A Los Angeles photography agency has launched an art exhibit billed as the first of its kind using paparazzi photos.

Paparazzi as an Art Form is a one week show featuring glossy shots of celebrities that are owned by the Buzz Foto agency.

Twenty-six photos grace the walls of the Maryam Seyhoun Gallery on Melrose Avenue, just a stone's throw from many of the shops and cafés frequented by actors, performers and so-called celebutantes.

Shots of Lindsay Lohan, Britney Spears, Paris Hilton and other famous mugs went on display over the weekend.

Socialite Hilton is snapped wearing a leopard print swimsuit and high heels, carrying a tiny dog in one hand and a neon pink surfboard in the other, and getting into a luxury car.

"Our photographs have the potential to hang next to those great masters," Buzz Foto co-founder Brad Elterman, a 30-year industry veteran, told Reuters.

Elterman challenges the notion that paparazzi shots are throw-aways. He calls them art.

"Images of today's celebrities can exude an incredible amount of style and elegance that portray our ever-changing and exciting pop culture."

Elterman knows he is fighting a public backlash.

The show has a single image of Spears, shot last summer, showing the troubled pop star wearing a pink wig, sitting in a car and staring blankly right at the camera lens.

Paparazzi have been criticized for making money off Spears's misadventures and breakdowns, including her recent meltdown in which she was photographed in a gurney and being taken to hospital for a mental evaluation.

Elterman said recently that his agency is no longer interested in getting shots of Spears. He doesn't want photographers to break any laws trying to get the most outrageous photos of the singer.

But it doesn't mean that his agency won't accept any other on-the-run shots.

"The red carpet is dead. Magazine editors want to see these people in real-life situations."

The exhibit's photos are expected to be snapped up for about $2,000 US each.