The amateur photographers fixing Wikipedia’s ‘terrible’ pictures

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.

“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.”

Wikipedia has strict rules for photography and copyright, so the pictures uploaded must be a contributor’s own, freely licensed or in the public domain.

As a result it contains many images added by enthusiasts rather than taken by photographers.

In some cases that merely means a non-descript image – but sometimes they are much worse than that.

A prime example: the comedian Emil Wakim, of Saturday Night Live fame.

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

When it was removed, an editor noted “having no picture is better than what’s currently there”.

The photo of the English footballer Kyle Bartley, taken in 2011, has also been highlighted by social media users as evidence of Wikipedia’s picture problem.

WikiPortraits started its work at the beginning of 2024.

The photographers are not paid and most are based in the US, but there are volunteers across the world.

Jennifer and Kevin say their photographers tend to be Wikipedia enthusiasts, photography hobbyists, and professionals keen to build their portfolios.

So far, 55 of them have done work for WikiPortraits, or are committed to doing so.

Bryan Berlin is one of the photographers. A high school photography teacher and stand-up comedian from New York, he first got involved with WikiPortraits while he was performing at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.

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

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

“Having a better photo of someone gives better information for somebody who is accessing Wikipedia,” he told the BBC.

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

One of his favourite experiences with a celebrity was with Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood.

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

The Edinburgh festival, Cannes and the Nobel prizes are some of the events covered so far, and the project says its photographs are viewed around 100 million times a month.

Some of the biggest names in entertainment now have a WikiPortraits image as their Wikipedia picture.

While those pictures attract attention, the project is also proud to have taken photos of people, such as under-represented filmmakers, who had no Wikipedia picture at all.

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.

Also based in New York, he has taken pictures at Cannes, Sundance, and the Toronto film festivals.

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

“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.”

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.”