Depressed because of a #photo #competition

In many a #Wikipedia there is an article for almost every subject. All these articles need illustrations and  Commons is where these illustrations are stored. Some subjects are hard to illustrate. Subjects like depression or schyzophrenia for instance.

In my home town there was a competition to create something that expresses depression. There were prizes to be won and the jury included a professional photographer. There were many great entries to the competition. Having a professional photographer in the jury however was a mistake.

When you run a competition, there is a point to it. This contest had the intention to bring attention to the subject of depression. This means that the winning picture has to be published. Obviously it should be part of the conditions of entering the competition. It wasn't.

The professional photographer told the winner that the picture was of professional quality and that it is worth money. The result is that the picture is only available on the Intranet of the organisation running the competition.

The picture you see did not win.. It does show the Almere skyline. The weather was a bit depressed as well. Thanks Tamar for sharing your picture that "also ran". For me this picture is much more the winner because it is available.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#Wikipedia Takes Ahmedabad

When seventy-five people turn up on a cold day, on a working day for a photo safari, it is safe to call it a success. It is wonderful to see not only pictures of  monuments, buildings but also things like the colourful mouth freshener they use in Ahmedabad to appear on Commons.

At this precise moment 606 images have been uploaded and many more are likely to be uploaded. It is of interest that all pictures have their description in English but it is possible to add translations to the descriptions.

{{Information|description={{en|1=Ahmedabad Mouth Freshener which people are fond to eat after lunch/dinner or after taking any meal}}{{nl|1=Een Ahmedabad mondverfrisser die mensen graag eten na een maaltijd.}} 

has the following as its result:

People can write a description in any language and have it translated to English or any other language. This is quite appropriate because it starts with having the material uploaded to Commons to make it available in one of 280+ languages we support.

I wonder if any of the pictures of this photo shoot will be considered as a featured picture candidate.
Thanks,
      GerardM

We know David Shankbone

#Commons is where photographers like David post many original pictures. David is based in New York where the "occupy Wallstreet" movement has its origin.

Good had a nice thing to say about David. This was mentioned on the mailing lists and many people pointed to other places where some good news is really welcome.

It is good news. I do know David and I am happy to be just another place where you can learn how photographers like David make a difference.
Thanks,
       GerardM

#mwhack11; two concurrent events - #WikilovesMonuments

At the Berlin hackathon there was a big meeting working hard to get the organisation right for Wiki loves Monuments. There were people from all over Europe and from what I saw they were having a great time. They had their own hackers and having their own event at the same time and place proved to be a stroke of genius.

With all these people being together at the same time, you get to speak to many of them. I met Jane this way and we had a good time talking about several things including a retired photographer, Bob van der Lans.

Mr van der Lans took over his father's photography store in Hillegom in 1958 and took pictures for several local businesses for over 5 decades. He still takes pictures for the Keukenhof, a flower show in Lisse. Since retirement, he has given away parts of his archive, which included thousands of photo negatives on various subjects, such as all editions of "Sail Amsterdam", all versions of various flower shows and parades.

Bob van der Lans

In May 2011, he gave his personal archive of Dutch and European monuments to Wikimedia Netherlands after reading about Wiki Loves Monuments in his newspaper in 2010. He has acquired a digital camera and laptop and plans to continue photographing monuments. None of his former monument pictures have been previously published.

The challenge is to digitise these pictures and put them on Commons. Given that this is a true collection, with annotations on the back, it will be a lot of work...
Thanks,
      GerardM

Celebrating #Wikipedia in #3D

Celebrations were held in many parts of the world. Some places had presentations, hackathons, drink, cake and it was all registered with cameras, video but ... in Amsterdam we had something special. So find that old 3D goggle and have a look at the public of the official part of the party.

Quistnix experiments with 3D photography and this IS the kind of thing that you can expect on a Wikipedia happening..

So what was out of the ordinary at your party ??
Thanks,
      GerardM

#Photokina has come and gone

A friend who is very active on #Commons went to Photokina this weekend. He came back realising that a show like Photokina is an opportunity for the Wikimedia Foundation to promote its cause. Some of the best amateur photographers come to shows like this, they shoot many pictures and what we can do is give them recognition.

Photokina 1954

Part of the show is bringing communities together. In what we are looking for, we are interested in the Photoshop enthusiasts, the people who capture critters witPeter'sh their camera, the landscape photographers even many holiday snappers can be of interest because there are so many subjects we do not have a picture off.

Photokina 2010

 These are Peter's impressions of the show:

Photokina is the largest trade fair on photography in the world. It takes place in the halls of koelnmesse in Cologne, Germany. Even from a distance major brands and their commercials can be seen on large displays and walls.
The free of cost area of Photokina has several galleries displaying photographs and their projects. It is a cross section of what photography can be and what photographers make out of it.

Besides this free hall, the photokina features six other two-level halls with exhibitors from all over the world. Major brands like Canon, Nikon, Samsung, Sony, etc. have huge stands presenting the future of photography. Their newest solutions for filming, photographing, printing, displaying. For producers of system cameras models were engaged, or settings were built to try their equipment. 3D filming and display solutions, more sophisticated DSLR cameras and printing were major subjects of photokina.

The exhibitors split in two groups: the professionals and the communities.
The professionals focus on business solutions and are not that interesting for the common visitor. The communities however focus on people who take part in photography projects, online communities etc.

Thanks,
     GerardM