse teamed back with rubi shoes suede heels. It was surreal. I've had another two other note worthy experiences with paparazzi photographers. Both of which have been very different from this most recent one.
The first time I had someone sneak up on me with a camera was at a Starbucks cafe last year. He at least introduced himself to me and asked my permission to snap a photograph of Fashion's Sweethart. I would be lying if I was to say I wasn't flattered and let him snap a couple of photographs. I've never seen them, and that's probably the intrigue of it. There are these photographs of me somewhere that this paparazzi photographer took and I've never seen them.
The second time someone pulled a paparazzi on me was at a fashion runway show and launch. I was seated second row with a fellow marketing executive and had no idea the sneaky photographer got a photograph of me. The next morning I received a notification on my personal facebook page. A friend of mine had tagged me in this photograph of me watching the show and taking a photograph of the runway with my own digital camera. It was a cool photo, and so I proceeded to reblog it.
It's exciting, and interesting, when this first starts to happen. When you get recognised on the street, or in a nightclub. The other night I was working at my other part time job when a girl asked me if I had modelled for Dissh. We had a great conversation about Fashion's Sweethart and it left both of us in a really good mood.
On the other hand, I can totally understand how scary it can get. For the amount of people who stalk me openly, there could be people who are very private about it as well. Facebook pages, twitter accounts, and other internet websites with people claiming to be me are now popping up, and that my sweetharts is when this paparazzi thing starts to get a little scary.
Clothing from Izabel + Sebastian
167 Grey St, South Bank QLD
Words : Claire Nada
Makeup : Rachel England
Photography : Allanah Hockam
Models : Rachel Conway, Claire Nada & Ashlee Francis
♥