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Wikipedia is one of the most visited websites in the world but, by the admission of some of its own volunteer editors, it suffers from a persistent problem – terrible pictures, particularly of celebrities. It is so full of notable people with very old or unflattering photographs that there are even Instagram accounts dedicated to the very worst ones.
The problem arises because professional photographers who attend, for example, film premieres tend to work for big agencies: their work is copyrighted and you usually need to pay to reproduce it. Wikipedia – which is largely sustained by volunteers – does not have a budget for that.
Some enthusiasts launched WikiPortraits, a project to recruit a group of volunteer photographers around the world and get them accreditation to attend film festivals, conferences and other events. “Wikipedia has for the longest time had missing or poor quality photos of people,” said Kevin Payravi, one of the project’s founders.
Wikipedia admits to having a terrible picture problem, with many photos being old, unflattering, or of poor quality. This issue has always been in the back of our minds as Wikipedia editors.
He spoke to the BBC from Austin, Texas where he and fellow founder Jennifer Lee were covering the SXSW festival, complete with their own photo booth for set-up portraits. “Some people are super bothered by the terrible photos on Wikipedia, and want to save the world from them as well,” Ms Lee said.
The bad photos are so funny – there are some amazing blobs of humans there.
Elia Wood, who won the Nobel prize for Chemistry in 2024, had his Wikipedia image updated by the WikiPortraits project.
She said ‘my photo is terrible, it is from years ago. I am so excited to update as any time people search for me, it is an old photo’. “I think she was pleased.”
Frank Sun is a filmmaker and cinematography who does photography as a hobby. His work on WikiPortraits includes pictures of Florence Pugh and Ben Stiller. He fondly remembers an experience with Laetitia Dosch, the French actress, writer and director.
What does the future look like? WikiPortraits hopes to attract more photographers from around the world to cover events in their countries. While sports photography is being featured, there are no plans for video. The glitz and glamour of the red carpet will always be a draw.
“Our dream is to get credentials for the Met Gala and the Oscars,” said Jennifer Lee. “That’s when we know we’ve made it.”
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