Publicity photography minus the publicity

A few nights ago, I was assigned to photograph celebrities arriving for a fundraiser at an exclusive home in Toronto. The event had set up an arrivals area in a small parking lot off the front driveway of the home, (did I mention it was a large house?). The red carpet was nice and wide, and the area was covered, lit and heated. Perfect, considering it was a cold, dark November night.

The three largest wire services in the world were there specifically to photograph the two main celebrities attending. The headlining entertainer for the event would also make for a usable news photo. Other photo agencies and TV were there as well.

While waiting for the arrivals, we were told that the headlining act wouldn’t be doing pictures. Apparently the singer doesn’t even do his own sound checks. He has a sound-alike stand-in do the singing for the pre-show sound check. The performer was to arrive later in the evening, via a backdoor, just prior to his performance.

Okay, no big deal.

We were then told that one of the two main celebrities, the most famous (former) world heavyweight boxing champ, would also not be doing pictures. This was somewhat understandable due to his ongoing health concerns.

Strike two.

The other celebrity, the almost-richest-guy-in-the-world, arrived in a small bus along with a dozen or so colleagues. Due to a long line of arriving cars in the driveway, the bus stood idling right in front of the photographers for a few minutes. The event’s PR person leaned in the driver’s window and asked if the almost-richest-guy-in-the-world would step outside for a picture. The answer was “no.”

The PR person then tried to plead the case by saying it would take only a couple of minutes, no interviews were required and the photographers were just a few steps away. The answer was still “no.”

Strike three.

A wire photographer asked about letting the wires do a quick group photo of the famous host with the two main celebrity guests inside the front lobby of the home, (did I mention it was a large house?). The PR person checked and the answer was “no.”

Strike four.

Net result: no photos of the event in the next-day newspapers or web sites. Nothing.

Pictures of the two main celebrities would have guaranteed multi-country coverage for the international charity that’s trying to raise public awareness of its cause. A photo of the headlining performer would’ve also helped with that coverage.

Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, we live in a celebrity-mad world. Marketing and publicity folks know that if a celebrity is part of their event, media attendance is pretty much guaranteed. Sometimes this works very well because many celebrities are fantastic when it comes to meeting fans, signing autographs and posing for pictures.

But if you’re planning an event and your hopes of media coverage rely solely on a celebrity appearance, it might be wise to have a back-up plan.