ATTEND THE TALE OF SWEENEY TODD with Johnny Depp and Tim Burton: A Fan's Perspective

A Confessions of a Paparazzi and big time Johnny Depp fan, Kurt, sent along his tale of attending the Sweeney Todd movie premiere at the Ziegfeld in New York City on that cold and windy Monday night. Here they are preparing the red carpet. The guy in the center is head of security for the Red Carpet, I have seen him before. The round white machine, to the left of the guy with the blue hat, is the heater. These contraption line the "Red Carpet" in the winter usually limiting the space for photographers. But they do a good job at keeping the guests on the Red Carpet warm, especially the ladies who often come without coats so the paparazzi can get the "Fashion shot"

Sadly for the fans, they have to stay across the street and watch the proceedings from there. In the summer the premieres are tentless, and its much easier to see the stars. Kurt writes: My wife and I made it to the premiere in plenty of time to get a good spot on the barricades. We only had to move three times before the tent contractors could decide where they would park their trucks. At one point we were told that Johnny Depp might spend as much as an hour signing autographs but he was late, as usual, and had to rush through the 'general public' portion of his activities until he had to go inside to do the video interviews. (I myself am getting excited just viewing this shot, as you know Johnny is in there somewhere coming our way) A lucky fan, I bet Kurt's with got a chance to feel the charisma of Johnny Depp I got this shot as Johnny approached where we were standing. It is probably my best shot as the flash in most of the remaining shots was even more shaded by that #$!^&* paper on the left. (I say its the best one could hope for, JD doesn't have time to look up, plus there's a paper cut hazard with all the autograzzi's vying for his signature at $50 a pop they can make) and then he's gone. I am sure Kurt and his wife felt the surge of the crowd move to the right. The autograzzi's can not give up, they will follow the celeb to the end of the line because they need to get the 'graphs.and in a flash its over for the fans, and onto the Red Carpet and the blinding flashes. Looking at this picture makes me happy that a fan like Kurt would share these shots with us. Hands down the most creative shot I have seen in a while. First of all as a photographer, I didn't miss attending this event. Although I am a Johnny Depp fan, I am not a cold outdoorsy fan. Thanks Kurt for sharing the night with us. Now on to Kurt's wrap-up.Kurt states: Interesting in its own right, I think, but no where near saleable. We were not close enough to get the numbers from the car Johnny arrived in to see where it was parked or know when it went around the corner to pick up Johnny and Keith Richards. That would have been some shot! Fortunately, one of the two WENN photogs did notice and got those shots. He was kind enough to show them to us before we finally had to get out of the cold. In any event, my wife got her autograph and I learned a little more about what it takes to take a decent photograph under these circumstances. Maybe if I used one of those huge umbrellas for the flash I wouldn't have so many people trying to reach passed me and blocking my shots. (Yeah, right!) Thanks again for all of your advice regarding shooting at the Ziegfeld and may your sale to Us Weekly be the first of many more!

If you would like to share your celebrity photographs and story with Confessions of a Paparazzi, just drop me a note. Also in the future I will begin posting about events where you can see your favorite celebrities, maybe it will encourage you to send the shots to me and I can stay in my warm house while you cover the event, just until spring. Thanks HughE (Editors Note: i just received additional photos from another fan and will be posting them tonight. So remember send me your photos, and your story, if you want a link to your personal site, or even your photo published I will do anything so that this is mutually benefitting.)