Santiago Baez has been a paparazzo since the early 1990s. Camera in hand, he’s witnessed the fallout of extramarital affairs, new babies, deaths, new love and breakups of some of New York’s most famous residents.

For paparazzi like Baez, earning a living requires an encyclopedic knowledge of where famous people live in New York, as well as a network of drivers, and shop and restaurant workers who call in tips when they spot celebrities in the vicinity. Often, the tips are from the celebrities themselves via social media: looking to build a following, they alert the public (mostly directed at photographers) about their movements, or their publicist will call an agency to dispatch a photographer.

Most pictures aren’t worth much, but a shot of a new baby, a celebrity kissing a new paramour, or a wedding can change fortunes overnight.

But Baez’s income is not dependably constant. His success balances his training and knowledge of celebrities with the crushing awareness that his earnings are remarkably variable and unpredictable.

The ‘paparazzi gold rush’

These fortunes are determined by a handful of people like Peter Grossman, the photo editor at Us Weekly from 2003 to 2017. But Grossman didn’t work with paparazzi directly; instead, a photographer like Baez sells his pictures to an agency that has the relationship with photo editors like Grossman. A paparazzo receives anywhere between 20% and 70% of the royalties the picture earns, depending on the photographer and the deal he or she negotiated with the agency. The more senior, skilled, and talented paparazzi command better terms, which often includes exclusively selling their pictures to just one agency.