A photographer whose images are posted on the public site Flickr says the painting that won the Toronto Star’s cover contest is a “reproduction” of his photo of two streetcars.

Both the photo and the painting show a streetcar approaching on the left and another driving away on the right on a snow-covered street.

Artist Kelley Turgeon admits she drew inspiration from Labelle’s photo but says her acrylic painting is an original work of art. She offered her “sincerest apologies” for upsetting Labelle.

“That was one of the pictures that I looked at, but it was also one of dozens,” she says. “I’m sorry if I offended somebody — that wasn’t my intention. I spent hours painting this painting.”

Local photographer Brian Labelle says he deserves credit.

Click here to compare Kelley Turgeon’s painting with Brian Labelle’s photo.

“The entire content of my photograph is in there. It’s exactly the same composition,” Labelle says. “It may be a copyright infringement.”

Labelle’s photo is one of the first images that come up in Google search of “Toronto streetcar snow.”

The winner of The Star’s first emerging artist cover contest was awarded $2,500. Turgeon’s impressionistic painting was also published on the newspaper’s front page on Christmas Eve.

When Labelle saw the paper, he posted a message on his Flickr account.

“There is no doubt that it was drawn from my photograph. Obviously the artist has added their own style so it is their own creation. It is quite flattering, although it would have been nice if the artist had told me,” Labelle wrote.

Labelle says his “bemusement” quickly turned to “indignation.” Now he wants to highlight his case so that the rights of other photographers are protected in the future.

Labelle recalls when he took the picture out of the back of a King streetcar near Dufferin St. It was February 14, 2007 and there was a blizzard.

“There was a big snowstorm but it looked really beautiful,” he recalls. “I chose that composition and that location. It is an art form.”

But Turgeon, 25, says her holiday cityscape is art, too. She chose to depict Toronto’s vintage streetcars because of her fond memories of staring out the back window on class trips with her friends.

“(It came) from being downtown. It’s my own interpretation of it,” she says. “If I sit in a vehicle, that’s the view. You have to be in the street to see it like that.”

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Turgeon works as a project manager and paints as a hobby.

“I have a lot of respect for other artists and I would never intentionally rip off somebody else’s work,” she says.