The F Stops Here

Entertainment Industry and Publicists Embrace Buzz Foto Mission to Deliver ‘Paparazzi As An Art Form’ and Maintain Confidentiality

LOS ANGELES, Sept. 30 /PRNewswire/ — The relationship between the paparazzi and the publicist has always been an interesting one. In an environment often lambasted for its ethics and work practices, Buzz Foto is finding itself under the watchful eye of Los Angeles and New York publicists to bring elegant and iconic paparazzi imagery to the world media The unique and creative paparazzi photo agency is being embraced by the Hollywood publicity community.

“From day one Buzz Foto set out to be different, not only in the caliber of imagery we produce but in how we handle ourselves in the field,” said Henry Flores, Buzz Foto cofounder. “This industry has an ugly reputation, yet Buzz has risen to the top and stands alone. As a result, we’re seeing something not normally experienced in the industry – the publicists and agents are calling us to give insider tips on where their clients will be. This steady stream of calls and text messages alerts our photographers, not the competition, which means Buzz Foto nabs the exclusives. Obviously, this kind of imagery must be executed professionally and that is where we come in.”

Founders Flores and Brad Elterman stress that Buzz Foto keeps a very tight lip about with whom they work, and are constantly striving to nurture relationships and trust, while producing great images. Adds Elterman, “When I started in this industry as a teenager in the mid-seventies it was all about a booked photo session or a home shoot. Then the red carpet became the spot to capture the stars and today it’s all happening in the streets. Unfortunately these public environments are harder to control so the scene has become a free-for-all, and the etiquette and coordination necessary to create a beautiful photo have gone out the window. Stars are hounded by the paparazzi wherever they go so there’s really not much opportunity to nab imagery that is classic and stunning.”

Continues Elterman, “It’s great the PR community is coming to see the value of working with us. Mediocre photos are flooding the market and I think publicists understand that beautiful and elegant photography not only attracts an editor’s eye, but also attracts the consumer reading the magazine. What I also find fascinating about the current environment is when I was taking photos and working tightly with publicists over twenty years ago, they were all terrified about photos of their clients being published in the tabloids. That is not the case today and of course the priority is now shifted towards their clients appearing on the pages of top bloggers.”

“At the end of the day, the publicist tipping off the paparazzi has been done since the beginning of the film industry. We just want to make sure that our photographs are of the finest quality and that they end up gracing the pages of the best magazines and blogs around the world,” says Henry Flores.

Buzz Foto was founded by Elterman and Flores in 2006 and is staffed by a global team of photographers. The agency consistently delivers iconic imagery that appears in such U.S. outlets as People, US Magazine, NY Post, New York Daily News, In Touch, TMZ.com and Perez Hilton.com, plus international media. Elterman sold his last photo agency, Online USA, to Getty Images in 2000 in a deal CBS Market Watch dubbed “the deal of the day.”

© 2009, The F Stops Here. All rights reserved. (Jessica D. Korman)