Amateur photographers fixing the “terrible” images of Wikipedia

Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world but, by the admission of some of its own volunteer publishers, it suffers from a persistent problem – terrible images, especially celebrities.

It is so full of notable people with very old or unflattering photographs that there are even dedicated Instagram accounts The worst.

The problem arises because professional photographers who frequent, for example, the first of films tend to work for major agencies: their work is protected by copyright and you must generally pay to reproduce it.

Wikipedia – which is widely supported by volunteers – has no budget for this.

Some enthusiasts have launched WikiportraitsA project to recruit a group of volunteer photographers around the world and have them accredit film festivals, conferences and other events.

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

“This problem has always been in the background of our minds as Wikipedia editors.”

He spoke to the BBC of Austin, Texas, where he and his founding compatriot Jennifer Lee covered the SXSW festival, with their own photomaton for installation portraits.

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

“The bad photos are so funny – there are stains of incredible humans there.”

Wikipedia has strict rules for Photography and copyrightThe downloaded images must therefore be a contributor, dismissed freely or in the public domain.

Consequently, it contains many images added by amateurs rather than photographers.

In some cases, it simply means a non -descriptive image – but sometimes they are much worse than that.

An excellent example: the actor Emil Wakim, of Saturday Night Live Fame.

For a week last November, the photo above – apparently taken during a stand -up show in New York – was his photo of Wikipedia.

When deleted, an editor noted that “having no image is better than what is currently there”.

The photo of the English footballer Kyle Bartley, taken in 2011, was also underlined by social media users as proof of the image problem of Wikipedia.

Wikiportraits started his work at the beginning of 2024.

Photographers are not paid and most are based in the United States, but there are volunteers around the world.

Jennifer and Kevin say that their photographers tend to be wikipedia enthusiasts, photography hobyists and professionals wishing to build their wallets.

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

Bryan Berlin is one of the photographers. Professor of secondary school and actor in New York, he first got involved with WikiPortraits while he was performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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

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

“Having a better photo of someone gives better information to someone who access Wikipedia,” he told the BBC.

He might not be paid, but Bryan feels that there is something for him too, saying that working on the red carpet has made him a better photographer.

One of his favorite experiences with a celebrity was with the Star of the Lord of the Rings Elijah Wood.

“He was just such a nice person, and said it was so cool that we were doing that.”

The Edinburgh Festival, Cannes and Nobel Prizes are some of the events covered so far, and the project says its photographs are seen approximately 100 million times a month.

Some of the biggest names in entertainment now have a WikiPortrait image as an image of Wikipedia.

Although these photos draw attention, the project is also proud to have taken photos of people, such as under-represented filmmakers, who had no photo of Wikipedia.

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

Also based in New York, he took photos in Cannes, Sundance and Toronto film festivals.

He remembers an experience with an experience with Laetitia Dosch, the French actress, writer and director.

“She said,” My photo is terrible, it’s years ago. I’m so excited to update that each time people are looking for, it’s an old photo “.

“I think she was happy.”

What does the future look like? Wikiportraits hopes to attract more photographers from around the world to cover the events of their country.

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

The splendor and glamor of the red carpet will always be a draw.

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

“It is then that we know that we did it.”