Commons:WikiPortraits - Wikimedia Commons
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From Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository
Wikimania 2024
session on WikiPortraits
WikiPortraits poster for Wikimania 2025
WikiPortraits
is a project to capture high-quality photographs of people for Wikimedia Commons, through in-person outreach and event coverage. It formally started in 2024 from efforts by WikiConference North America users in the United States Wikimedia community, and has since been building an international network of photographers.
Main external site:
wikiportraits.org
As of March 2026, WikiPortraits images generate almost
400 million views per month
, or
more than 1 out of every 100 Wikipedia pageviews
globally.
Our continuously-growing network of photographers come from countries including but not limited to Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Benin, Brazil, Canada, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Ghana, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Kenya, Mexico, Nigeria, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Tunisia, Turkey, United Kingdom, and Tanzania. We have recruited more than 100 new photographer contributors to Wikimedia Commons, some of whom also become editors.
Note
- This project should not be confused with the
Wikiportrait
project with the website
Wikiportret.nl
started in 2008 by users active on NL-Wikipedia and supported by Wikimedia Nederland. The uploads for that project are included in
Category:Wikiportrait uploads
Background
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Many Wikipedia biographies have missing, low quality, or outdated photos, due to a lack of freely licensed media coverage of people and events. There have been efforts by Wikimedia communities and individuals over the years to help address this, particularly by going to events and photographing people. A few notable examples from Wikimedia affiliates include
Wikimedia Deutschland
's
Festivalsommer
and
Landtagsprojekt
projects, as well as Wikimedia Ghana User Group's
500 Notable People Photo Project
and coverage of the African Games. Several Wikimedia affiliates also help Wikimedians get credentialed for events, such as
Wikimedia Sweden
. We started a page on Meta Wiki,
m:Wiki Covers Events
, to help document all these efforts from the Wikimedia community.
In early 2024, WikiPortraits was founded to help address this challenge, starting with the United States and rapidly expanding to a global scale. We are building an expansive network of wiki photographers to help cover more regions and events. In addition to helping wiki photographers cover local and international events (through credentialing, logistics, and funding support), we are building a pipeline to recruit new photographers to Wikimedia Commons, bring new editors to Wikipedia, and expand our coverage of cultural events.
We also love collaborating with affiliates and other groups. We have received support from and have worked with the Wikimedia Foundation, Wikimedia CH, Wikimedia UK, Wikimedia Norge, Wikimédiens du Bénin, AfroCROWD, and Wikimedia NYC, with more to come.
Our current activities are primarily funded by the Wikimedia Foundation through a
2025-2026 General Support Fund grant
. We also receive support (financial and in-kind) from Wikimedia affiliates and donations.
Projects
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Our
Wikicurious - Capturing the Moment
event with Wikimedia NYC and AfroCROWD
See
Category:WikiPortraits by event type
for our event coverage.
To display all subcategories click on the "▶":
WikiPortraits by event type
(28 C)
One-off and individual coverage from WikiPortraits photographers can be found at
Category:Other portraits by WikiPortraits photographers
Get involved
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Are you a photographer, event organizer, or otherwise interested in getting involved with WikiPortraits? Do you need help getting credentials for an event?
Visit
/Join
for more details, or contact us via our
talk page
or
online contact forms
Newsletters
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Our newsletters can be read off-wiki
on our blog
March 6, 2026
: WikiPortraits covers the 2026 Winter Olympics!
February 3, 2026
: Photographing Sundance 2026 and across Africa!
December 3, 2025
: Introducing the WikiPortraits newsletter!
Reports
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2025 report
(in progress)
2024 report
SXSW 2024 One-Page Report
for Rapid Grant reporting
movingb
Contacts
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Kevin Payravi -
User:SuperHamster
Andrew Lih -
User:Fuzheado
Jenny 8 Lee -
User:Jenny8lee
Rosie Stephenson-Goodknight -
User:Rosiestep
Tools
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We have collected useful tools (built by us and others, on-wiki and off) on our
WikiPortraits Tools Page
Press coverage
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Photographers Are on a Mission to Fix Wikipedia's Famously Bad Celebrity Portraits
— 404media, March 10, 2025
WikiPortraits is On a Mission to Fix Bad Wikipedia Celebrity Portraits
— PetaPixel, March 11, 2025
This volunteer crew is on a mission to fix Wikipedia’s worst celebrity photos
— FastCompany, March 13, 2025
The Heroic Photographers Fixing Bad Celeb Portraits On Wikipedia
— ThePhoblographer, March 22, 2025
Amateur photographers hope to fix Wikipedia's 'terrible' pictures
— BBC, March 29, 2025
Der Text ist top, das Bild ein Blob
— Die Zeit, June 24, 2025
Gallery
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A sample of photos from a few of our covered events using Commons Gallery export tool!
