On a Mission to Fix Wikipedia's Famously Bad Celebrity Portraits
March 12, 2025 3:11 PM Subscribe
Wikipedia portraits are famously bad, so much so that there's an Instagram page dedicated to them. They're amateurish. They're old. Sometimes, like in the case of English footballer Kyle Bartley, they're just weird. (Is that a referee’s finger in his mouth?) WikiPortraits, a group of volunteer photographers, has been covering festivals and shooting celebrities specifically to improve images in the public domain. (404Media)
Aren’t they all from comicon because one guy takes a photo and shares it for free?
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 3:24 PM on March 12
posted by MisantropicPainforest at 3:24 PM on March 12
Despite the oddly antagonistic framing, the photographers are coming from inside the house.
Led by Wikimedia photographers with support from the Wikimedia Foundation and individual donors.posted by zamboni at 3:30 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]
The existing portraits are fine, and just look like pictures of normal people that a normal person would take. I question the assumption that celebrities are somehow entitled to "better" portraits than ordinary people. As if it's someone's job to do their representation for them, for free? If the celebrity wants a better Wikipedia photo, they're free to submit one!
posted by demonic winged headgear at 3:45 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
posted by demonic winged headgear at 3:45 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
They can literally post their own photo!!
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:03 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
posted by kittens for breakfast at 4:03 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
If the celebrity wants a better Wikipedia photo, they're free to submit one!
WP:APoY is a nice essay about the subtleties of doing so.
posted by zamboni at 4:03 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
WP:APoY is a nice essay about the subtleties of doing so.
posted by zamboni at 4:03 PM on March 12 [4 favorites]
If someone downloads one of these photos of a celebrity for use in an advertisement, that person does have the right of publicity.
posted by Ideefixe at 4:22 PM on March 12
posted by Ideefixe at 4:22 PM on March 12
“ Kevin and Jenny are constantly trying to find ways to address the diversity blind spots that are in Wikipedia and helping to correct that,” Sarkar said. “We need more high quality portraits of notable figures in the public domain, and of course, most people of color who are notable figures in the public domain are not represented in Wikipedia. It’s not just about photos. The diversity angle is a really important reason why this project is being done.”This makes a lot of sense as a motivation.
posted by brook horse at 4:41 PM on March 12 [2 favorites]
I question the assumption that celebrities are somehow entitled to "better" portraits than ordinary people.
To reframe this, if you have your own Wikipedia article, you’re theoretically notable. If that’s the same as being a celebrity, then yes, the WikiPortraits folks are going to focus on the people who have articles, and they’re going to conferences and festivals because that’s where you find them.
To reframe this, if you have your own Wikipedia article, you’re theoretically notable. If that’s the same as being a celebrity, then yes, the WikiPortraits folks are going to focus on the people who have articles, and they’re going to conferences and festivals because that’s where you find them.
An effective way to gather freely-licensed photos of notable figures at-scale is to go to where they are!posted by zamboni at 4:43 PM on March 12
WikiPortraits was created in order to accomplish this, by hosting events at conferences, festivals, and more to fill this gap. At these events, we sometimes set up a photo booth where anyone with a Wikipedia page—speaker or not—may drop by and have their photo taken. We also send roaming photographers to capture press lines, panels and keynotes.
I mean, these Wikipedia contributors are just people who are proud of the project they work on and who want to make it better. Nothing wrong with that.
posted by mr_roboto at 4:49 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]
posted by mr_roboto at 4:49 PM on March 12 [1 favorite]
I question the assumption that celebrities are somehow entitled to "better" portraits than ordinary people.
I'm an ordinary person and the photos on Wikipedia are often far worse than anything I would consider putting on my Facebook or LinkedIn.
I think it's strictly a matter of wanting to compliment the hard work of the text contributors with better images.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:54 PM on March 12
I'm an ordinary person and the photos on Wikipedia are often far worse than anything I would consider putting on my Facebook or LinkedIn.
I think it's strictly a matter of wanting to compliment the hard work of the text contributors with better images.
posted by DirtyOldTown at 4:54 PM on March 12
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