Garry Gross | Photographer, 73

Garry Gross, 73, a fashion photographer known for his 1970s nude images of Brooke Shields, taken when she was 10, has died in Manhattan, his sister said Tuesday.

Linda Gross said he died Nov. 30 of a heart attack at his Greenwich Village home.

Though Mr. Gross earned his reputation as a celebrity image-maker - his pictures were on the covers of albums by Whitney Houston and Lou Reed - in 2002 he switched careers and became certified as a dog trainer.

But it was the 1970s images of Shields that permanently marked his career.

In 1975, the actress' mother, Teri Shields, allowed her daughter, then a child model, to be photographed nude for a Playboy Press publication. The Shieldses earned $450 for the shoot, which included a full-frontal nude image of the girl standing in a bathtub.

When Brooke Shields' acting career took off years later, she said she was embarrassed by the continued circulation of the images. At 17, she sued Mr. Gross to stop him from selling them.

A lower court granted her an injunction, but the New York State Court of Appeals decided, 4-3, that the teenager could not break the contract signed by her mother.

Jane Feldman, who managed the studio where the photographs of Shields were taken, said they were part of a series intended to explore young females coming of age. "Garry saw it as art," she said. "It's an exploration, but it was done with great respect," she added. - AP