We’re pleased to announce the winners of the UK section of Wiki Loves Monuments. This year the judges have awarded first prize to this photo of Saint Thomas Becket Church in Fairfield, Romney Marsh by Barbara Keller. Click the images below for more details and high-resolution copies on Wikimedia Commons.
1st prize: Saint Thomas Becket Church in Fairfield, Romney Marsh
Saint Thomas Becket Church in Fairfield, Romney Marsh by Barbara Keller. Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0.
2nd prize: Cairnfield, Eskdale
Cairnfield, Eskdale by Adam M Ibbotson. Licensed CC-BY-SA 4.0.
We’re pleased to announce the winners of the UK section of Wiki Loves Monuments. This year the judges have awarded first prize to this photo of Calfaria Baptist Church’s interior by Mark Edwards.
Overall winner
Calfaria chapel by Mark Edwards, Wikimedia Commons, CC-BY-SA 4.0
UK winners
Click the title for access to more details and high resolution copies on Wikimedia Commons.
Wiki Takes Coventry participants in 2012. Photograph by Rock drum.
September has started which can only mean on thing: it is time for Wiki Loves Monuments 2020.
We want you to share your photos of historic sites.
The competition opens on 1 September (today) and closes at 23:59 on 30 September. To take part and be in a chance with winning you need to upload photos of historic sites to Wikimedia Commons. The photos can then be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles about these sites, reaching millions of people every year.
There have been some fantastic images in the past and we are really looking forward to this year’s competition. So please share your photos!
How can I take part?
Interactive map
We have a guide which walks you through each step of the process. In short, you need to have a Wikimedia account and then to upload your photographs of eligible historic sites and share them under an open licence. They can have been taken at any point – whether you go out and take new photos or sift through old albums to find something, they are all useful.
Are there prizes?
The best photograph overall will win £250, with £100 and £50 for second and third respectively. There are up to seven Highly Commended prizes, and prizes for the best images from each of England, Northern Ireland, Scotland, and Wales. The top ten from the UK also go into the judging for the international competition, so get a chance at more prizes.
We also have a special prize for the best photograph of a site in Scotland, courtesy of Archaeology Scotland who are sponsoring it. The winner will receive a free 1-year membership of Archaeology Scotland including the Archaeology Scotland Magazine and access to their learning resources.
Is 2020 different?
In some ways, but if you have taken part in previous years it will feel very familiar. The upload tool is the same, you can use the same log in details, and the competition is still about historic sites.
The main difference is that in the past we’ve had special prizes for best photographs of interiors and shots of buildings in use. We’ve retired these prizes this year since lockdown restrictions make accessing building interiors more challenging and limit the use of some historic sites. You can still submit photographs of interiors, either old or new images. If you’re going to take new images, make sure you and the people around you are safe.
Tips!
We have a tips page to get you started and help you make the most out of your photographs.
You have until the end of 30 September to take part, so take some time to plan your photos, go through old albums, and share your favourites.
We’re pleased to announce the winners of the UK section of Wiki Loves Monuments. This year the judges have awarded first prize to this atmospheric image of Kilchurn Castle at sunrise taken by MHoser
Overall winner
Kilchurn Castle at sunrise by MHoser, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
UK winners
Click the title for access to more details and high resolution copies on Wikimedia Commons.
Kilchurn Castle at sunrise by MHoser, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The judges appreciated the wonderful colour-palette that the photographer has captured with the early-morning light, and the real skill and care that is evident in the composition.
Bass Rock with lighthouse and gannets by Ellievking1, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
Although Bass Rock is a well-photographed subject, the judges picked this image out for its unusual and varied lighting which brings out the details of the upper rock surface, the clouds of birds in flight, and the photographic angle which allows the lighthouse to stand out clearly.
Sun setting on Commando Memorial by Jock in Northumberland, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0
The judges liked the use of a low camera angle and late afternoon sunshine to enhance the presence of this powerful monument. They also appreciated the photographer choosing a lesser-known site.
Sara Thomas, Scotland Programme Coordinator of Wikimedia UK, talks about the Wiki Loves Monuments campaign and how it can inspire communities.
What is Wiki Loves Monuments all about?
Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo competition, organised by the Wikimedia Foundation, run by volunteers, and supported by chapters across the world, including Wikimedia UK. Pictures can be of listed buildings & scheduled monuments, with a particular focus in 2019 on images of buildings in use as well as building interiors. There are prizes for the best pictures from Scotland, Wales, England, NI, the UK, and internationally.
