Amateur photographers fixing the ‘terrible’ images of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world, but, through the admission of some of its own volunteer editors, it suffers from a persistent problem: terrible images, particularly celebrities.

It is so full of notable people with very old or not flattering photographs that there are even instagram accounts dedicated to The worst.

The problem arises because the professional photographers who attend, for example, films premieres tend to work for large agencies: their work has copyright and must generally pay to reproduce it.

Wikipedia, which is largely supported by volunteers, does not have a budget for that.

Some enthusiasts threw themselves WikiportraitsA project to recruit a group of volunteer photographers from around the world and obtain accreditation to attend film festivals, conferences and other events.

“Wikipedia has long had the photos of missing or poor quality,” said Kevin Payravi, one of the project founders.

“This problem has always been at the bottom of our minds as editors of Wikipedia.”

He spoke with the BBC from Austin, Texas, where he and his founding partner Jennifer Lee were covering the SXSW festival, complete with their own photomaton for configuration portraits.

“Some people are super annoying for the terrible photos on Wikipedia and also want to save them the world,” Lee said.

“The bad photos are very funny: there are some incredible humans there.”

Wikipedia has strict rules for Photography and copyrightSo the loaded images must be those of a taxpayer, with a freely licensed or in the public domain.

As a result, it contains many images added by enthusiasts instead of taking photographers.

In some cases, that simply means an image without description, but sometimes they are very worse than that.

An excellent example: comedian Emil Wakim, by Saturday Night Live Fame.

During a week last November, the photo above, apparently taken in a stand -Up show in New York, was his photo of Wikipedia.

When it was eliminated, an editor said that “not having an image is better than it is currently.”

The photo of the English footballer Kyle Bartley, taken in 2011, has also been highlighted by users of social networks as evidence of the problem of the image of Wikipedia.

Wikiportraits He began his work in early 2024.

Photographers are not paid and most are based on the United States, but there are volunteers worldwide.

Jennifer and Kevin say their photographers tend to be Wikipedia, photography fans and professionals who want to build their portfolios.

Until now, 55 of them have worked for Wikiportraits, or are committed to doing so.

Bryan Berlin is one of the photographers. A secondary school and comedian photography teacher first got involved with Wikiportraits while activating in the Fringe of the Edinburgh Festival.

He attended the New York and Sunday Film Festival, and took photos of Kieran Culkin and Mikey Madison.

He says he is motivated by improving the service offered by Wikipedia.

“Having a better photo of someone offers better information for someone who accesses Wikipedia,” he told the BBC.

I may not pay him, but Bryan feels that there is also something for him, to say that working on the red carpet has made him a better photographer.

One of her favorite experiences with a celebrity was with the star of Lord of the Rings Elijah Wood.

“He was such a kind person and said he was so great that we were doing this.”

The Edinburgh Festival, Cannes and the Nobel Awards are some of the events covered so far, and the project says that their photographs are seen about 100 million times a month.

Some of the most important names in entertainment now have an image of wikiportraits such as their image of Wikipedia.

While these images attract attention, the project is also proud to have taken photos of people, such as sub -present filmmakers, who did not have an image of Wikipedia at all.

Frank Sun is a filmmaker and cinematography that takes photography as a hobby. His work on Wikiportraits includes photos of Florence Pugh and Ben Stiller.

Also based in New York, he has taken photos in Cannes, Sunday and Toronto Film Festivals.

Remember with affection an experience with Laetitia Dosch, the French actress, writer and director.

“She said ‘My photo is terrible, it’s years ago. I am very excited to update as at any time that people look for me, it’s an old photo’.

“I think she was happy.”

How is the future? Wikiportraits hopes to attract more photographers from around the world to cover events in their countries.

While sports photography is presented, there are no plans for the video.

The brightness and glamor of the red carpet will always be a drawing.

“Our dream is to obtain credentials for the MET Gala and the Oscars,” said Jennifer Lee.

“That’s when we know we have achieved it.”