Stealing candy from a baby

Photographer gives children lollipops, steals them back and then snaps the ensuing outrage.

The results have provoked a storm of criticism from internet bloggers. "Jill Greenberg is a sick woman who should be arrested and charged with child abuse," wrote Andrew Peterson on the Thomas Hawk blog.

"It seems absurd that any parent who loved their child would purposefully take their children to Greenberg's studio to then be tormented to the point of emotional outrage."

Peterson's post was soon picked up by other bloggers, and the furore over the pictures spread to popular photography and discussion sites such as Flickr and BoingBoing. American Photo magazine labelled the exhibition the most controversial of the year and a scandal was born.

Greenberg has defended herself, telling the Los Angeles Times: "I've never done anything awful in my life. Pictures of crying children are upsetting, powerful. There is something instinctual that makes you want to protect them ... But people are taking the pictures literally, as if they are evidence of awful things happening to these kids."

Slideshow here.