I went down to Malibu today, to one of my favorite burger places – Malibu Mutts. I brought my 1D with me because there is always something nice to photograph in Malibu. Mutts is in an open shopping area with stores and places to eat. After I ordered I was approached by a girl who wanted me to sign a petition, for what cause I’ve already forgotten. I said “no thanks,” after which she asked if I was looking for famous people. I said no, and she said she thought I was because of my big camera. Then she asked if I had seen anyone famous lately. Now I’m not only hungry, but I’m getting annoyed! I said, “Not lately!” Finally my food was ready and I sat outside to eat.

Then it got interesting.

I wandered around for a bit before heading back to my car, when I saw a couple of guys with big cameras and the white Canon lenses. I always want to see what other people are carrying around, so I watched for a moment; then there were three of them. They started shooting through the window of a store, so I wandered over to look. I asked them, “What are you shooting”? One looked at me and asks, “Who are you working for?”. I laughed and said “No one!”, “Yeah right!” he replied. I ask him again, and he says, “Michael Jackson”. I started to laugh at him, and he said “Just kidding, what kind of camera is that?”- pointing to mine. I told him its a Mark III. He said, “You have a Mark III and you don’t work for anyone? Yeah right!”

By now there are at least six of them looking and shooting through the window. I stepped over to the outdoor restaurant next door, and asked a waiter if he knew what was up. He said they were trying to photograph the woman who played Cat Woman, that she is in the store. I don’t really care about famous people, and I still have no idea who she is; I was more interested in the cool camera gear those people had. I called up Judie, and she informed me that the celebrity must be Halle Berry. She’s almost due to have her baby, and pregnancy pictures are all over the web.

By now my camera is slung back around my neck while I continued to watch the scene. The doors finally opened, and sure enough out comes the very pregnant Halle.

Now here is the part that struck me: It seemed like she deliberately went to where these people were. The other exit, which was closer to her car and did not have the construction you see in the picture to contend with, wasn’t used. Since my car was in the same place as hers, I followed this spectacle out to the lot. There they swarmed around her like flies, and then they took off in their cars, following hers as she drove off. The whole thing looked almost set up; she never looked annoyed or even surprised, and as I said she walked right into them when she could have left the other way.

I’m not sure I’d make a very good Paparazzi.