Eurovision 2025
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Emmy at ESC2025 for Ireland 11
Gabry Ponte at ESC2025 for San Marino 11
Emmy at ESC2025 for Ireland 18
Emmy at ESC2025 for Ireland 13
ESC2025 Albania 26
Erika Vikman at ESC2025 for Finland 43
Justyna Steczkowska at ESC2025 for Poland 11
Gabry Ponte at ESC2025 for San Marino 9
Gabry Ponte at ESC2025 for San Marino 16
Gabry Ponte at ESC2025 for San Marino 23
ADONXS at ESC2025 for Czechia 12
Abor and Tynna at ESC2025 for Germany 21
Justyna Steczkowska at ESC2025 for Poland 15
Justyna Steczkowska at ESC2025 for Poland 19
Justyna Steczkowska, Eurovision 2025 1st semi final live show 20
Kaleen byPhilipRomano2
Klavdia at ESC2025 for Greece 12
Klavdia at ESC2025 for Greece 18
Laura Thorn at ESC2025 for Luxembourg 16
Laura Thorn at ESC2025 for Luxembourg 21
Kyle Alessandro at ESC2025 for Norway 22
Kyle Alessandro at ESC2025 for Norway 24
Louane at ESC2025 for France 12
Mariam Shengelia at ESC2025 for Georgia 15
Marko Bošniak at ESC2025 for Croatia 15 (cropped)
Melody at ESC2025 for Spain 31
Melody at ESC2025 for Spain 33
Miriana Conte at ESC2025 for Malta 13
Miriana Conte at ESC2025 for Malta 29
2026 Winter Olympics
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Alysa LIUAsatur Yesayants YantsImages 7289
Loena HENDRICKX of Belgium at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Italy by YantsImages (cropped)
Kaori SAKAMOTO of Japan at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Italy
Anastasiia GUBANOVA of Georgia at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milano Italy by YantsImages
Isabeau LEVITO of United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages
Loena HENDRICKX of Belgium at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Italy by YantsImages
Alysa Liu 2026 Olympics Women’s Figure Skating Final
Adeliia PETROSIAN of Armenia at the 2626 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy by YantsImages
Ami NAKAI of Japan at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Milan, Italy by YantsImages
Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita of Japan at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages 02
Loena HENDRICKX of Belgium at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Italy by YantsImages 2 (cropped)
Adeliia PETROSIAN at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games in Milan Italy by YantsImages (cropped)
Jordan Cowan Asatur Yesayants YantsImages 6498 (cropped)
Zhang Ruiyang 2026 Winter Olympics (cropped)
Haein LEE of South Korea at the 2026 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy by YantsImages (cropped)
Ami NAKAI of Japan at the 2026 Olympic Winter Games Milan, Italy by YantsImages (cropped)
Alysa LIUAsatur Yesayants YantsImages 7269
Isabeau LEVITO of United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages (cropped)
Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita of Japan at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages 03
Jordan Cowan Asatur Yesayants YantsImages 5852 (cropped)
Alysa LIUAsatur Yesayants YantsImages 8309
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages 02
Madison Chock and Evan Bates of United States at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages
Diana Davis and Gleb Smolkin of Georgia at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages 02 (cropped)
Charlene Guignard and Marco Fabbri of Italy at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages
Utana Yoshida and Masaya Morita of Japan at the 2026 Winter Olympics by YantsImages
Marjorie Lajoie and Zachary Lagha of Canada
Adeliia PETROSIAN of Armenia at the 2626 Winter Olympics in Milan, Italy by YantsImages (cropped)
Edinburgh Fringe Festival 2025
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The São José dos Campos Dance Company at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 14
Full Out Formula at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 01
The Shoulder Pads at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 17
The Shoulder Pads at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 25
Sexy Circus Sideshow 2.0 at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 05
Sexy Circus Sideshow 2.0 at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 15
FLIP Fabrique at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2
Cirque Kalabanté at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 02
Theatre Group GUMBO at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 07
Lucia Mallardi at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 04
Sikisa at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 02
Cirque Kalabanté at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 18
Sexy Circus Sideshow 2.0 at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 18
Theatre Group GUMBO at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 15
Creative Group SSAK at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 01
Abby Howells at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 05 (cropped)
