NYC rally for photographers' rights this evening

Heads up and fingers to the shutter buttons, New Yorkers: this evening, a protest you can get behind - behind a camera, preferably – is going down at Union Square. Angry photographers, videographers and sympathizers of the former two parties are gathering to rally against proposed legislation by Mayor Bloomburg’s Office of Film, Theatre and Broadcasting that could, according to the New York Times, greatly restrict amateur photographers and filmmakers

“New rules … would require any group of two or more people who want to use a camera in a single public location for more than a half hour to get a city permit and ($1 million liability) insurance,” reports the Times “The same requirements would apply to any group of five or more people who plan to use a tripod in a public location for more than 10 minutes, including the time it takes to set up the equipment.”

The New York Civil Liberty Union says enthusiastic YouTubers (video originally spotlighted by Village Voice) and the like could, indeed, face penalties from the measure.

Organized by the Picture New York Without Pictures Coalition, the protest begins at 6:30 p.m. and will include input from Rev. Billy and the Stop Shopping Gospel Choir and others. The Picture New York website reports that Albert Maysles, Patti Smith and Michael Stipe are among many respected artists who explicitly demand the Mayor’s Office extend the period of public comment and eliminate the “11 pages of single-spaced rules where none existed before.”

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