Sarah Jessica Parker posing in a porous-looking mask outside her new shoe store in New York City this month.
Photo: Getty Images
The red carpets have all been rolled up. Dozens of movie shoots put on hold. Theaters closed. Hollywood, as we have known it, is largely on hiatus. And celebrities, like the rest of us, are mostly twiddling their thumbs at home. That’s all terrible news for paparazzi.
Snooping celebrity photographers are pivotal players in Hollywood’s whirring star-making machine. A photographer can’t make a star, but they sure can profit from giving a fledgling star a boost. The right photo of someone grabbing her daily latte can thrust that actor into the press. And other entities enjoy a halo effect: A fashion brand can send a P.R. blast highlighting that the starlet is wearing its shirt; the movie studios releasing her next picture enjoys a publicity bump.
Singer Dua Lipa stepping out in New York wearing the most of the moment accessory: a face mask.
Photo: Getty ImagesBut securing celebrity photos during a pandemic has proven tricky.
Simply put, far fewer stars are roaming about. Michael Stewart, a long-time photographer in New York, speculated that of the 150 or so celebrities he tracks in the city, well over 100 have decamped, perhaps to remote vacation homes. The 20 or so who remain tend to keep a lower profile. Mr. Stewart has barely seen actor Justin Theroux, who this time of year can normally be found tooling around lower Manhattan in muscle tees. Mr. Stewart, who’s built a rapport with some stars he’s shot over the years, said he’s heard from a few that they’re staying inside to avoid any backlash over having their photo taken during a global pandemic. (This doesn’t seem to be the tactic for every star. Since roughly the start of the pandemic, celeb websites have regularly posted photos of Ben Affleck and his new girlfriend, “Knives Out” star Ana de Armas, running errands in public.)
The budding romantic relationship between Ben Affleck and Ana de Armas has been much covered in the celeb-press over the past few months.
Photo: Getty ImagesNot only are the pickings slimmer, they’re often less enticing. If he wanted to, Mr. Stewart said, he could probably shoot Hugh Jackman every day given that ”the Wolverine” star seems to walk his dog on a regular, easy-to-track schedule. Yet, Mr. Stewart has snapped Mr. Jackman only once in the past few months. Why? Because Mr. Jackman wears more or less identical outfits every time he steps out, an inert approach to fashion that many of us can sympathize with right now, and there’s no market for such monotonous photos. Mr. Stewart sees no need to keep snapping Mr. Jackman as long as his style stays static.
Historically, to be deemed “good,” a celebrity photo often had to document an alluring outfit: out-of-reach designer fashion or red-carpet looks. In recent years, however, the slideshows that high-end publications like Vogue and GQ publish have increasingly shown more candid celebrity photos The off-the-clock sweat suits and bomber jackets that stars wear at airports and for coffee runs are easy to emulate and can therefore be more interesting to study than a satin-lapel tuxedo.
Once you factor masks in, the equation gets trickier. Randy Bauer, co-owner of celebrity photo agency Bauer-Griffin, noted that before the pandemic his company’s focus was about half-red carpet and half-street photography. It’s now 100% street shots but masks have complicated the game. Face covers make it difficult to identify a star, particularly when that star is camera-shy and also piles on sunglasses and hats. “I’m turning down pictures that our photographers are sending us because I’m telling them, ‘Hey, this isn’t them,’” said Mr. Bauer.
Actress Dominique Fishback sporting a conspicuous red mask in Brooklyn.
Photo: Getty ImagesA face covering is not always a problem. Some less camera-averse stars are using masks as the latest look-at-me accessory. Mr. Bauer said he’d received shots of Joel McHale in a smiley face mask, Emma Roberts in a tie-dye mask and Reese Witherspoon in a bright yellow mask. “It’s like the [celebrities’] personalities are now showing through the masks,” he said. For some in the star-snapping business, masks have also triggered an unlikely revenue stream. An owner of one celeb photo agency said that the owner of a mask company contacted him to license a few photos of stars wearing her brand’s masks.
But several photographers and agency owners reported that celebrity publications and fashion companies have less of an appetite for photos of stars in masks compared to photos of celebs without them. “I think most of the editors we work with, they’re going to get sick and tired of the mask picture. They just want a full face,” said Mr. Bauer. The celebrity photos that publications like Vogue, GQ and People now post bear this out: Often pulled from Instagram, they show stars like Hailey Baldwin and Dwayne Wade at home in mask-free bliss.
Model Alessandra Ambrosio is easier to identify, though more at risk, with her mask dangling around her neck.
Photo: Getty ImagesDeclining interest in conventional star snaps during the pandemic has compelled some photographers to pivot. Mr. Stewart said he’s been documenting the Black Lives Matter murals that have cropped up around New York. Elder Ordonez, another New York-based photographer who’s shot celebrities in the past, has been capturing front-line workers. “I’m a news photographer,” he said, “so I’m fortunate enough to have been able to bring in some type of income in this situation.”
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