Sexy Circus Sideshow 2.0 at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 17
QR3 0051 Enhanced NR
Creative Group SSAK at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 07
FLIP Fabrique at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 7
Theatre Group GUMBO at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 21
The Shoulder Pads at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 29
The Shoulder Pads at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 12
QR3 0207 Enhanced NR
FLIP Fabrique at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 5
Sexy Circus Sideshow 2.0 at the 2025 Edinburgh Festival Fringe 07
Venice Film Festival 2024
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Sigourney Weaver 64139 (cropped)
Jude Law 67897
Tilda Swinton 60971
Joaquin Phoenix 64908 (cropped)
Lady Gaga and Michael Polansky 65154 (cropped)
Michael Keaton 63916 (cropped2)
Willem Dafoe 63667 (cropped)
Brad Pitt at 81st Venice International Film Festival
Anna Ferzetti 64519
Fernanda Torres 68482
Elizabeth Lo at 81st Venice International Film Festival
The Room Next Door 61216
Ncuti Gatwa 65778 (cropped)
Angelina Jolie 643531 (cropped)
Actor Niraj Shrestha at 81st Venice International Film Festival for Pouja, Sir
Taylor Russell at 2024 Venice International Film Festival EDITED
Sveva Alviti 62782
Nicholas Hoult 67849
George Clooney 69993 (cropped)
Julianne Moore 60927 (cropped 2)
Steven Knight 64548 (cropped)
Sarah Friedland at 81st Venice Film Festival
Sveva Alviti 62811 (cropped)
Jung Ho yeon at 81st Venice International Film Festival (cropped)
George Clooney at 81st Venice International Film Festival Wolfs
Jenna Ortega 63799
Justin Theroux at 2024 Venice International Film Festival
Halina Reijn 66123
Alba Rohrwacher 64456
South by Southwest 2024
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South by Southwest 2024
Lisa Su
, CEO of AMD
Kausar Mohammed
, American actress, comedian, and writer
Caila Quinn, lifestyle and travel blogger
Dr.
Jen Guyton
, National Geographic photographer and evolutionary biologist
Rohit Bhargava, author and futurist
Errin Haines
, American journalist
Meghan, Duchess of Sussex
Sterlin Harjo
, filmmaker
Sue Bird
, basketball player
Ron Livingston
, actor,
Office Space
Hina X. Khan, actress
Theresa Nguyen and dog
Cast of the film
Switch Up
Delaney Rowe
, comedian and actress
WikiPortraits Studio info banners
2024 Sundance Film Festival
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2024 Sundance Film Festival
Erin HM Granat, filmmaker
Dalila Ali Rajah, actress
Goh Nakamura
, actor and musician
Chris Holmes
, DJ, artist and producer
Dongnan Chen, documentary filmmaker
Loren Hammonds
, Peabody Award-winning film producer
Louis Greatorex
, actor
Kim Yutani
, Sundance Film Festival Director of Programming
Mood board from pre-cursor portrait projects
Liza Donnelly
, cartoonist for
The New Yorker
at the Louvre Abu Dhabi
Street artist
Shepard Fairey
in Los Angeles
Christian Louboutin
, shoe and fashion designer in Mumbai, at the
NMACC
Opening Gala
Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert
, Ωreative director, Swarovski at the
NMACC
Erin Danielle Russell, author, Gaithersburg Book Festival
Ronan Farrow
, author and journalist, Pulitzer Prizes awards, 2018
Martyna Majok
, 2018 Pulitzer Prize winner in Drama
Momi Cazimero
, Hawaiian graphic designer and entrepreneur, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Maya Rogers, chief executive officer, Tetris, Bishop Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii
Working setups
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Working setup: SXSW
Setup at SXSW 2024
Lou Sanz, screenwriter at SXSW 2024
Working setup: Sundance Film Festival
Setup at the 2024 Sundance Film Festival, Park City, Utah. Continuous lighting, Canon R3 and R mirrorless cameras. Lens used: Canon RF 24-70L f/2.8.
Filmmaker Rahi Hasan
Working setup: Pulitzer Prizes
Setup used by Andrew Lih in 2018 for the Pulitzer Prizes portraits, using a Canon DSLR tethered to Lightroom on a laptop. Primary flash with a softbox was fired into a reflector, with an edge/hair light flash with a Flashbender diffuser. Strobes were remotely triggered via a Godox X 2.4 Ghz system. Lens used: Canon EF 70-200L f/4.
Actress Mia Farrow, captured at the Pulitzer Prizes in 2018
Discuss
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We're a community of practice! Ask anything or
join the discussion
to talk about event photography, future events, or new ideas!
See also
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Wikimania 2024 session about WikiPortraits
meta:Wiki Covers Events
Commons Photographers User Group
meta:Wikiportrait
- this project should not be confused with the Wikimedia Netherlands project hosted at www.wikiportret.nl started in 2008
Commons:WikiPortraits/Variations
- some not-so-serious variations of WikiPortraits
External links
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WikiPortraits main site
Retrieved from "
Category
WikiPortraits
Commons
WikiPortraits
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