WikiPortraits is On a Mission to Fix Bad Wikipedia Celebrity Portraits
Wikipedia entries are infamous for their poor photos — so much so that there is an entire Instagram page dedicated to Bad Wikipedia Photos. However, a group of photographers is now working to change that.
WikiPortraits is sending photographers to events, including the Sundance Film Festival, SXSW, and Cannes Film Festival, among others for the purpose of updating or, in some cases, creating photos for Wikipedia articles that were picture-less.
“Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects prioritize and require using freely-licensed images,” WikiPortraits explains on its website. “As most published photos of notable people are press images with full copyright and non-permissive licenses, this results in a significant number of biographies with poor quality or no photos.”
And therein lies the fundamental reason bad photos exist on Wikipedia: photographers who are commissioned to cover celebrity events are usually there for a photo agency which is looking to sell the pictures to magazines, websites, books, et cetera. In short, they will enforce the copyright ownership of their images.
Wikipedia works the opposite of that. When a photographer uploads their images to Wikipedia or Wikimedia Commons they forgo copyright and upload it with a Creative Commons license which allows anyone to use it.
That’s why WikiPortraits is run by a group of volunteer photographers who must already have their own camera gear and often have to cover the costs of travel and accommodation.
“It’s become sort of a mini photo agency that is accessible for organizations that can’t afford Getty Images,” Jennifer 8. Lee, one of the co-founders, tells 404 Media.
Another co-founder, Kevin Payravi, tells 404 that their priority is Wikipedia and the team will often check existing coverage on the site when setting off to an event.
“If we’re at a film festival, and we see people who have a Wikipedia article but don’t have a photo, that’s going to become our priority,” he says.
Over 30 photographers have signed up to be part of WikiPortraits. While it may be an unpaid gig, it is a good way of gaining celeb photography experience and for some shooters, it’s a way of attending an event of interest that they wouldn’t otherwise get to go to.
The team has taken thousands of photos for free distribution that have racked up millions of views on Wikipedia; while news outlets across the world have used WikiPortrait photos on articles.
One celebrity whose Wikipedia photo the team has updated is Succession actor Jeremy Strong. Photographer Jay Dixit tells 404 Media that he ran into Strong at an event in New York City and asked him if he could take a new headshot for Wikipedia since his old one was from 2014.
“His publicist said no,” Dixit explains. “But Jeremy said, ‘Wait, you’re from Wikipedia? For the love of God, please take down that photo. You’d be doing me a service.’ So he stood and posed, and I got a shot of him.”
