Hunt is on for post-crash Tiger Woods photos
December 15, 2009
NEW YORK (AP)—The hunt for Tiger Woods is on, or at least the firstphotographs of the golf superstar since his late-night car crash and damagingnews of his marital problems.
The winner of 14 majors has virtually disappeared since driving his SUV intoa tree during a bizarre accident outside his Orlando-area home last month. Hiswife, Elin Nordegren, has also laid low, though photos of her surfaced thisweek, her hand showing no sign of a wedding ring.
Except for a few posts on his Web site, where Woods apologized for“transgressions” and said he was taking an indefinite leave from golf, theworld’s best player has gone underground. And that, of course, has driven up themarket value for his photographs.
“He’s on top of the list,” said famed paparazzo Ron Galella, who once hadhis jaw broken by Marlon Brando and is the subject of a documentary byOscar-winning director Leon Gast that will premiere at the 2010 Sundance FilmFestival.
“The only bigger one would be Brad Pitt with Jennifer Aniston, his formerwife, if they ever got together,” Galella said. “Tiger is hot now.”
The word paparazzi comes from a character in the film “La Dolce Vita,”although they often make life anything but sweet for athletes and celebrities.
Some of them go to lawbreaking lengths to get the exclusive shot, scalingwalls, hanging out of trees, and even chartering helicopters if it means gettinga picture of something within a gated community—one such as Isleworth, whereWoods and his family have their home.
The value of the photographs depends on several factors, said Frank Griffinof the Bauer-Griffin Agency, including things like quality and setting. If thepicture were of Woods crying or contrite, it would be more valuable than one ofhim smiling.
Timing is also an issue, because many tabloids and celebrity magazines havemaxed out their budgets for the year. A photograph that surfaces in a few weeksmight generate more money.
The most expensive celebrity shots, according to a ranking by Forbes, werefor the twins born to Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt. The photos brought in about$14 million, although the couple allowed the photographer access in exchange fora donation to charity.
“Today my guys in Orlando get (Tiger) in the backyard, his head down, Iwould say $10,000 apiece,” said Francois Navarre, who runs the X-17 photoagency. “Worldwide, I would probably make about $100,000. Now, if we get himwith his wife, you can double that or more.”
A picture of Elin without a ring like the ones circulating on the Web mightonly fetch $20,000, according to people familiar with the industry, whilecurrent pictures of Tiger and Elin together could demand six figures. Aphotograph that shows Tiger with one of his alleged mistresses has the potentialto bring hundreds of thousands.
“It would have to be some clever marketing, and it would have to beworldwide,” said Griffin, whose firm is considered one of the more establishedin the business. “A picture of Tiger Woods with a tooth missing being chased by12 blonde females wielding golf clubs, name your price.
“Tiger Woods is a sad story,” Griffin added. “It makes people unhappy tosee that. The purpose of tabloid journalism has always been to cheer people.”
That doesn’t mean there isn’t plenty of interest driving the Tiger Woodsdrama.
Yahoo Inc. chief executive Carol Bartz told financial analysts last weekthat the story was “better than Michael Jackson dying” for helping the companysell advertising. “It’s kind of hard to put up an ad next to a funeral,” shesaid.
Yahoo reported that searches for Woods’ name were up more than 3,900 percentover the last 30 days, and Google Inc. said it also has seen a significantspike. Time Inc. said traffic to its Golf.com Web site has increased 600 percentsince news of Woods’ car accident broke.
“It’s the biggest story of the year, even bigger than Michael Jackson andRihanna—those are the three biggest dramas,” Navarre said. “Tiger Woods istwice bigger, and it’s going on and on. Usually we have a peak and it goes down,but right now it’s like a plateau.”
AP National Entertainment Photo Editor Guinevere Smith contributed to thisreport.
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