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Art Or Invasion Of Privacy? 'Parksideav' Instagram Page Draws Mixed Reactions

NEW YORK(CBSNewYork) -- Picture this; you're walking around the city, minding your own business, and then later discover someone was taking pictures of you and posting them.

The photographer calls it art, but is it an invasion of privacy?

To the surprise of a Brooklyn delivery man, a photo of him has surfaced on the Instagram page Parksideave, but he has no idea who took it or why.

"I think that's not right because I didn't approve of that," he said.

While other pages like Humans Of New York have been tremendously successful with uploading photos of random people on social media, the user behind the instagram page is not telling people he's taking their pictures.

"That's kind of weird. That's awkward," Danielia Soares said.

The man behind the posts is taking the pictures as people walk by the Parkside Ave subway stop, but he wouldn't tell CBS2 exactly where he's standing.

He declined an on camera interview, saying it's art and, "I do not have any bad intentions -- let that be clear. I only want to capture the beauty and ugliness of life as it happens and share it with the world."

"It's artistic. It's kind of interesting because the people who are posing are just doing banal things," Whitney Harris said.

The oldest photo was uploaded to the page in June, and ever since then, more than 100 pictures have been posted.

That includes four pictures of CBS2's John Dias -- along with a video -- and a CBS2 cameraman.

Attorney Blake Morris said what the man is doing is legal, it's a freedom of expression, he just can't make money off the pictures.

"The artist would not be allowed to sell your image or your likeness in trade or commerce," he said.

Is it are, or invasion of privacy? That's for you to decide, but be sure to smile the next time you walk by that Brooklyn corner.

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