Status: Paparazzi photographer.
Hobbies/Interests: "I'm normally pressed for time - I'm the single father of a seven-year-old girl - I'm normally looking after her. If I'm not looking after her, I'm normally riding motorcycles. That's my favorite thing to do."
Favorite Movies: "Apocalypse Now - I was in the British Army when it came out. It became like a cult movie for us. Angel Heart is a cracker, with Mickey Rourke. Taxi Driver. 9 1/2 Weeks."
Musical Tastes: "A little bit of old-fashioned. I like a lot of British '70s and '80s stuff - The Jam, Puella, Joni Mitchell, contemporary, Norah Jones. I listen to the Rolling Stones, David Bowie a bit, 10,000 Maniacs."
Career Journey: "I was an officer in the British Army. We did a tour with the United Nations in Cypress. I did media operations between the U.N., Cypress and the press. When I came out of the army, my journalistic experience that I got in the army, I ended up becoming the editor of a defense magazine in the U.K. I left that then worked in Bosnia during the war in '92. I was in Sarajevo for a while, Split. After that, I had a studio in London which was quite successful. Then I made the huge mistake of coming to New York City. And I found that, as a foreign person, it's almost impossible to get a job over here. And I ended up in the wild and wacky world of paparazzi, simply because I couldn't get a job in anything else."
Greatest Career Moment: "The greatest moment of my photography career was getting a front page shot from Sarajevo ('92) of an old lady gathering from the ruins of some bombed homes. It was on the front page of The Independent which is renowned for its quality of photography. (What did it pay?) About $200, whereas I can make thousands and thousand and thousands of dollars from paparazzi pictures. Thousands."
Most Painful Moment: "I have to think about it. Because nothing is springing to mind immediately. Most frustrating moment - I can tell you that. And that happens kind of regularly. And that's the shocking abuse that I get from hotel security, private security, bodyguards, publicists, and not so much cops. The unpleasantness I receive from security and bodyguards who break the law as a matter of course. They grab me, push my camera in my face, push it down, hold my arms down, it happens to me all the time. And I find it very annoying, very frustrating. And I try to tell cops about it and nobody cares."
Which Celebs are the hardest to deal with?: "I've had a number of little run-ins with Gwyneth Paltrow. And to be fair to her, it just genuinely upsets her - being photographed by paparazzi. And she's been very, very difficult about it. Having said that, she's calmed down a little bit now and she's not too bad. Rappers - I avoid them. Because their security is out of control. They're dangerous people. They threaten to kill you. For what? Taking a picture? Forget about it. It's not worth it. Sara Jessica Parker - she went through a phase of being very unpleasant. She's calmed down. This goes in phases with paparazzi. Like someone will become really really super popular and you have to get them. And so the pressure's on and everybody gets aggressive and nasty. So there's always this phase of unpleasantness when there's a big story."
Which Celebs are the nicest to deal with?: Jennifer Lopez is nice. She smiles and poses up, she doesn't mind. Madonna is so used to it she finds it...she doesn't find it anything. She ignores us. She does her thing, she doesn't smile, doesn't say hi, she's not unpleasant, she doesn't hide her face. She just goes about her business. So she's nice to deal with. Robin Williams is a very nice man. Jim Carrey can be nice sometimes. Sometimes he's a little funny."
Favorite Meal: "Indian food."
Favorite Ice Cream Flavor: "Chocolate."
Funny Career Memory: "The funniest thing that ever happened to me was being assaulted and attacked by Leonardo DiCaprio's mother, who set about me with her handbag. A big one. Over and over again. And he was standing in the background going, Leave him alone mom! Leave him alone! (Where and when?) That was last summer, down on 15th Street, outside Milk Photography studio."
People Qualities Most Admired: "Honesty. Certain level or morality. Politeness. English things - you don't get that much in New York [smiles]."
Embarrassing Moment: "A lens fell off a camera once. That's pretty embarrassing. In front of all the other photographers. Just dropped straight off, onto the floor. It was a big lens. (Where?) It was a pop video - Christina Aguilera was shooting down by the Brooklyn Bridge. My most embarrassing moment was I had a fantastic opportunity to shoot the Olsen twins, when they just arrived in New York City. I was in the best position. They came out of the restaurant. I shot my pictures and I looked at them, the camera was just completely out of focus. I had like five or six shots that would have sold for at least $10,000. I mean, at least. They were just so soft they were unusable. And that was right after a culmination of five, six hours of chasing and following them and standing outside restaurants and stuff. And it was a two-second photo opening and it just failed to focus. I should have pre-focused it. And I ended up getting these soft shots. Useless. Blew $10,000."
Most Valuable Shot?: "Personally, the biggest seller for me is Cameron Diaz and Justin Timberlake. It got a set of them right here, right where we're standing. Heidi Klum - a good set after she had her baby. I have a partner - he shot Gwyneth Paltrow and Chris Martin coming out of a sex shop. That made about $100,000 - enormous amount of money."
Who are your clients?: "We sell all over the world - People, Us, In Touch, Star, all the tabloids, sometimes the newspapers, but not that often. In U.K. we have an agent and sell to all the big London-based gossip paparazzi style magazines, Hello being one. They're huge. They pay more money. Sell in Australia, Germany, Sweden, we have an agent in France. We have an agent who specializes in South and Central America. Stuff goes all over the world."
Who's Hot right now?: "Nicole Kidman always. Tom Cruise always. Johnny Depp always. Sara Jessica Parker is always good. Liv Tyler because she's pregnant right now is a nice little shot. Gwyneth Paltrow always. Especially if she's with Chris Martin. The ideal scenario is to get a set of these people doing something. Especially if they don't know that you're there - like a set of them shopping, or filling their cars with gas. Kissing on a balcony. Oh, the biggest shot in the world right now is Julia Roberts and her two babies. If you get a good shot with all their faces, you would comfortably realize I would say $100,000 for it. If you can get it. You can't get it. No one can get it. But if you could - $100,000, maybe more, 150."
Who is the best in the paparazzi business now?: "I don't know, there's a lot who do it. There's a couple hundred out in LA. There's about 20 or 30 in New York City. We all have our successes. We all achieve a certain amount of success financially and actual published images. The best? I don't know. I don't think there is one."
