Only Photo Agency In The World To Paparazzi All Four Beatles!!

Wholly shit! We were just sitting here thinking that we are the only photo agency in the world who personally paparazzied all four Beatles! If we are are incorrect in that statement, please forgive us, but our gut tells that it is accurate.

Our first Beatle was Paul McCartney at a party for Rod Stewart And The Faces at The Greenhouse restaurant on Wilshire Blvd in 1975. That was the evening that we photographed Bob Dylan for the very first time. I do not think that we slept for a week after that party.

The next Beatle hose down was around 1976 when we got a tip that George Harrison would be at Chasen’s. Sure enough the tip paid off and we were able to knock off a few black and white frames and some color slides too. It was all about film back then and two cameras.

The jackpot was in 1977 when someone tipped us off that John Lennon was in town and that they were holding a table for him at The Roxy. Oh yeah, we had The Roxy wired with all of the tips. You see our dear friend Michelle Meyer worked at the box office and we would get these tip offs at least twice a week. Anyways, we almost peed in our pants when we saw John Lennon and Ringo Starr arriving and we were the only photographers around!! Incredible how 30 plus years later you still remember these incredible moments. We will never forget these moments ever!

What Paparazzi Recession?

We hear all over the place that there is a paparazzi recession and frankly we are surprised. New markets open all the time, paparazzi imagery is hotter than ever and Buzz Foto continues to grow. Sure prices are lower, but we have seen that before. Most importantly is that if you want to sell paparazzi fotos today, you need excellent works of art. The days of just handing someone from the street a camera are long gone. You need to be knowledgeable about your camera and possess a talent to make a picture that will jump off the editors screen. We are implementing this at Buzz Foto and on a mission to work with only the finest and most professional talent in the industry today. After three plus decades in this glorious industry we have seen operators come and go and that is no different today.

Great Fotos Never Grow Old!

We always talk about the importance of a photo agency’s archive and this foto is a good example why. Fotos never lose their importance when they capture an iconic image or a memorable subject. This foto of John Lennon and Yoko Ono has both. It is amazing and beautiful. Brad Elterman took this picture of the two as they arrived with Ringo Starr at On the Rocks Night Club, in 1977.

Beatles news never gets old, and the http://news.guelphmercury.com is reporting that recently a new and rare Beatles tape has surfaced. They said:

“A former Spectator photographer’s failure more than four decades ago to sell a tape recording of a Beatles news conference in Toronto could land him in the money.
Paul Hourigan, who went on to work as a photographer for The Spectator for 34 years, tried to sell the 13 1/2-minute tape to Hamilton’s radio stations and The Spectator in August 1966, but no one was interested.

He gave the tape to his wife Florence and it lay in a cigar box of memorabilia for decades.

The tape features the band talking about John Lennon’s statement that the Beatles were bigger than Jesus, the Vietnam War and U.S. draft dodgers coming to Canada.

Hourigan, 63, went looking for the tape a few months ago when he read a story about someone trying to sell a bootleg recording of The Beatles’ concert at Maple Leaf Gardens on Aug. 17, 1966. It was one of the last concerts they staged before the band stopped touring.

EBay estimated the bootleg’s value at $20,000 to $30,000.”

The tape may be expensive, but this foto is priceless!

The Rush From 1976 Still Continues Today!!

On The Rox was the most exclusive private nightclub in Los Angeles back when this photograph was taken in 1976. It was owned by Lou Adler and Elmer Valentine and no one could get in there unless you were a major celebrity or if you had incredible connections.

The entrance to the club was an unmarked door at The Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip. The most exclusive members had a key to get into the club and if you did not have a key, then you had to resort to speaking into the intercom for entrance.

As you can see in this rare photograph that Ringo had that key! What we like the best of this photograph was the expressions of the two dudes who can not believe their eyes that right in front of them are half of The Beatles!

Thirty years later, we can still feel the adrenaline rush! Good luck trying to get a photo like this one today!

Globalization With The Click Of The Mouse!

If you wanted to retire in the photo business back in the Seventies, you had to get exclusive photos of either Howard Hughes, Elvis on the beach in a Speedo or all of the Beatles together in one photo.

That is not the case today. Now it is all about Miley, Britney, Paris, Lindsay, Nicole and Tonto! Are these people iconic stars who will be around in ten years? Who knows and who cares. The talent today may not be memorable, but this is the most exciting time to be in our industry. Why? Because of the internet silly! Globalization with the click of the mouse!

It is incredible, we took this iconic foto of Ringo Starr with John Lennon and Yoko over 30 years ago in front of On The Rox on the Sunset Strip and today we can still feel the adrenaline rush. Photographing half The Beatles at 17! Holly shit. Pardon the French.

The Key To On The Rox 1976

On The Rox was the most exclusive private nightclub in Los Angeles back when this photograph was taken in 1976. It was owned by Lou Adler and Elmer Valentine and no one could get in there unless you were a major celebrity or if you had incredible connections. The entrance to the club was an unmarked door at The Roxy Theatre on the Sunset Strip. The most exclusive members had a key to get into the club and if you did not have a key, then you had to resort to speaking into the intercom for entrance. As you can see in this rare photograph that Ringo had that key! What we like the best of this photograph was the expressions of the two dudes who can not believe their eyes that right in front of them are half of The Beatles!

Thirty years later, we can still feel the adrenaline rush!

This Was An Incredible Moment

If you wanted to retire in the photo business back in the Seventies you had to get exclusive photos of either Howard Hughes, Elvis on the beach in a Speedo or all of the Beatles together in one photo.

By the time we took this photo of Yoko, John Lennon and Ringo Starr on the Sunset Strip in 1976, the Beatles had broken up and there was always speculation that they would get together and have a secret concert at Doug Weston’s Troubadour. If you had managed to have gotten a photo of the Fab Four together it would have pulled in a ton.

Half of the Beatles was not enough to retire on, but it made a few grand and that was a ton back then. This photo is still selling, but mostly in gallery shows.