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Pintsize Paparazzi

  • 28-02-2008 6:16am
    #1
    Xavi6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 40,919 ✭✭✭✭


    This is just bloody ridiculous -
    Teen stars now chased by teen paps

    Being a paparazzo isn't your average after-school job, but two teenage boys are ready to battle it out with Hollywood's roughest snappers to make some extra cash.

    Austin Visschedyk, 14, and 15-year-old Blaine Hewison are Hollywood's youngest paparazzi and have already impressed stalwarts among the Hollywood press pack by getting some big-money shots.

    They're stalking the likes of Britney Spears, Lindsay Lohan, Brad Pitt, David Beckham and Paris Hilton — although it's clear they're not yet as world-weary as their older colleagues.

    "(The celebrities) pretty shocked to see us," Hewison told the New York Times.

    "I want to be friends with the celebrities more than take photos of them, and I kind of wish I was going to the parties with them."

    The pair run their own company, Pint Size Paparazzi, and are taking this job a lot more seriously than your average after school special.

    They've spent more than $7000 on cameras, telephoto lenses and flash pack accessories and have already sold their photos to the New York Daily News and OK! magazine, with some of their photos fetching $550.

    "I lived here and I've seen celebrities every day of my life," Hewison told National Nine News. "Why not go out with a camera and shoot them and try to sell them?

    "For my age, that's good money."

    They skateboard around Hollywood's hottest spots and sometimes — if they're lucky — the pair might snatch a ride with one of their dads.

    "It's a controversial thing and some people are like, 'wow that's great you're supporting your kid'," Blaine's dad Robert said.

    "Others are like 'I can't believe you let your kid go out there with the paparazzi' and I'm just like, whatever."

    But their young age doesn't mean that they're getting treated any differently from any other hard-hitting paparazzo.

    A few months ago, singer Erykah Badu ripped a camera out of Visschedyk's hand and Hewison was pushed to the ground by a bouncer outside a trendy LA restaurant.

    But the pair are the talk of Tinseltown and, in a sign that they've reached the big leagues in Hollywood, plans are in the works for a documentary on the pint-sized photographers.

    Those kids need a good kick up the hole and told to cop on to themselves.


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