Commons:Commons Photographers User Group/Annual Report for 2020
2020 has been the most active year for the Commons Photographers User Group so far. It started with Your best shot 2019, an online activity now in its second iteration. With a high outturn of 30 photographers from all over the world, Your best shot seems to become a welcome opportunity to reflect and to showcase photos that are less focused on technical aspects than on how memorable the moment was when they were captured. Image subjects ranged from a river in the Ukraine to bugs in Madagascar, a historic gate in Punjab, and Russian handball player Ekaterina Koroleva who died in a bathing accidents a couple hours after the photograph was taken by one of the user group’s members.
After the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic, user group members started to gather online in Zoom video calls. Purpose of those virtual meetings is to get to know each other better, to strengthen the sense of community among user group members, to share photography skills and insights with each other, and to provide room for discussions. The first virtual meeting took place on May 30, 2020. User group member Poco a poco introduced the participants into his new passion: underwater photography. Then, Charlesjsharp gave a presentation about his new project, aimed at promoting Wikimedia Commons through a magazine. As participants of the meeting decided they wanted another Zoom call, user group members met again on September 26 for a second virtual meeting. This time, Raymond provided insights into drone photography, followed by King of Hearts telling the story of a featured picture of a waterfall in Oregon. Then, MB-one talked about the custom Adobe Lightroom extension LrMediaWiki for Commons photographers and it was decided to actively help with the development of a roadmap for the tool. At the third virtual meeting, Habib asked whether we need DSLRs anymore and Martin told the story behind his long exposure shot of the Carribean Sea.
Also in 2020, user group members coordinated in a copyright infringement case. A Shutterstock user had published images from Wikimedia Commons under his own name and user group members worked hand-in-hand on getting the photos taken off the stock photography site by listing the photos affected, informing fellow Commons photographers, and sharing email templates.
In September, the user group established a new and more comprehensive membership list. The new list provides members the opportunity to share some information about themselves and about their photography hobby. That way, it serves at getting to know each other better and strengthening our ties.
Between January and mid December 2020, 18 new members joined our group.