Subscribe | UPI Odd Newsletter Subscribe NEW YORK, July 28 (UPI) -- A Manhattan judge ruled that Harlem undertaker Isaiah Owens and relatives of those he worked with have no say in the financial gains of a noted photographer. The New York Daily News reported that Owens had not signed a contract with Elizabeth Heyert, who is known for her photographs of elegantly dressed corpses. Advertisement Owens has spent the past 30 years making the recently-deceased look nice with makeup and elegant clothes. After learning of the work Owen did, Heyert reportedly approached him with an idea for an exhibit called "The Travelers," the newspaper said. However, Owens said that Heyert did not want him to sign any contract. Owens had asked the relatives of the dead for permission to use certain pictures, but he said three families refused to grant permission. "She saw she could run off and make some money," said Owens, 55. "It's totally disrespectful of the people, more than it is of me." Some of Heyert's previous work is in a permanent collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Her lawyer did not return calls for comment.
