NEW CELEBRITY PHOTO AGENCY BUZZ FOTO DEVELOPS
"Paparazzi As An Art Form"

Los Angeles, May 08, 2007. With a mission of "Paparazzi As An Art Form", a new Los Angeles-based photo agency Buzz Foto, LLC (http://www.buzzfoto.com)) is providing paparazzi-style celebrity images to global publications and news sources. Buzz Foto is syndicating to more than 30 countries marketing images from a group of hand selected photographers.

"Paparazzi-style images are hot right now," says Henry Flores, cofounder. "Editors want the look and spontaneity of paparazzi shots instead of a red carpet photo or anything choreographed by stylists or publicists. Too many images today are controlled and planned by celebrity PR teams. Buzz Foto is in the field of capturing iconic candid shots."
Founders Flores and Brad Elterman formed Buzz Foto and the company´s popular paparazzi blog with celebrity images and commentaries. Elterman, 50, handles marketing and Flores serves as chief photographer, editor and recruiter. Elterman's career in the industry began in 1974 when he sold his first photograph of Bob Dylan onstage at The Forum in Los Angeles.

This is Elterman's third photo venture; he sold his last photo agency, Online USA, to Getty Images in 2000. Flores, 32 and formerly an engineer, has been working as a freelance celebrity photographer for five years.

"We consider our photographs to be serious art," says Elterman. "We feel the images have the potential to one day hang in The Museum of Modern Art in New York. There are dozens of firms specializing in paparazzi, but they do not care about the craft. It's all about the high speed chase and pushy untrained young photographers doing whatever it takes to get the photo the tabloids want. Their photographers follow Paris Hilton and Britney Spears day and night, randomly covering them when there is no visible story."

Flores adds, "I find paparazzi to be an intoxicating rush and I want to do something creative and artistic." Flores points out that Buzz Foto stands alone in the paparazzi field by strictly adhering to a creed of courtesy and elegance. "We always wait for that moment when we can capture an iconic photo. We're in the right place at the right time. We get the shot and do it with courtesy."

Elterman compares Flores and staff to Henri Cartier Bresson, Walker Evans and Helen Levitt. "Bresson would shadow his subjects and wait for the right moment. Evans would descend the subway with a Leica under his overcoat to photograph life in a crowded subway in the greatest city in the world, New York. Evans trained Helen Levitt with his undercover craft; she then went on to produce her best work in the streets of Harlem in the mid-forties with friend and poet, James Agee."
"Buzz Foto creates iconic images of daily life," states Elterman, who finds the new Hollywood boring and vulgar and celebrated solely on looks. Elterman insists that even if modern day celebrities are not iconic, one day Buzz Foto images will be sought out by collectors and curators. "In thirty years Paris Hilton will be a thing of the past and photographs of this time will be remembered as a period of excess and the celebrity phenomenon."