Best of all, these images are uploaded under an open licence, meaning that anyone, anywhere in the world, can use them for study, inspiration, or just for fun – and all free of charge. The photos are made available through Wikimedia Commons – the picture equivalent of Wikipedia – and can be used to illustrate Wikipedia articles, or for any other purpose, including education, as long as they’re properly credited back to the photographer.
Using our interactive map, you can search for places near you, and see the buildings and monuments in your area. A blue pin means that there’s already a picture of that place, a red one means that there isn’t.
You can – of course – upload a picture of a site that already has a picture, but there’s a certain satisfaction to be had in turning all those red pins blue… and in my country of Scotland there are quite a lot that haven’t been covered yet! In 2017, Scotland uploaded 2104 images. In 2018, it was 4417. I’m hoping that we can break 5000 this year….
Community Participation
So what do we mean by putting your community on the map? Last year, one of our Wikimedians in Residence, Delphine Dallison, encouraged librarians all over Scotland to submit pictures of their listed building libraries, or other nearby sites, to the international photo competition. So that’s one way.
But as well as taking part in the competition yourself, you could also engage others – particularly those interested in photography and local history – to take part in an event, maybe a heritage walk of your local area.
Chris Cherrington, our top prize winner for 2018, explains how he made his stunning image of Gloucester Cathedral cloisters.
Gloucester Cathedral cloisters by Christopher JT Cherrington, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
For higher resolutions, see the image page on Wikimedia Commons.
The image
My final image was a stitched panorama consisting of 4 angles, derived from a total of 26 original exposures.
In each of the 4 directions, I bracketed between 5 and 7 shots between -3EV and +3EV (the more raw data, the better!). The reason for the bracketing was the very large dynamic range between the details in the stained glass and the shadows in the cloisters.
Due to the absurd number of tourists (this is a very popular location, and the left-hand leg points towards the very popular cafe), there were a few individual exposures which were repeated to include the tourist movement. In these particular shots, I then used Photoshop to layer the exposures and selectively mask out the tourists.
This resulted in 4 angles of bracketed, tourist-free shots.
I then put each bracketed angle into Aurora 2018, which yielded remarkable results. So good, I didn’t need to resort to luminosity masking in Photoshop.
This yielded 4 images from which to construct the panorama.
To my surprise (and gratification), finally Lightroom made an excellent job of stitching these four images together.
Equipment
Camera: Nikon D7500
Lens: Tokina 11-20mm f/2.8
Tripod: Gitzo 2545T Series 2 Traveller
Head: Gitzo GH1382QD Series 1 Centre Ball Head
Koolehaoda Panoramic Head
Hoage 140mm Nodal slide
Nikon cable release
Adobe Lightroom Classic CC
Adobe Photoshop
Aurora 2018
About me
I’m now a 63 year old retiree, though how I ever found time to work, I’ll never know. I’ve always been interested in photography, starting out with SLRs (non-digital, of course) in the 1970s. Since 1990, though, it all lapsed due to other pressures and interests, confining me to the usual point-and-shoot pocket camera and latterly, phones.
It was only in August 2017, when I finally had retired fully, that I started to get “serious” about it again, hence the purchase of some mid-range equipment and a whole load of internet-based learning.
I’m a very keen choral singer, being a member of the Bournemouth Symphony Chorus and the Philharmonia Chorus (London), but often do ad-hoc visits to various places for choral events. It was on one of these, in 2017, that I had reason to visit Gloucester Cathedral. Needless to say, I was blown away by the Cloisters, also being a Harry Potter fan. So, when I took up photography again some months later, I had it in mind to go back there and try to do justice to the incredible atmosphere, spirituality and workmanship of the place.
So, on a lovely, but cold, day in January 2018, I turned up there, paid my photographer’s fee and thoroughly “did” the place! The stats above are only for the image in question. In reality, I did four complete “sweeps” of the cloister panorama, totalling something like 80 shots, taking something like an hour and a quarter to capture. I was seated in a cloister adjacent to the south-west entrance and boy, was my bum cold by the time I’d finished!
In the short time since I have been taking photography seriously, I seem to have settled on two themes: Landscape and Historical buildings, particularly churches or cathedrals. I’m not particularly religious, but I do find that spending time in a sacred building makes me feel a real sense of connection with the amazing people who created these masterpieces. Although not as technically sophisticated as we now see ourselves, every one of these amazing artisans was a real person who lived, loved, suffered and lost, just as we do today. I consider myself honoured to be able to share their amazing talent with people everywhere.
