Ever wonder what it’s like to be a paparazzo? Check out this article about one pap’s day last spring shooting the Black Eyed Peas. Makes you want to switch careers doesn’t it?
BLACK EYED PEAS: “I Gotta Feeling” music video shoot in L.A.
Text & Pictures
by John Shinn III
PaparazziNotebook.com
Arnold Cousart, co-owner of celebrity photo agency JFX Images and Keith Respicio, also of JFX Images and I were supposed to shoot the filming of the movie of “Date Night,” starring Steve Carell and Tina Fey in an industrial area of downtown Los Angeles.
When we got to the address, we were dismayed to discover that there was no movie set in the area. However, there was a smaller film shoot nearby. It was Black Eyed Peas shooting a music video, we were told by the set security guard, so we decided to wait.
About half an hour later, we heard a loud noise coming from a motorcycle engine. I glanced to where the noise was coming from and saw a man driving a three-wheeled motorcycle. When he got closer I recognized him as will.i.am. of the popular hip-hop group, Black Eyed Peas. Apparently, other members of the group had already arrived before we got there. But Fergie was not on the set. We learned that she was somewhere in Hollywood shooting portions of the music video.
The three of us (Arnold, Keith and myself) waited for the popular hip-hop group to come out and walk to the set about a block away. If will.i.am., Taboo and apl.de. walk to the set—and they had to walk by us—we were ready to shoot.
We saw will.i.am come out of the make-up trailer followed by five or six people. They started walking towards us. Someone must have told him there were photographers out on the street—because when he saw us he immediately turned around and went back into the compound where the make-up trailer was parked.
“What happened?” I asked Keith. “I don’t know, man” Keith replied. At first I thought our presence out in the street corner waiting for him to come out—pissed him off and he went back into the fenced base camp to have a van take him to the set.
Moments later, we heard a motorcycle engine fire up. VVRROOOOMMMM ! “Oh shit!” I yelled at Keith. “He wants us to take his picture driving his bike!” I said. “That’s even better,” Keith replied.
Slowly, will.i.am came into view riding his bike. VVRROOOOMMMM!!! Then he came swooping down the street at 40 miles an hour!
When will.i.am got closer to us, he glanced a little to his right —then looked straight at my camera as if to say, “Yeah! I gave you guys a great picture!”
And, will.i.am was right. One of my pictures on this set was published by People magazine on Page 18 of its May 4, 2009 issue.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE:
I never got know what music video they were shooting that day on April 18 until I saw the video on youtube recently—and only after noticing will.i.am and apl.de.ap were wearing the same clothes in the video as they appeared in my pictures.
FACTS ABOUT “I GOTTA FEELING”:The music video was shot on April 18. The music video was officially released on June 2. “I Gotta Feeling” to date is the longest running single on the US Pop Charts, 5th on the Billboard Hot 100 Songs of the Decade and, so far, the group’s most successful single. The video was produced by David Guetta.
