Ron Galella, an American photographer, and Bronx native has had his photographs in exhibitions in galleries and museums all over the world. San Francisco, New York, London and Berlin are among the cities where his work has been displayed.

 

Readers from around the globe have at one time or another have images of Ron Galella's camera embedded in their memory. His photography has appeared in major publications such as, Time, Rolling Stone, Life, People, Vogue, Vanity Fair and countless others.

 

 

 

 

Ron Galella is known for getting the perfect shot, even if it meant risks were involved. Getting the most extraordinary shot has gained the photographer notoriety by receiving blows, lawsuits and punches by some well-known famous people, and at times, by their security personnel.

 

Chinatown saw Galella's jaw punched by Marlon Brando, had his tires slashed by Elvis Presley's security detail while Elvis was in Queens, New York. Still, Ron got the shot.

 

 

 

 

 

 

His obsession with Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis landed him a lawsuit and a restraining order, it is reported he violated the terms of the restraining order several times. Galella was ordered to keep 150 feet away from Onassis and her children.

 

The restraining order was issued in the now famous 1972 Free Speech trial, Galella v. Onassis.

 

It was only after Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis passing that her son, John Kennedy Jr. allowed himself to photographed by the Godfather of the U.S. paparazzi culture, so named by Time Magazine.

 

In an interview, Galella is quoted as saying, “Marlon Brando knocked five teeth out of my mouth in 1973 when I asked him to take his sunglasses off." Galella further added, “One of my teeth was embedded in his hand which became infected. He has scars to this day.”

 

 

Aside from getting sued by Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, and on the receiving end of Bridget Bardot's bodyguards hosing him down with water, many cannot forget his own image captured following Marlon Brando, wearing a football helmet.

 

Certainly this was definitely an idea as a protective measure to keep from getting punched again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Another of his famous photos was of Onassis on October 3, 1971. The photo was known as "Windblown Jackie."

 

After numerous lawsuits and countersuits as notorious paparazzo Ron Galella and Jackie Kennedy Onassis faced off in federal court.

 

The New York Times reported that spectators lined up every morning for seats at the five-week trial that ended March 23, 1972. The Times declared it “the best off-Broadway show in town.” Saying that he was a photojournalist with a First Amendment right to photograph any public figure, Galella complained that she was interfering with his livelihood. Although Onassis denied it in court, Galella testified that she told her Secret Service detail to “smash his camera.”

 

She said he terrorized her and her children, relentlessly invading their privacy. But she always kept a “Galella smile” on her face.

 

“I try to keep smiling, to keep my head up, to be as normal as possible,” she explained, “Because I believe he wants to provoke me into an unusual position.”

 

After the judge ordered Galella to stay 50 yards away from Onassis and 75 yards from her children, he appealed, ending up with a 25-foot rule, one he admits he violated “a hundred times.” Another decade of legal wrangling would ensue before—facing jail and a $120,000 fine—he agreed never to photograph them again.

 

“I admit that I was obsessed with her because I loved photography and she was a great subject,” Galella says. The iconic “Windblown Jackie,” shot from a taxi in the fall of 1971, is his favorite.

 

“I call that shot my Mona Lisa shot, where it has all the qualities of the paparazzi approach, which is the off-guard, spontaneous picture,” Galella says.

 

Latest News About Ron Galella

 

Ron Galella X PhotoEspana

 

 Published on Friday

 

The Spanish photo festival teams up with luxury house Loewe for a retrospective on the celebrity snapper's collected work since the 1960s

 

Text by Charlotte Davey

PhotoEspana is Europe’s largest photo festival and has previously celebrated the work of artists such as Man Ray, Helmut Newton, and Andrewa Gursky. But this year it has teamed up with fashion brand Loewe to present a major exhibition of the works of celebrity photographer Ron Galella. The godfather of paparazzi photography, Galella has shaped modern celebrity culture with his, now iconic, candid photos of some of the worlds biggest stars. Since the 1960s, Galella has opened the private lives of celebrities, such as Jackie Kennedy, Andy Warhol, and Mick Jagger, to the public, and now Photo Espana and Loewe will do the same in this seminal retrospective.

Read the interview... [Click here]

 

Documentary - Smash His Camera

 

Smash His Camera is a 2010 documentary film directed by filmmaker Leon Gast about the life and career of paparazi photographer Ron Galella. In early 2010, the film won "Best Director" of a documentary at the Sundance Film Festival began a limited U.S. theatrical release on 30 July 2010 through Magnolia Pictures, shown on HBO.