We’re pleased to announce the winners of the UK section of the world’s biggest photo contest Wiki Loves Monuments. This year the judges have awarded first prize to this stunning image of Gloucester Cathedral cloisters taken by Christopher JT Cherrington.
The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral by Christopher Cherrington, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Chris has written a short blog post explaining how he took his winning image.
UK winners
Click the title for access to more details and high resolution copies on Wikimedia Commons.
The Cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral by Christopher JT Cherrington, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
The judges noted the beautiful symmetrical two-way view along the intricately detailed cloisters at Gloucester Cathedral. The light within this interior space has been well controlled and camera settings used have preserved a huge amount of detail for our eyes to feast upon. A worthy winner of the UK competition.
Sunrise at West Pier (Brighton) by Christerajet, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
A very calm and serene image of Brighton’s West Pier at dawn came second in this years competition. The judges loved its clean and smooth graduations and the soft pre-dawn colours. A highly accomplished long exposure which is not only stunning in its viewpoint and technical clarity, but also in the way it generates an emotional response with the juxtaposition of a beautiful dawn and a derelict site.
Hardknott Roman Fort (Cumbria) by Markas1370, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
This is a brilliant use of a drone for the way it opens up new ways of seeing a location. The judges loved the fact that the image shows the fortifications in their entirety, occupying the strategic high ground, and includes the drama of the landscape that surrounds it.
Dinefwr castle at sunrise, by Daniel Phillips, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Using a drone does not necessarily produce an interesting picture. It still requires a photographer’s eye, and an ability to overcome the technical limitations of many standard drone cameras to produce an engaging image. The judges chose this photograph of Dinefwr Castle in Carmarthenshire (a castle of the Welsh Princes, rather than a Norman castle) which manages to combine a visually exciting viewpoint with straightforward digital darkroom techniques to produce a striking and beautifully atmospheric picture.
Carreg Cennen Castle by Ken Day, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
The ruin of Carreg Cennen Castle and its physical context is captured beautifully – the hazy, tranquil essence of the area, and the dramatic, menacing presence of the castle itself. The site, a few miles from Llandeilo, has a very long history, but is associated mainly with the castle built here by the Welsh Princes of the Deheubarth, and later the Normans.
Paxton’s Tower by Matt Phillips, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
This photograph of Paxton’s Tower is an example of an honest, pleasing-to-the-eye representation of a folly in Carmarthenshire. The photograph begs so many questions – who built it, why? Why is it placed so prominently on top of a hill? A little delving reveals a complicated historical web, taking in Scotland, entrepreneurship, empire building, exploitation, social climbing, war, political spite, philanthropy and much more.
No award was made in the Best image from Northern Ireland category.
Special prize
The most prolific photographer of “new” UK historic sites was Paul the Archivist, who uploaded more than 200 pictures of sites which hadn’t previously been represented in the database.
Shortlisted images
For the complete list of all the shortlisted images, as well as access to high-resolution copies, see the winners’ page on Wikimedia Commons.
Hello, maybe you’ve come to the Wiki Loves Monuments UK site because you followed the banner from Wikipedia. But now you’re confused… what’s Wiki Loves Monuments? And who is Wikimedia UK?
Wikimedia UK is a registered charity; we work with the Wikimedia projects such as Wikipedia to enable people and organisations to contribute to a shared understanding of the world through the democratic creation, distribution and consumption of knowledge.
Wikimedia UK works in partnership with organisations from the cultural and education sectors to unlock content, remove barriers to knowledge, develop new ways of engaging with the public and enable learners to benefit fully from the educational potential of the Wikimedia projects.
We support the development of open knowledge in the UK: that’s knowledge that anyone is “free to use, reuse, and redistribute without legal, social or technological restriction”, according to the Wikipedia page for the term. Wikipedia itself is an open knowledge project, because all of the content on it is free for reuse – usually under open, Creative Commons licences, a type of free licence that allows others to reuse the content for any purpose as long as they attribute it.
Wiki Loves Monuments is the Wikimedia community’s annual photographic competition which encourages people to take and upload photos of listed buildings and scheduled monuments. Many Wikipedia articles covering such sites don’t have pictures to illustrate them because available images are ‘all rights reserved’, which we can’t use. If nobody has published a suitable image under an open licence, we won’t be able to illustrate the corresponding Wikipedia page.
