Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2015 in Latvia

Photographing Latvia's monuments

Wiki Loves Monuments (http://www.wikilovesmonuments.org) is an annual international photography contest and crowdsourcing event in which participants photograph and upload images of historic monuments to Wikimedia Commons. These images are then available for free use on Wikipedia and beyond. More details about this year's annual competition can be found at Wiki Loves Monuments 2015. The competition takes place throughout the month of September each year.

This will be the first time Latvia has taken part in the competition, and everyone is welcome to get involved, whether as a participant (photographer), organizational volunteer, or both. There is no requirement for participants or volunteers to be from Latvia. The LV part of the competition is volunteer-led, with significant support from our local Wikimedians of Latvia User Group.

About the contest

Wiki Loves Monuments in Latvia will follow the same rules as the international competition. Participants upload pictures taken by themselves of listed buildings within LV and upload them to Wikimedia Commons during the month of September under a free licence. Uploaded photographs do not have to be taken during September 2015, but they must not have been uploaded to Wikimedia Commons before. Participants are free to take photographs of any eligible building, even if Commons already has one or more photographs, but of course a new angle or a new detail is more useful to the project than simply repeating what has been done before.

Rules

Taking Part

1. Find your nearest eligible national monuments from the list provided on Kultūras pieminekļi Vikipēdijā 2015/Saraksti page.

2. Have a read of the rules and tips.

3. Go out and take your best shots.

4. Then return to the list on this website and upload the image using our handy image uploader. You’ll find it a link called ‘Upload Image’ underneath the name of each monument.

Please note this year’s competition does not open until 1 September 2015. Images uploaded before then will not be eligible (but you can upload images which were taken at any time).

You’ll be asked to register an account with Wikimedia Commons, if you haven’t already. Then follow the steps in the uploader.

All done!

Rules

• Photos must be taken and uploaded by you. Videos and other types of moving image, non-photographic works such as drawings or computer-generated works are not eligible. You cannot use a photo that you have previously uploaded to Wikimedia Commons.
• Photos must be uploaded beginning on 1 September 2015. It doesn’t matter when they were taken. The deadline for the final upload is 30 September 2015, 11:59 p.m. GMT
• Photos must be freely licensed. By using the Wiki Loves Monuments Image Uploader a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 (CC-BY-SA 4.0) licence will automatically be entered.
• The subject of the photo must be one of the monuments listed on this site.
• You must be a registered user of Wikipedia / Wikimedia Commons. This is the website that acts as a repository for photographs and other images that can be freely used on Wikipedia and elsewhere. You can do this straight away, or you’ll be prompted to register when you upload images.
• You must have a valid email address so we can contact you if you win!

Terms & Conditions

• The competition is open to residents of the world, except members of the jury, their families, agents or anyone professionally connected with the promotion.
• THE PRIZE: Will be announced later, but we will have real prizes!
• WINNERS: A panel of expert judges will determine the top 10 winners according to criteria of Technical quality; Originality; & Potential usefulness and overall value of the image (including its licensing) to the Wikimedia projects.
• The winning entries will displayed on the contest site and will be notified by email, no later than 6pm on 31st October.
• Prizes will be presented to the winners at the awards ceremony which will take place in November (exact date and location to be announced.)
• The judges’ decision is final and no correspondence will be entered into with applicants.
• No photos not in accordance with the rules will be accepted.
• We reserve the right to publish or reproduce the photos through any medium it wishes.

Tips

• If you are photographing building interiors, stop straight away if you are asked to do so. Some places prohibit interior photography, but in others you may be allowed to continue if you ask for permission.
• Do not trespass on private property (it is perfectly OK, though, to take photographs while standing in a public place such as the street).
• Try to avoid taking photographs in which individual people appear prominently. You may not be able to avoid people entirely, for examples at tourist attractions, and where you have to you can include crowds or groups of people provided they are not a main part of your image.
• Where possible avoid photographing vehicles, and particularly vehicle numberplates.
• Please do not upload photographs of posters, noticeboards, signs, modern murals, or anything else having text or two-dimensional images that might be copyright-protected. That applies even to text or images that are in a public place and that everyone else is taking pictures of. Ancient wall paintings in churches are fine, as are photos of stained glass windows of any date.

Get involved!

If you are willing to help out this year or would just like to register your support, please add your name at Commons:Wiki Loves Monuments 2015 in Latvia/People.

Remember to subscribe to the Wikimedia LV mailing list as well.

Website

• http://www.wikilovesmonuments.lv
• Timeline