Man secretly photographed neighbors for art exhibit

NEW YORK

They say a photographer has been secretly taking pictures of them through their windows.

Now the residents are trying to figure out their next move.

"I was just a little creeped out," said Clifford Finn, a TriBeCa resident.

It's an up close look into the lives of New Yorkers, precisely why those featured in these intimate pictures are so upset, furious because, at the time, they had no idea they were being photographed.

Clifford Finn was photographed.

"It made me realize that someone's been watching me and photographing without knowing," Finn said.

That somebody, Arne Svenson, lives right across the street.

"The Neighbors", focuses on a TriBeCa building with floor to ceiling windows.

John Frattalone runs a business in the ground floor space.

"If I had been the subject, I would have been horrified to discover this was going on and then pleasantly surprised when I saw how tasteful the photos would be," said John Frattalone, of LED Lab.

Still he feels Svenson should have shown those in the photos the pieces before going to market. The images are selling for thousands of dollars.

Clifford, a father of two, tells Eyewitness News his biggest concern is that some photos, though no face is shown, are clearly of children.

"What about all the other images he's snapped over a year, that no one has seen, so who knows," Finn said.

Eyewitness News tried to find out but Svenson was a bit camera shy.

Some in the building are considering legal action against their eagle eyed neighbor but experts say it's a grey area.

Svenson has gone on record saying privacy is not an issue, and that his subjects are "performing behind a transparent scrim on a stage of their own creation with the curtain raised high".

"Me, myself, I'm fine, you can photograph me nude, dressed whatever you want I'm good with it," said Edwin Pabon, a TriBeCa resident.

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