For paparazzi, the whisper of a star's presence is like blood in the water to a shark.

And even though spotting stars in Park City during Sundance Film Festival is like shooting fish in a barrel, paparazzi catch the celebrity scent in other places.

A few unassuming "papos," as Sundance volunteers call them, were at Salt Lake City International Airport on the festival's second day, unaware that two films premiering at the festival this year put the focus on their profession.

L.A. based paparazzi Juan Sharma and Eric Brogmus snapped pictures of actors at the Delta baggage claim, including Chris Cooper of "Adaptation" fame and Bob Saget from "Full House."

"I usually stay [far] away in the beginning to get some good distance shots, but after that I let [the stars] know that I'm there," Brogmus said. "I figure the more upfront I am about it, the better shot I'll get."

When asked if his nice behavior is a far cry from that of standard paparazzi, Brogmus said he treats stars like regular people -- whose pictures sell for thousands of dollars.

He did say that many stars aren't as gracious as Cooper about having their picture taken. Shia LaBeouf ("Transformers") once threw a cup of coffee on Brogmus' feet, he said.

Adrian Grenier, star of the HBO show "Entourage," will make his directorial debut at Sundance with a film titled "Teenage Paparazzo." In the film, he explores America's preoccupation with fame as well as a relationship with a 13-year-old paparazzo who snapped a picture of Grenier. "Celebrities can feel objectified because paps don't see them as people, and they see them as their 'bread and butter,' '' Grenier said.

Sundance volunteers at the airport, who help stars arrange transportation, say paparazzi are merciless when it comes to getting shots of the glitterati.

One volunteer said a paparazzo told him some secrets of the trade: One paparazzo bought a ticket on the cheapest departing flight to get past security to the boarding area to get shots of stars deboarding. He snapped a few pictures and e-mailed them to a colleague outside in a van, who printed the pictures and gave them back to the paparazzo, who then at the baggage claim had the star sign the very pictures he took moments before, and sold them on eBay.

Leon Gast, the award-winning director of the Muhammad Ali documentary "When We Were Kings," is returning to the Sundance Film Festival this year with a documentary about pioneering paparazzo Ron Gaella.

Gast said when he was approached with the idea of a film about Gaella, he resisted, because he only knew Gaella through newspaper stories that called Gaella a stalker by hounding celebrities such as Jacqueline Onassis, Steve McQueen and Marlon Brando. After meeting Gaella and making the film, Gast changed his opinion, and now sees some paparazzi as artists.

"He took the most beautiful photos of Mrs. Kennedy that I have even seen."

In his film, Grenier even stepped into the shoes of the paparazzi to see how it felt to be on the other end of the camera as a way to help explain what he calls "the celebrity media phenomenon."

agreenleigh@sltrib.com dburger@sltrib.com