Subjects of Viral Photo Now Suing Photographer That Billed Them

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We brought you a story the other day about how a couple used a viral photo featuring themselves as a Christmas card, garnering an invoice from the original photographer.

Photo by Алексей Васильев from Pexels.

Now the McCloskeys are suing the photographer and are alleging that the photographer was trespassing at the time the photo was taken.

Boy, that escalated quickly – much as we had predicted.

As news website KCRG points out, the law protects photographers who want to take pictures from public rights of way.

Yet, as the McCloskeys argue that it was private property and thus the law about public rights of way doesn’t apply in this case.

The McCloskeys are also arguing that Greenblatt’s photo helped draw them into the public spotlight and make the public figures against their wishes. Further, they point out that the photographer Greenblatt as well as UPI and Redbubble are making money off of their likenesses with merchandise bearing the photograph.

The McCloskeys came to prominence when the photo of them holding guns outside of their St. Louis home went viral. It was captured during a protest and became emblematic of certain energies going on in the United States at the time.

As for the photographer, Greenblatt, he has not released any comment to the press about the McCloskeys lawsuit, KCRG is reporting, and referred any questions to Red Bubble and UPI.

If you didn’t catch our original story, you can read that here. The KCRG report confirms that Greenblatt and UPI and Red Bubble are still considering whether or not to issue a cease-and-desist order to the McCloskeys over the holiday card.

What do you think of this story? Let us know what you think in the comments section below if you like.

And before you leave, be sure to check out our other photography news articles on Light Stalking by clicking this link here.

[KRCG]

About Author

Kehl is our staff photography news writer since 2017 and has over a decade of experience in online media and publishing and you can get to know him better here and follow him on Insta.

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