Some of my favorite artists have banded together to fight restrictions on street photography in New York. Albert Maysele (Grey Gardens, hello?), Patti Smith, Amy Arbus (daughter of and a good photographer in her own right, REM’s Michael Stipe, Jem Cohen (who photographed Teen Spirit when he was one week old for a REM music video: REALLY). On Friday, July 27, 2007, there will be a First Amendment Rally with Reverend Billy north end of Union Square Park. That’s TODAY>

NEW YORK CITY: Picture New York WITHOUT pictures of New York. The most
photographed city in the world is about to be shut down visually by
proposed regulations which would basically make it illegal 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: 11 pages of single-spaced rules
where none existed before.

Jem Cohen, the critically-acclaimed filmmaker whose alarmed e-mail
prompted the first formal 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.”…

MORE INFO:
For Immediate Release
Contacts:
Lisa Guido (917) 573-2282
Julie Talen (through July 31) (212) 226-4651
www.picturenewyork.org
info@picturenewyork.org