THE FAME GAME

THE FAME GAME: LOOKING AT FAME, CELEBRITY, OUR CULTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY


Hello magazine was launched in 1984 in Spain, and in the UK in 1988, at a time people were beginning to be obsessed with the private lives of celebrities. Hello differs from its rivals, such as OK! by being more respectful and not offering any real gossip.
It claims to have good relationships with celebrities and often dedicates over six-eight pages to one couple. The coverage will depend on their fame, as will Hello’s payment for exclusive rights. For features Hello covers weddings, new babies and houses: for news they will buy in any one-off shot of a celebrities, perhaps in the street or at a party. If it has the rights, Hello then sell them on, with priority probably given to its 14 other editions and seven websites.
The magazine was taken to court over taking photographs secretly (the photographer was disguised as a waiter) of the wedding of Catherine Zeta Jones and Michael Douglas, who had signed an exclusive deal with rivals OK!
It is a rather sad that today we are obsessed by celebrities culture. Many young people want to become famous for fames sake as can be seen on TV rogrammes like Big Brother, Britain’s Got Talent etc. It may be that curiosity, aspiration or plain nosiness results in people buying a magazine in order to see inside the home of a celebrity or pictures of their new baby but the fact is over 2,044,000 buy Hello magazine. It has also created more demand for paparazzi photographs and from the public, (where everyone can now send a photograph from their mobile) so privacy becomes a major issue for anyone famous. Hello actually asks the public to send in pictures, though they have to be at least 600dpi.
The front cover is often several photographs, so attracting more readers. This cover shows Kate Middleton, Kate Moss and Zara Phillips (with chocolate bar offer).

http://www.jules-photographer.com/2009/05/6-pages-in-hello-magazine/
http://www.ianjonesphoto.co.uk/recent-work/hello-magazine-covers.htm
http://www.mikedaines-photography.co.uk/gallery-list
http://www.ianturnerphotography.com/home.htm
http://blog.helenjonesphotography.co.uk/?p=37