Photographing Sundance 2026 and across Africa!

Welcome to the WikiPortraits newsletter's look back on January 2026. Led by a global community of volunteer Wikimedia photographers, WikiPortraits is aimed at increasing the quality and diversity of Creative Commons-licensed portrait photos on Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons.

While January has only just ended, it's already a busy year. So far, WikiPortraits photographers have attended the 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships, the Jaipur Literary Festival, and the huge CES electronics show in Las Vegas.

We also have an update from WikiPortraits trip at the end of the month to the annual Sundance Film Festival in Utah.

This month's newsletter also includes:

• Tips on how to obtain media accreditation
• A short Q&A with Sol Procter-Tarabanov, Head of Music for WikiPortraits
• Commons Gallery, a new tool that creates a stunning portfolio for your images
• A special guest appearance by Jimmy Wales, who founded Wikipedia exactly 25 years ago

Plus, we have an update about how WikiPortraits is supporting both established and fledgling photographers across Africa, and how your support can help grow this campaign.

Returning to our roots: WikiPortraits shoots the Sundance Film Festival

At the end of January, WikiPortraits made a final visit to Sundance Film Festival 2026 in Park City, Utah – the last time at this location before the festival moves to Boulder in 2027.

With almost 20 photographers, WikiPortraits covered over 80 photo calls, held our regular and highly popular WikiPortraits Studio session, and celebrated Wikipedia Day on January 23 in Park City with hundreds of people.

The Sundance Film Festival was the first event to credential WikiPortraits, so this annual kick off to a year of photography always has a soft spot in our hearts.

This year's WikiPortraits photographers at Sundance included:

New initiative supports WikiPortraits photographers across Africa

Thanks to generous donor support, a recently launched WikiPortraits initiative is aimed at empowering photographers in Africa to tell their own stories, both on- and off-wiki.

While there are already active wiki-photographers in Ghana, Benin, Nigeria, Côte d’Ivoire and Kenya, WikiPortraits helps develop and level up their skills and photography to be attractive to global publications.

Your donations buy computers (and more!) for student and volunteer photographers across Africa

Once we secured cameras for students and WikiPortraits volunteers in Africa, we then observed one new problem – it’s not always easy in Africa to download their photos, edit them and upload onto Wikimedia, since working computers and laptops are often scarce.

In order to make do, the instructors have been uploading the photos at home on their own computers.

WikiPortraits spends Wikipedia’s 25th birthday with Jimmy Wales in Jaipur!

WikiPortraits is covering the Jaipur Literature Festival, which bills itself as the "greatest literary show on Earth."

Held in Jaipur, Rajasthan, India, the festival attracts authors, writers, scholars, artists, critics, thinkers, and readers from around the world. This year, WikiPortraits volunteers met up with Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia! 

The 2026 festival concluded on Monday, January 19th. Check ‘Category:Jaipur Literature Festival’ on Wikimedia Commons for this year’s uploads.

Do you spend a lot of time taking and editing stunning photos, but then find you have little time to actually showcase and share your work? If so, check out Commons Gallery, a platform for Wikimedia Commons photographers to easily create and share portfolios.

Developed by WikiPortraits with support from Wikimedia CH, Commons Gallery is designed for WikiPortraits photographers and also Wikimedia photographers from around the world to showcase their work. 

Here are some of the many collections worth exploring:

• Highlights from various events covered by WikiPortraits: https://commons.gallery/@wikiportraits
• Butterflies from West Bengal Wikimedians’s "Wiki Loves Butterfly" campaign: https://commons.gallery/@westbengalwikimedians/wiki-loves-butterfly
• Winners from the U.S. Wiki Science Competition: https://commons.gallery/@wiki-science-us

Tips for getting accredited as a WikiPortraits photographer

The 2026 U.S. Figure Skating Championships took place in early January, and WikiPortraits was there to cover it.

In fact, Kimberly Indergand, a longtime figure skating fan, set up her own press accreditation. Here, Kimberly provides a few pointers for how other WikiPortraits volunteers.

Volunteer spotlight: Sol Procter-Tarabanov

As Head of Music for WikiPortraits, London-based Sol Procter-Tarabanov (User:Sol_Procter-Tarabanov) has helped develop and now leads a music coverage for WikiPortraits.

Sol helps make it possible for us to assist volunteer photographers from around the world get credentialed for concerts, exhibitions, and other events.

Get involved with WikiPortraits!

WikiPortraits welcomes new volunteers. If there's an event in your region you think should be covered by WikiPortraits, let us know, and we'll help get you started.

Upcoming events WikiPortraits needs help covering include:

• SXSW (Austin TX, March 2026)
• RightsCon (Zambia, May)
• Edinburgh Fringe (UK, August)

Donate to WikiPortraits

WikiPortraits exists because of people like you! Donate to help expand our work adding more quality Creative Commons-licensed portrait photos to Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons!