In one of my last posts I had joked about how nice it would be to have a professional photographer following you around, not in a weird way, but to capture all of your dayʼs greatest moments. I say I “joked” about it because it did seem a little frivolous the idea of hiring someone to take pictures of you outside of special events or sessions. However, I guess I spoke too soon! There was an story on the news the other morning that I heard a little bit of, and later read up on online. It was the growing trend of hiring vacation “paparazzi” for your trips. Sound familiar?
Basically, the idea is that you and your family hire a photographer to come on vacation with you, and instead of having a posed session at the beach, the professional uses their talents to capture the great natural and candid moments that happen on any vacation. When I first started reading I almost couldnʼt believe this was considered a “trend”, meaning that itʼs becoming a popular thing to do. However, I did realize that they had a point–why spend a lot of time and money planning a vacation if youʼre not going to give it decent photo credit? You could spend thousands of dollars going to the Bahamas, a cruise, or Europe, but end up keeping all your memories on a camera that may lack the quality that the photos should have. More realistically, iPhones and other smart phones are quickly becoming the go-to camera for most people.
Besides the fact that the prints you get to keep will meet professional standards, you also donʼt have to deal with one person always being left out of the picture, asking a stranger and hoping they do a decent job, or the dreaded awkward self-timer pictures. Additionally, itʼs a great opportunity for capturing candid moments which can often times turn out more perfect than any posed photo.
However great the idea sounds, I couldnʼt help but think of some of the negatives that would go along with that. Having a photographer around all the time does give off the illusion of having a paparazzi follow you around. And although it might be cool to be that famous, just for a day, I can understand that not everybody on a family vacation would be comfortable or be able to act natural if they knew someone could be snapping away at any minute. Of course, thereʼs the cost as well. Paying for a photo session is well worth the cost for your own personal reasons or events, but now youʼre adding a whole other person onto your vacation bill. From what Iʼve seen so far, the packages can range from a few hundred dollars to several thousand!
So, maybe my off-handed joke shouldnʼt have been a joke at all. Despite some of the concerns that come with bringing a photographer on your next vacation, the outcome could be really spectacular and change the way you remember vacations. What do you all think of the idea? Price aside, would you be okay having an (invited) paparazzi on vacation with you?