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Peeping Tom Photography Totally Legal, Judge Rules
By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 9, 2013
Modified Aug 9, 2013
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By
John Del Signore
Published Aug 9, 2013
Modified Aug 9, 2013
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You may now stand on the sidewalk outside your neighbors' apartment and take as many thrilling photos of them watching Netflix as your heart desires—and there's nothing they can do to stop you. Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Eileen Rakower ruled that a photographer who took a series of surreptitious photos of his neighbors across the street and exhibited them in a gallery had every legal right to do so.
Artist Arne Svenson was sued earlier this year by residents in a luxury apartment on Greenwich Street in Tribeca after they realized his solo show at the Julie Saul Gallery in Chelsea featured photos of them inside their homes, unwittingly participating in Svenson's art. "The neighbors don’t know they are being photographed; I carefully shoot from the shadows of my home into theirs," Svenson told the Post in May. “I am not unlike the birder, quietly waiting for hours, watching for the flutter of a hand or a movement of a curtain as an indication that there is life within.”
Martha and Matthew Foster sued Svenson to get possession of the photos, arguing that his work "shocks the conscience and is so out of keeping with the standards of morality in the community. They also asked the court to bar Svenson from ever displaying the images again. The photos, which don't show anyone's faces, sold briskly when they went on display earlier this year, with some prints going for $7,500 each.
But Manhattan Supreme Court Justice Eileen Rakower was not persuaded. "Art is considered free speech and is therefore protected by the First Amendment,” Rakower wrote in her ruling. "While it makes the [Fosters] cringe to think that their private lives and images of their small children can find their way into the public forum of an art exhibition, there is no redress under the current laws of the state of New York." That's right, this is the Empire State! You can photograph pretty much anything in public, even cops... though you may get arrested anyway.
Tagged
photographer's rights
photography is not a crime
John Del Signore
Originally from the Albany area, John Del Signore has called NYC home since 1995. In addition to his thousands of meticulously-crafted bespoke blog posts for Gothamist, his writing has also been published in The Awl, Deadspin, The Nervous Breakdown, and performed at The Brick Theater in Brooklyn.
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Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
Gothamist is funded by sponsors and member donations
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