Michelle Bridges loses legal battle for AVO against photographer

Celebrity fitness instructor Michelle Bridges' AVO application against a 21-year-old paparazzo has been dismissed in a Sydney court.

Ms Bridges did not appear at Downing Centre Local Court on Friday as the magistrate dismissed the former Biggest Loser host's AVO application against photographer Liam Benoit Mendes.

Magistrate Joanne Keogh said she did not believe Mr Mendes's behaviour, although it caused Ms Bridges frustration and annoyance, had made the personal trainer genuinely fearful.

She said a court could not "regulate behaviour so that someone is courteous" and being startled on one occasion does not establish fear.

Ms Bridges, a mother of one, has previously told a Sydney court she felt "threatened" and "violated" as she was filmed by Mr Mendes on several occasions.

The court heard that on one occasion Mr Mendes had filmed and photographed Ms Bridges, 46, while shopping inside Woolworths and on another occasion as she left a restaurant with her family.

Speaking outside the court today Mr Mendes said the decision was important in allowing paparazzi and the media to do their jobs.

"If someone of public interest doesn't want to have their photo taken or be in the public eye, even though they are out there looking for it, we still have got that right to go out there and do that," Mr Mendes said.