Introducing the WikiPortraits newsletter!
Updates, new opportunities, and ways to get involved and support WikiPortraits.
The WikiPortraits team of volunteer photographers (like you!) has covered everything from Nobel Prize week in Sweden and Norway to the Busan International Film Festival in South Korea to COP30 in Brazil. Together, we are boosting the number quality Creative Commons-licensed portrait photos across Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.
Fun fact: Did you know that more than 1 out of every 200 pageviews on Wikipedia globally now has a WikiPortraits photo on it?
Freely licensed images are essential to Wikipedia and the broader Wikimedia ecosystem—but they remain surprisingly scarce. Most photos of notable people are locked behind restrictive press copyrights, leaving countless biographies with low-quality images or none at all.
WikiPortraits exists to change that. By sending volunteer photographers to festivals, conferences, and major cultural events—often with press credentials—we capture high-quality, freely licensed portraits of notable figures. At some events, we also host WikiPortraits studios where anyone with a Wikipedia page (and others) can drop in for a headshot.
Read on for updates, new opportunities, and ways to get involved and support.
WikiPortaits Highlights of 2025
WikiPortraits has had an incredible year. As mentioned above, more than 1 out of every 200 Wikipedia page views globally has a WikiPortraits photo on it.
We've sent photographers to cover events on 6 continents this year (still working on Antartica, if anyone has any ideas!), and we have more than 200 contributors globally.
Here are just a few of the highlights... with more to come in upcoming newsletters.
'WikiPopetraits' and Pope Leo
Our single top subject this year was Pope Leo XIV, who was elected on May 8.
His photos were taken by Edgar Beltrán, a Vatican City reporter (and new photographer) with the Catholic news site The Pillar, who WikiPortraits recruited and helped train. They generously provided Creative Common licenses for their photos of the new pope during a high media interest around the world.
Beltrán's “WikiPopetraits” images were viewed well over 75 million times during the weeks following his appointment, since it was used on the front page of numerous language Wikipedias.
It's an amazing experience for a new photographer, and something we hope every WikiPortraits volunteer will experience.
WikiPortraits goes to Eurovision
WikiPortraits photographers brought their A-game to Eurovision 2025. Among those credentialed were Wojciech Pędzich of Poland, Quentin Jerome Thompson of Switzerland, Philip Romano of the United States, and Olena Serdyuk, representing Ukraine and Switzerland.
As an example of the fantastic images WikiPortraits photographers captured Eurovision, here's a striking shot of Georgia's Mariam Shengelia.
2025 Cannes Film Festival
Next, WikiPortraits made it to the Cannes Red Carpet in May 2025! Harald Krichel and Martin Kraft of Germany, as well as Kacy Bao and Gabe Hutchinson from Canada received coveted press credentials to cover the red carpet and photo calls.
One of our aspects of Cannes is we can photograph filmmakers and performers from around the world because of its global profile. This year we got photos of directors from Brazil, Palestine, Tunisia, Iran, and China, among many other nations.
Donate to WikiPortraits
WikiPortraits is an entirely volunteer-run initiative to improve the quality and breadth of portraits for Wikipedia–we are supported by donations and grants!
Make a tax-deductible donation to our effort to take freely licensed photos for Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons!
ESSENCE Festival of Culture
In July, WikiPortraits partnered with AfroCROWD, an initiative that seeks to increase awareness and the number of people of African descent who actively partake in the Wikimedia and free knowledge, culture and software movements. Together we sent a team to the Essence Festival of Culture in New Orleans.
New and existing WikiPortraits contributors (all from the United States) at ESSENCE included Danielle Campbell, Gabriel Brooks, Kolby Ari, Cameron Woods, Kirby Taylor, and AFROCrowd Executive Director Sherry Antoine. One of our favorite photos was of U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson laughing.
We also covered numerous panels, including those at Hollywood House, like the one below.
Volunteer spotlight: Bryan Berlin
Bryan Berlin, a teacher and comedian based in Brooklyn, New York, has also been a WikiPortraits volunteer since literally being recruited at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival in August, 2024.
Known a by User:Berlination, Bryan uses a Sony a7C II, typically with a Tamron 28-200.
His WikiPortraits uploads include high-quality images of athletes, singers, celebrities, and more.
Special volunteer shoutouts
WikiPortraits would like to give a special shoutout to frequent WikiPortraits contributors Vera de Kok for being media contributor of the year, and Robert Sim of Singapore, the 2025 Wikimedian of the Year.
Yet more WikiPortraits 2025 highlights!
Here are just a few more WikiPortraits highlights from 2025. Check your inbox for more details in an upcoming newsletter!
- SXSW in Austin TX, in March.
- Art Basel in June, in Switzerland.
- Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August in Scotland.
- Santa Fe Indian Market (#SWAIA), in August.
- Festival of Masks in Porto-Novo, Benin in August.
- Congressional Black Caucus Foundation annual conference in September, in Washington DC.
- Frankfurt Book Fair (organized by WMDE) in October.
WikiPortrait volunteers also regularly travel to film festivals, including:
- Locarno International Film Festival in August in Switzerland.
- Venice Film Festival in August in Italy.
- Busan International Film Festival in September in South Korea.
- Toronto International Film Festival in September in Ontario.
Join WikiPortraits
Want to attend a local film festival or other event as a volunteer WikiPortraits photographer? Let us know!
WikiPortraits can help with credentialing.
Have you signed up as a WikiPortraits volunteer but haven’t contributed yet? Contact us at hello@wikiportraits.org and we'll help you out.
Also: Do you know photographers who wants to contribute to WikiPortraits? Folks can shoot new works or upload your back list!
Coming up in the newsletter:
We plan to publish a monthly newsletter. In the coming months we'll be sharing:
- More profiles of WikiPortraits photographers!
- Commons Gallery, a showcase tool for photos supported by WMCH’s innovation fund.
We'll also share updates on the upcoming events:
- Nobel Prizes in Oslo, Norway and Stockholm, Sweden in December 2025.
- Red Sea Film Festival in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, December 2025.
- CES in Las Vegas in January 2026.
- Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, in January 2026 (the O.G. WikiPortraits event).
Thanks to our wikipartners!
WikiPortraits has received critical support from various Wikimedia affiliates worldwide, including WMUK, WMNO, WMCA, WMIT and especially WMCH!
We would also like to acknowledge our appreciate for an annual grant from Wikimedia Foundation.
