The death of Lady Diana and the end of the golden age of the paparazzi
The photos of Lady Diana's death have been confiscated and have never been published. Invisible imagery that helped create a myth and marked the end of the golden age of the paparazzi. Paradoxically, the "people" have since continued to invade the media world more and more.
A black car wreck, but no photos of the bodies, even hidden under a blanket. The photos of Lady Diana's death are confiscated by the police. Those which escape their vigilance will never be published. The scene will feed the imagination and seal the end of the golden age of the paparazzi.
Lady Diana's death
It was a banal road accident, in the middle of Paris, caused by excessive speed. It is 12:25 am, it is the night of August 30 to 31, 1997, the Mercedes-Benz smashes against a pillar of the Pont de l'Alma tunnel.
Jacques Langevin, photographer and senior reporter, known for his coverage of the events of Tiananmen in China, was present at the scene of the accident.
I worked for the Sygma agency. Every weekend, photographers were on duty, supposed to leave immediately if something happened. The story of Diana and Dodi Al-Fayed had lasted for almost a month on the French Riviera, it had become a soap opera. Jacques Langevin
We quickly learn that Dodi Al Fayed, eldest son of Egyptian billionaire Mohammed Al-Fayed, died instantly, along with the man driving the car. But only one information matters: the fate of the princess.
Diana Spencer, whose marriage had attracted 750 million viewers around the world. Lady Diana, recently divorced from Prince Charles, who had just arrived from Saint-Tropez, tanned, radiant, where she had openly displayed her happiness in front of the people press. Photography was his weapon of choice in rebelling against the English Crown.
The worst part is that Diana was only asking for that. He needed photographers. I, who was in Saint-Tropez, saw thirty Englishmen on a boat that she greeted every morning when she left Dodi's. Daniel Angeli
As soon as the news broke, the photographers following the car were accused. Seven of them are taken to the police station, questioned by the criminal squad. The car was fleeing from "the pack," the television news immediately launched. The paparazzi are accused of causing the accident, and even of taking pictures of Diana dying. Photography, therefore doubly responsible: covered with opprobrium, it is accused of an immoral practice.
Paris-Match, for example, has always made celebrity covers. This is how you sell a magazine, and not with news. Jacques Langevin
We owe the term paparazzi to the emblematic character of Paparazzo in the film La Dolce Vita by Federico Fellini. The cinema will continue to forge the image of the paparazzi, photographer backpacker, perceived as a thug.
For Alain Genestar, former director of Paris-Match and current director of Polka Magazine, the paparazzi is to be distinguished from the celebrity journalist: “the paparazzi seeks some form of information, while the celebrity journalist will often highlight a star. He's going to do the red carpet, that doesn't have much to do with it. With the paparazzi, there is this notion of risk, sometimes even physical ”.
It is true that there is a change of epoch at the end of the 90s, which corresponds less to the dramatic death of Diana than to a profession and a company which evolve, because the paparazzades and the paparazzi do not s do not stop at all. Here, which started out as a family journal, became in 1997 the Here you know. Closer, a newspaper inspired by the English press, was born in 2005. When I arrived at Paris-Match in 1999, I stayed there for seven years. In the end there were very strong rivalries, including in terms of price. Alain Genestar
Behind the scenes of a paparazzi photo
Daniel Angeli is nicknamed the "king" of the paparazzi. He made his biggest blow in 1992 with a series on the Duchess of York, Sarah Ferguson, pictured in Saint-Tropez with her lover. This revelation will spell her separation from Prince Andrew.
I was going where the stars were going. I was doing seasons. I rented a house in Saint-Tropez because everyone went there in the summer, and a chalet in Gstaad in the winter. Then, at the start of the school year, when the theaters started, I returned to Paris. (…) It was not unpleasant this job, done in this way. We weren't always on shots like Diana's, which went wrong. I made friendships on hideouts, with Mathilde Seigner for example. Daniel Angeli
On the side of the press bosses, recovering a paparazzi photo leads to a deliberation: to decide to publish, or not.
The first criterion (to decide to publish a document, editor's note) is its honesty, its authenticity, as well as the dignity of what the photo represents. We do not publish just anything. At Paris-Match, as in all the big picture magazines, there are a lot of photos coming in, even more now with modern technologies. There is therefore a selection according to the interest in relation to the public and in relation to the newspaper. Alain Genestar
Before publishing a photo, you are obliged to analyze all its consequences, whether it is part of the big report, of the war report, with all that that represents in terms of legal or physical risks, or of the people (...) . What always wins are two criteria placed on an equal footing: information and what the image represents, if it is destructive. Alain Genestar
From irreverence to reverence
Paparazzi photography can also serve interests. Alain Genestar takes the example of the Principality of Monaco, an enclave of 200 hectares on the Côte d'Azur, which Americans know better than France.
All the communication organized by the Rock was in the form of people press. This has greatly benefited the notoriety and therefore the price per square meter in Monaco. It is a star place of the world and photography has highlighted this place. Alain Genestar
Another example on the French side, President Emmanuel Macron brought paparazzi "popess" Michelle Marchand to the Elysée.
