Pierluigi Praturlon began his career as a photo-journalist, but got his first taste of paparazzi-style photography in 1947 when, by chance, he happened to catch reclusive starlet Greta Garbo on film in Rome. Jean-Luc Godard chose Secchiaroli as the on-set photographer for the film Le Mepris, and the resulting shots of Brigitte Bardot are simultaneously voyeuristic and intimate, hinting at the beginning of an era where celebrities would work in collusion with the paparazzi. The tenacious figure of Paparazzo gave us the term that is so familiar today, and boosted Secchiaroli’s career to the extent that filmmakers and stars began hiring him as their personal photographer. Secchiaroli garnered such a prominent reputation for his aggressive style that Italian film director and screenwriter Federico Fellini based the news photographer character 'Paparazzo' on him in the 1960 Italian comedy-drama La Dolce Vita.
The ever-present sense of dynamism in the photographs was no doubt intentional, as he sped around Rome on his Vespa chasing celebrities for the elusive shot. His idea to sell photographs of celebrities to newspapers stemmed from the desire to make a bigger profit, and he began to stage uncomfortable confrontations with his celebrity prey. Italian practitioner Tazio Secchiaroli took his first photograph in 1941, capturing tourists and American soldiers on the streets of Rome.
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