Artists Band Together to Fight Restrictions on Street Photography
http://www.picturenewyork.org

“Picture New York” Formed In Response to Mayor’s Plans to Limit Cameras

YouTube “Video Public Comments” to be Submitted to Mayor’s Office

NEW YORK CITY: Picture New York WITHOUT pictures of New York. In one of the most photographed cities in the world, photographers and filmmakers, both professional and amateur, would be shut down by proposed regulations making it illegal for them to film or tape in NYC without a permit and a million dollars of insurance.

An overnight, massive grassroots fight against these proposed regulations has sprung up under the name ‘Picture New York.’ Fighting back with YouTube videos, petitions, handwritten letters, a website, Flickr space and a rally and press conference this Friday in Union Square, this ad-hoc group of working artists, photographers and filmmakers vow to stop the regulations going into effect as scheduled in September from the Mayor’s Office of Film, Theatre, and Broadcasting (MOFTB).

Albert Maysles, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, and Amy Arbus are among the celebrated artists who have already signed on to demand the MOFTB extend the period of public comment, currently ending August 3, and eliminate the proposed regulations.

Jem Cohen, the critically-acclaimed filmmaker whose alarmed e-mail prompted an initial meeting of concerned filmmakers, says, “Because street photography is, by its very nature, inextricably born out of free and random movement through the city, street photographers cannot know exactly where and when they intend to work, or for how long. One cannot regulate an art form or activity by negating its very premise. The proposed rules, in refusing to recognize the spontaneity which is at the core of street photography, are untenable for that reason alone.”

“I already have a permit for my camera,” says another of the group’s founders, Beka Economopoulos. “It’s called the First Amendment.”

Since the Mayor’s Office of Film has asked for public comments, Picture New York has come up with a new form: the Video Public Comment. The first - perhaps ever - Video Public Comment has already been posted to YouTube by artist Juliana Luecking and more will follow. Picture New York wants to invite anyone who loves the city and their camera to make one and post it. (To learn how to make a Video Public Comment, please see the website at pictureny.org.)

The proposed regulations would affect much of the small scale filming and photography in the city. In addition to artists, those making Industrials, fashion, wedding and architectural photographs could need a permit. The regulations would require a permit for 5 people with one tripod who shoot for 10 minutes or more in one place. (And this would include set up and break down!). A film school graduate with a camcorder, four friends and a dream could have to pay comparable insurance fees with HBO to shoot in New York City. Even parents making home movies in public parks could fall under the new rules.

In the words of the Daily News, the regulations “are, in a word, nuts. . . They were written as if small bands of rogue photographers were running amok. And they won’t withstand court challenge unless the cops come down equally on everyone taking pictures, including mom and dad filming junior and pals at the playground.” The conservative New York Sun agrees: “It would be a sad day if New York became a place where a family has to get a permit before making a home video.”

The proposed rules are reminiscent of the MTA’s failed attempt to ban photography in the subways two years ago. “If we can take photographs underground without permits,” points out television producer Susan Marcoux, “we certainly should be able to take them above ground.”

“This is micro-management of public space taken to an absurd level. What are the police going to do – time people holding cameras?” asks Eileen Clancy of I-Witness Video who has written about conflicts between police and camera people after September 11th. “These new rules give the police another excuse to arrest anybody they don’t like with a camera.”

These regulations violate the First Amendment right to photograph in public places, points out the NYCLU, and follow a slew of recent laws that already restrict rights in New York City to parade, dance, meet, bike, shout, and assemble. Draconian noise ordinances and the new parade and assembly laws make constitutionally-protected dissent almost impossible. Now, with regulations on street photography, New York City adds yet another infringement on civil liberties and free expression.