 

Watch the HBO documentary trailer here:

 

Trailer

 

 

Photo Slide-show

 

 

Find more photos like this on Emerging Magazine

 

 

A list of exhibits for the photography of Ron Galella:

 

• PowerHouse Arena - Man in the Mirror: Michael Jackson by Ron Galella, January 7, 2009-February 14, 2009 Brooklyn, NY
• Lena Di Gangi Gallery - The Photographs of Ron Galella, December 5, 2009-January 31, 2010 Totawa, NJ
• Irish Museum of Modern Art - Picturing New York: Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art, November 25, 2009-February 7, 2010 Dublin, Ireland
• Centaur Theatre Company - Viva l'Italia, October 6, 2009-December 6, 2009 Montreal, Canada
• MART Museo di arte moderna e contemporanea di Trento e Rovereto - Picturing New York: Photographs from the Museum of Modern Art, July 11-October 11, 2009 Rovereto, Italy
• La Casa Encendida - March 28, 2009-June 14, 2009, Madrid, Spain
• Archeology Museum of Muro Lucano - Viva l'Italia, May 2009–Present
• Palazzo Lanfranchi, Carlo Levi Hall - Ron Galella: Italian Icons, May 2009-June 7, 2009 Matera, Italy
• Hamburger Bahnfof Museum Fur Gegenwart - Celebrities: Andy Warhol and the Stars October 2008-February 2009
• Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography - Pigozi and the Paparazzi, June 2008-November 2008 Berlin, Germany
• GMW Law Offices - Offguard: Ron Galella Photography, October 2008–Present Den Haag, Netherlands
• Staly-Wise Gallery - Warhol by Galella: That's Great!, May 2008–Present New York, New York
• Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen - Warhol by Galella: That's Great!, May 2008–Present Amsterdam, Netherlands
• The Hollywood Roosevelt HotelWarhol by Galella: That's Great!, May 2008–Present Hollywood, CA
• The Tate Modern Museum - Street + Stuido: An Urband History of Photography, May 2008-August 2008 London, England
• The Museum of Modern Art - Iconic Photos of Ron Galella acquired into collection, January 2008 New York, New York
• The Museum of Modern Art - Iconic Photos of Ron Galella acquired into collection, October 2007 New York, New York
• PowerHouse Arena - That 70's Show, March 2007-April 2007 Brooklyn, New York
• The Gershwin Hotel - February 2007-March 2007 New York, New York
• PowerHouse Arena - Warhol is Dead!, February 2007-March 2007
• Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen - Disco Years, December 2, 2006-January 6, 2007 Amsterdamn, Netherlands
• Buro Beelende Kunst Vlissinger Ron Galella: The One and Only Paparazzo, Brooklyn, New York
• Paul Kasmin Gallery - Disco Years, November 2005-January 2006 New York, New York
• PowerHouse Arena - Ron Galella: The Kennedy, New York, New York
• Kunstforum - Superstars: From Warhol to Madonna, October 2005-February 2006
• Ferragamo Gallery - Ron Galella Exclusive Diary: Caught Off-Guard, September 12, 2005-December 31, 2005 New York, New York
• Artelibro Festival of Art and Books - Ron Galella Exclusive Diary: Caught Off-Guard, September 22, 2005-September 26, 2005 Bologna, Italy
• Galerie Wouter van Leeuwen - The Photographs of Ron Galella, November 27, 2004-August 1, 2005, Amsterdamn, Netherlands
• Photology - Ron Galella Exclusive Diary, September 2004-November 2004 Milan, Italy
• Holt-Renfrew - Flick, September 2003-December 2003 Toronto, Canada
• Paul Kasmin Gallery - The Photographs of Ron Galella, June 2002-August 2002 New York, New York
• Andy Warhol Museum - Ron Galella Retrospective, June 2002-September 2002 Pittsburgh, PA
• Serge Sorokko Gallery, 1997 New York, New York
• Nikon Gallery, 1993 New York, New York
• Octagon Club, 1987 New York, New York
• William Lyons Gallery, 1980 Coconut Grove, Florida
• Union Carbide, 1977 New York, New York
• Rizzoli Gallery, 1976 New York, New York
• G. Ray Hawkins Gallery, 1976 New York, New York
• Soho Gallery, 1972 New York, New York