Street Photography
Philip-Lorca took a random series of photographs of strangers passing in the street in Times Square for a period of two years and culminated in an exhibition of photographs called ''Heads'' at Pace MacGill Gallery. Erno Nussenzweig, an Orthodox Jew saw his picture in the exhibition catalog and sued Mr. diCorcia and Pace for exhibiting and publishing the portrait without permission and profiting from it financially. Mr. Nussenzweig argued that use of the photograph interfered with his constitutional right to practice his religion, which prohibits the use of graven images. The suit sought an injunction to halt sales and publication of the photograph, as well as $500,000 in compensatory damages and $1.5 million in punitive damages.
The suit was dismissed by a New York State Supreme Court judge who said that the photographer's right to artistic expression trumped the subject's privacy rights. New York state right-to-privacy laws prohibit the unauthorized use of a person's likeness for commercial purposes, that is, for advertising or purposes of trade. But they do not apply if the likeness is considered art.
The practice of street photography has a long tradition in the United States, with documentary and artistic strains, in big cities and small towns. Photographers usually must obtain permission to photograph on private property -- including restaurants and hotel lobbies -- but the freedom to photograph in public has long been taken for granted. And it has had a profound impact on the history of the medium. Without it, Lee Friedlander would not have roamed the streets of New York photographing strangers, and Walker Evans would never have produced his series of subway portraits in the 1940's.
From the New York Times Article
ART; The Theater of the Street, The Subject of the Photograph by Philip Gefter, published March 19, 2006