Understanding copyright and open knowledge is part of digital literacy. Not all content is created with the intention of making a commercial profit. All of the media on Wikipedia and its sister sites is part of the Digital Commons, the store of media online that is free for all to use. Here’s a video we made that you might find useful:
Wikimedia UK supports the Wikimedia community who edit and improve Wikipedia and its sister sites. We promote the 5th biggest website online, but we are a small charity with only around 15 staff in the UK. That means we need your help. We rely on our community who help give training in editing Wikipedia, run events and do projects to improve content on Wikipedia. If you want to get involved, you can come to one of our events, or sign up to become a member of the charity for only £5 per year.
Being a member of Wikimedia UK means you can apply for small grants to do Wikimedia-based projects, and borrow equipment like cameras so that you can take photos for Wiki Loves Monuments. You will also receive our newsletter, and can attend our AGM and help decide on the future direction of the charity.
If you have any questions about our work, you can email info@wikimedia.org.uk, or follow us on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Instagram to see updates about our work and interact with us. We look forward to meeting you!
By Sara Thomas, Scotland Programme Coordinator at Wikimedia UK and formerly Wikimedian in Residence at Museums Galleries Scotland.
In 2015-16 I was the Wikimedian in Residence for Museums Galleries Scotland, training museum staff to edit Wikipedia, and generally being enthusiastic about open knowledge to anyone who would listen. These days I’m continuing that work in my new role as Scotland Programme Coordinator for Wikimedia UK, working with all kinds of organisations to open up Scotland’s culture and heritage to a global audience. And in September, that means Wiki Loves Monuments.
Wiki Loves Monuments is an international photo competition – the world’s largest – that aims to make high quality openly licensed images of the world’s listed buildings and scheduled monuments available to anyone in the world, through Wikimedia Commons. And as you can see from this interactive map, there’s rather a lot of Scotland missing. I’d like to turn some of those red pins blue. Actually, I’d like to turn rather a lot of them blue. Which is where you come in.
Picturing Scotland
There are prizes for the top 3 images in Scotland (sponsored by Wikimedia UK and Archaeology Scotland), as well as the top 10 images in the UK. The latter then go forward to the international competition. Last year a Scottish image came second in the UK competition and I hope we can match that.
Encouraging the creation of openly-licensed cultural heritage resources is a natural extension of museums’ existing commitment to outreach. Helping to preserve those items for future generations. The recent fires at both the National Museum in Rio de Janeiro, and the Mackintosh Building at the Glasgow School of Art are tragic reminders of how quickly key parts of our history and culture can be lost. The New Palmyra project has shown how valuable digital reconstruction can be. Wikipedia is encouraging people to contribute to the movement to digitally reconstruct the contents of the Rio museum, by donating images to Wikimedia Commons.
Images on Wikimedia Commons are licensed most commonly under a CC-BY-SA license. (Creative Commons Attribution Share Alike), which means that anyone can use those images, as long as they attribute them to the person who took them, and share using the same license. This means that anyone – schools, students, and the general public, can access, learn from, and re-use these images for free. The images can also be used on any of Wikipedia’s sites – available in nearly 300 languages worldwide, and view-able by a global audience. Many museums are now releasing images of out of copyright works into the digital commons, like the Rijksmuseum, or the National Library of Wales (NLW) adding 10,000 images to Wikimedia Commons over the last 4 years. Over 455 million people have seen images from NLW that have been added to Wikipedia articles!
How you can get involved
Do you work in, or live near a listed building or scheduled monument? Have you visited any recently? Is there a picture of it in our database? (Again, you can use our interactive map to check.) Pictures don’t have to have been taken in September – just uploaded in September – to be eligible for the competition.
All you need is a camera (or indeed, camera phone), and a Wikimedia Commons account (very easy to set up, and if you already have a Wikipedia account, you don’t even need to do that), and you’re ready to go. There are full instructions here about how to make your submission. Check out the video below from Wikimedia UK which shows how simple it is to take part.
Do you have a group of volunteers in your museum who are interested in photography, or perhaps you have a heritage walk of your local area planned? Are some of your staff are keen photographers? Is a picture of your museum in the database? If not, now is a perfect chance to add one.
Some fun for the weekend. Play the classic 1950s get-together game Am I a Monument? – the “delightful thawing game”. Guess the monument that’s been pinned to your back by asking the other players yes/no questions such as “Am I a bridge?”
