View all newsletters
Sign up for our free email newsletters

Fighting for quality news media in the digital age.

  1. News
January 24, 2013

Mr Paparazzi is back: Darryn Lyons to launch new online celebrity photo agency

By Andrew Pugh

Self-styled 'Mr Paparazzi' Darryn Lyons is planning to launch a new online photo agency after buying back the assets of his former company Big Pictures.

Describing the new venture celebstock.com as a celebrity stock photographic agency, Lyons said it will charge users to access an “enormous archive” of 25 million images.

“It may be used by a basic blogger at home for $40, to [the] biggest publisher, possibly $20,000…” he told Australian magazine The Weekly Review.

“Photographers can upload and see their sales almost instantaneously. It’s a different price-point from Big Pictures.

“Big Pictures was charging anywhere between $250,000 to $1 million a picture.”

Shortly after Big Pictures went into administration in October 2012 Lyons bought back the assets – including its picture archive – via a new company called BPGG Limited for £164,000.

“I didn’t see the future in the current dinosaur that was Big Pictures,” he told the Review in an interview earlier this month. He continued:

Content from our partners
MHP Group's 30 To Watch awards for young journalists open for entries
How PA Media is helping newspapers make the digital transition
Publishing on the open web is broken, how generative AI could help fix it

I decided I’d kind of had enough. The global financial crisis had hit the business hard; I needed to restructure (it) …

The changes in the business, from privacy (laws) to GFC (global financial crisis) to dealing with a lot of people in the industry – it wasn’t me.

There was a scourge in the industry, an underbelly of the industry which didn’t appeal to me.

I changed my perspective in what I felt was ethical. It’s like any business. You always get your bad eggs. The whole industry needed – and has had – a major shake-up. I got very depressed that the celebrities used their images when it was right for them and then the next minute they’d sue you …

Lyons went on to boast of his wealth but insisted it was “immaterial”:

“My dream was to be a millionaire by the time I was 30,” he says. “I’ve made plenty and lost plenty. My life’s a roller-coaster whether I like it or not. I can be as successful in my own heart and mind with 20 cents as I can with tens of millions. Money buys you nice things, but I’ll be honest with you, it becomes extremely immaterial after a while.

My dad’s the absolute opposite of me in relation to material things. He drives around in his Nissan that I think has done 425,000 kilometres, and he loves his car, more than I love my Ferrari or my Lamborghini or my Range Rover.

Don’t get me wrong, I like having them. I don’t look at them as motor cars, particularly the two sports cars. I look at them as works of art. I’m a really arty person as you can see by the house. Whether it’s photography, whether it’s Warhol or beautiful pieces of art, I’m a great collector. I love collecting things that are special.

He later described himself as a “huge gambler” before admitting that over the last few years he had “lost a lot”, adding: “but I’m also totally convinced that I’ll have the biggest business in the world again.”

According to The Guardian, Big Pictures entered voluntary liquidation earlier this month owing more than £82,000 to photographers and other pictures agencies.

In evidence to the Leveson Inquiry last year Lyons said the agency handled 3,500 showbiz pictures a day from 152 freelance or paparazzi photographers around the world, as well as 29 full-time members of staff.

 

 

Topics in this article :

Email pged@pressgazette.co.uk to point out mistakes, provide story tips or send in a letter for publication on our "Letters Page" blog

Select and enter your email address Weekly insight into the big strategic issues affecting the future of the news industry. Essential reading for media leaders every Thursday. Your morning brew of news about the world of news from Press Gazette and elsewhere in the media. Sent at around 10am UK time. Our weekly does of strategic insight about the future of news media aimed at US readers. A fortnightly update from the front-line of news and advertising. Aimed at marketers and those involved in the advertising industry.
  • Business owner/co-owner
  • CEO
  • COO
  • CFO
  • CTO
  • Chairperson
  • Non-Exec Director
  • Other C-Suite
  • Managing Director
  • President/Partner
  • Senior Executive/SVP or Corporate VP or equivalent
  • Director or equivalent
  • Group or Senior Manager
  • Head of Department/Function
  • Manager
  • Non-manager
  • Retired
  • Other
Visit our privacy Policy for more information about our services, how New Statesman Media Group may use, process and share your personal data, including information on your rights in respect of your personal data and how you can unsubscribe from future marketing communications.
Thank you

Thanks for subscribing.

Websites in our network