- There's a tendency to think that
paparazzi are invading people's privacy.
Hiding in the bushes,
trying to get some scandalous photo.
We're just out here, making a living,
just like every other person.
(indistinct chatter) (cameras flashing)
- [Paparazzo] Work those legs, girl.
- Right now, I want to get Victoria Beckham.
She comes out just before nine o'clock.
Hopefully, we beat her there.
It usually takes me only 20, 30 minutes tops
to get out the door from, when the second I wake up.
So, I live in New Jersey, which is very close to the city.
I absolutely love taking the ferry,
it's the quickest commute that there is.
It's as picturesque a commute as there can be.
But at the same time, I'm in my zone.
I'm reading all sorts of articles from the day before.
So, I went to NYU for photojournalism.
One of the assignments that I was given in photo class was
go out and take a photo of somebody
that you don't know on the street.
And I ended up getting a photo of Taylor Swift.
And it was printed in People Magazine.
So instead of just handing in my homework,
I handed the professor a People Magazine.
So, I ended up dropping out after my first semester
and meeting up with Cesar and we formed a team.
- It's been five years now.
Five years actually working together.
We formed this group, 247 Paps.
- The mobile office has Wi-Fi.
It's our hiding spot, it's our vehicle,
it's everything that we need.
All of our work is done from there throughout the day.
So, right now we're gonna head
over to Victoria Beckham's hotel.
She's here for Fashion Week.
Fashion Week is one of the busiest weeks for us.
Hopefully, we make it there in time.
I'm running a little bit late.
She's been clocked at nine o'clock
every morning for the past four days.
We got here at 8:45.
- [Cesar] Yeah.
- Got everything all ready?
- [Cesar] I took care of it.
- Wow.
So it looks like she's already out.
The other photographers are already editing their photos,
which means she's long gone.
Yeah, she gone.
We have a saying that if it's meant for us,
then we're gonna get it, so
just brush it off, it's nothing serious.
All right.
- So we're going to The Mercer to check out
who is gonna be there.
- So it's been a few hours, we wanna get on the board.
We haven't got any photos yet this morning,
so we kind of wanna go the easier route.
We wanna sit by a hotel where we know there's people.
Kendall Jenner's staying here.
Kaia Gerber's staying here.
We wanna sit here for a little bit
even though there's other photographers,
which we usually tend to stay away from.
I hate working around these guys.
For every photographer that shows up on a scene,
the dollar amount gets sliced.
They all are trying to get the same exact shot we are.
The real ideal situation is to get something
that only you get.
Kendall Jenner, for example,
an exclusive of her can be a few hundred
up to maybe $1000.
30 guys, 20 guys there, taking the same photos,
it's, you hope to make $50.
We're gonna go get some coffee
and move on to something that's probably exclusive.
So we're driving around
and we spotted some other paparazzi
that were waiting in front of
one of the most popular restaurants, Bar Pitti,
so we had an idea that somebody was inside
but we weren't sure who.
- So it could be either Hailey, Gigi Hadid, or Bella Hadid.
- The other paparazzi were scared off by us showing up.
It turns out that it's Kaia Gerber,
one of the biggest up and coming models,
daughter of Cindy Crawford.
- [Cesar] Hey Kaia.
How you enjoying fashion week, Kaia?
- Since she's up and coming
and she's wearing some great fashion,
this could be a couple hundred dollars, solid.
So our upload process includes
picking which photos I like best, quick crop,
depending on the quality of the photo,
we can make pennies or we can make five figures.
- Kendall Jenner will be coming out,
I say three minutes, four minutes tops?
- We got a phone call that Kendall Jenner's car
had just pulled up at The Mercer.
We're only five blocks away, but in New York City traffic,
that can be up to half an hour.
- You guys might have to go by foot.
- I guess we're gonna go for it.
(upbeat music)
Looks like we made it, so
here we go.
(all shout at Kendall)
- [Paparazzo] Legs for days, Kendall.
- So we arrived right on time, got the shot.
We gotta compete against all the rest of those guys, so.
This has gotta go online right away.
- Who was it?
- We're different from all the other photographers.
We work as a team.
They're gonna all follow her, but
we gotta send first.
And it turns out we beat all the other photographers
to publication.
- We're on a roll now.
(all shout at Hailey)
- So we got a tip from a restaurant
that Bella Hadid had just came in.
Generally, some of the most popular clients
that buy our stuff are the Daily Mail, People.
- [Cesar] Hey Bella.
I'm so happy we caught that stalker, Bella.
For real.
If you need us anytime, we're out here.
- Thank you.
- [Cesar] You're welcome.
- Today's a good day, today's a good day.
We're different from other people
because we value the relationship and the longterm.
We respect them, they respect us.
Being the nice guys goes a long way.
- Miles, this is me being you, okay?
It feels amazing and I understand
why you do what you do now,
because I have to say, it's quite invigorating.
Ready, smile fuckers.
- Ariana Grande's one of the celebrities
that we have worked with from the very beginning,
before her career even began in music.
We've had some great moments with her.
One of the best stories was the day that
Rihanna took me to the club for my birthday.
- [Announcer] But that's not Drake,
that's Miles, her favorite paparazzo.
- Cesar sent her a message
letting her know that we were out there
and that it was my birthday.
So she came downstairs wearing a huge red heart.
She gave me a big hug, said happy birthday and said,
"I'm gonna meet you over
at the club, you're coming with us."
we walked inside together and partied for hours.
She bought me a very expensive bottle of champaign.
Just by being nice, we get some shots
that nobody can get.
Tiffany, Tiffany, can we get a shot right here?
- [Paparazzo] Over here, Tiffany.
- [Miles] Paparazzi is a term that
is endearing to me, I think that it describes what we do.
People look at paparazzi on the street
and they automatically assume
negative things about us.
We're just out here making a living
just like every other person.
We don't do anything that's against the law.
Most of the people that come to New York
are doing press anyway.
That's a wrap, man.
- [Cesar] All right, brother, take care, guys.
- Pleasure, man.
- [Interviewer] Can you talk to me about
how much money you guys are able to pull in a year?
- It has to be more specific than six figures?
Let's talk about why I'm uncomfortable first.
We don't really like to speak about what we make
because it, it's different than
what other people make in this industry.
We've set our goal of trying to make
a million dollars a year.
And I think it's something that we're
gonna achieve very soon.
- Job well done, completed.
- Good day.
Time we got a little bit of sleep.
And then start all over tomorrow.
- Let's go.
(gentle music)