Wikipedia photos are getting a makeover

WikiPortraits, a recently founded media project, has a Wiki’d idea to update Wikimedia on Wikipedia: hire volunteer photographers to fix the famously terrible photos featured on celebrity pages.

• As one of the most visited websites in the world, Wikipedia has strict rules for photography and copyright.
• The pictures uploaded must be a contributor’s own, freely licensed, or in the public domain—meaning the work of paid celebrity photographers is off limits.

The volunteer loophole

As a workaround, WikiPortraits recruits volunteer photographers from around the world, then coordinates with venues to get them access to film festivals, conferences, and other red carpet events—where they spend the day taking new Wikipedia portraits for free.

• In a little over a year since the first hiring call went out, WikiPortraits has uploaded 8,000+ new photos to the site, including updating portraits of Elijah Wood (above), Florence Pugh, Ben Stiller, and more.

It can be mutually beneficial: WikiPortraits offers exposure, career experience, and unique event invites to amateur photographers in exchange for their work. Its photos are viewed up to 80 million times/month on Wikipedia and have also been used by a variety of news outlets.