Rachael Ray and the "Dealers"

The other day when I was taking my photos of Rachael Ray's book signing in Philadelphia, I noticed there were other people working RR too. Whenever you see a guy carrying a USPS envelope there's a good chance he is an autograph dealer, collecting (or racking as they call it) to either sell on Ebay or to sell to a reseller who will sell them. As I mentioned before, Rach announced to her fans, and there were handouts that stated "NO PHOTOS WITH RR, but she will pose with CHILDREN", if you wanted a photo you had to take a candid one where Rachael wasn't going to look up. The dealers would have none of that, as persistent as they are getting their 'graphs, they are equally persistent if they want a "photo with". During this series of photos the guy leaning across the table is constantly saying, Rachael just look up and smile. C'monShe replies, with head slightly up, but with her eyes still looking down and with her best Mary Poppins polite, but firm tone. No photos, just candids, I am not looking up, I have a lot of books to sign, another signing tonight and I was late. They were still persistent as he continued to lean in, and she continued to sign the books stating "What's your name?", their reply "Oh don't personalize it, I don't know who I am going to give it to yet"

Finally Ratch looks up, look guys if I give you the photo I have to give it to everyone else who askes. And the guy missed the shot. RR knew what she had to do to get rid of them and gave them the picture. As they were packing up, I noticed one of their girlfriends waiting for them in the wings. I noticed she was holding photo paper signed by Rachael Ray. With this close up you can see the sheets. The dealers get the sheets signed and then they print out the celebrities photo on top, and the signature still comes out perfect on top of the photo. Most of the "in the know" celebrities refuse to sign blank photo paper as they would rather choose which photos are put with their signature.I am not opposed to "Dealers" as they are providing a service to the fans that don't have access to the celebrities, what I am disturbed by is how some of them can be rude and disrespectful. Yesterday an incident was posted on TMZ.com regarding Taye Diggs stating he was rude to a fan, but in actuality he wasn't a fan but probably an aggressive dealer as Taye had already signed 2 things for him. The guy wanted more signed and Taye called him a parasite. See the video at the link below.

http://www.tmz.com/2006/12/19/taye-rips-penarazzi-youre-a-parasite/