Am I a Monument? game
A bargain at only one shilling-and-tuppence three-farthing (including tax). Endless fun to be had by all!
This post applies to the Monumental map – ie to the campaigns in countries that use the Monumental map based on Wikidata.
Help WLM contestants get the feedback they are looking for – turn the pins on the map from red to green.
On the map, monuments that aren’t yet on Wikidata show as a red pin. You can help those pins turn green as contestants upload pictures of ‘missing’ monuments. It doesn’t happen automatically, as manual checking is needed to make sure the image uploaded is actually suitable to be used as the primary Wikidata illustration.
To help, login to Magnus Manske’s newly-updated Wikidata File Candidates tool and make sure that the COMMONS and ON WIKIDATA options are selected.
Type in the Commons category you want to check, eg Images from Wiki Loves Monuments 2018 United Kingdom. Use the cog button to show/hide options, and the refresh button beneath to run the query.
If there are any candidate images to be added to Wikidata, they’ll appear in a list. On the left are Wikidata items and on the right are the potential candidates. First, make sure the correct WD item has been matched by the tool. If not, remove the line item by clicking the red button on the left.
Then, to add a new primary WD click on ‘Image’. You should normally select only a single best and most representative picture, but you can select several if really essential. If there is a good representative internal shot, add that as well using the ‘Image of Interior’ option from the Photo button.
Click on the red cross on the left to tell the tool that you won’t be using the other images of that monument (this prevents those images being re-displayed to you later). If there is no suitable representative image at all, ignore the suggestions and just click the red cross.
Sometimes the WD item already has one or more images, in which case they will appear under a horizontal red line in the left column. That may be because the WD item has been changed since the tool did its last data-collection run, or because the existing image is, for example, an internal shot and the tool is presenting possible options for an additional representative image.
Once you’ve added one or more images to WD, the corresponding pin on the map will change from red to green within a few minutes.
This post applies to the WLM UK interactive map – ie the campaigns in Scotland, Wales, England and Northern Ireland.
Help WLM contestants get the feedback they are looking for – turn the pins on the WLM-UK map from red to blue.
On the interactive map, monuments that aren’t yet on Wikidata show as a red pin. You can help those pins turn blue as contestants upload pictures of ‘missing’ monuments. It doesn’t happen automatically, as manual checking is needed to make sure the image uploaded is actually suitable to be used as the primary Wikidata illustration.
To help, login to Magnus Manske’s newly-updated Wikidata File Candidates tool and make sure that the COMMONS and ON WIKIDATA options are selected.
Type in the Commons category you want to check, eg Images from Wiki Loves Monuments 2018 United Kingdom. Use the cog button to show/hide options, and the refresh button beneath to run the query.
If there are any candidate images to be added to Wikidata, they’ll appear in a list. On the left are Wikidata items and on the right are the potential candidates. First, make sure the correct WD item has been matched by the tool. If not, remove the line item by clicking the red button on the left.
Then, to add a new primary WD click on ‘Image’. You should normally select only a single best and most representative picture, but you can select several if really essential. If there is a good representative internal shot, add that as well using the ‘Image of Interior’ option from the Photo button.
Click on the red cross on the left to tell the tool that you won’t be using the other images of that monument (this prevents those images being re-displayed to you later). If there is no suitable representative image at all, ignore the suggestions and just click the red cross.
Sometimes the WD item already has one or more images, in which case they will appear under a horizontal red line in the left column. That may be because the WD item has been changed since the tool did its last data-collection run, or because the existing image is, for example, an internal shot and the tool is presenting possible options for an additional representative image.
Once you’ve added one or more images to WD, the corresponding pin on the WLM-UK interactive map will change from red to blue within a few minutes.
Our judge Andy Chopping reflects on the 2017 shortlist and offers some tips for this year’s contestants.
September is upon us, heralding the start of the Wiki Loves Monuments photography competition. And I’m delighted to have been asked once again to help judge this excellent competition, which last year saw a remarkable 14,000 entries from across the UK.
I thought that this year’s entrants might benefit from some constructive ideas based on the 200 shortlisted photographs that we were asked to judge last year and why the 10 finalists succeeded in capturing a judge’s eye.
So, what makes a great Wiki Loves Monuments photo?
In no particular order I’d suggest that subject, viewpoint, composition, lighting and focus are all key elements.
Subject
Well, monuments obviously. But consider the vast number of visitors who have photographed England’s well-known castles, cathedrals and stately homes. You can be fairly certain that we will receive hundreds of thoroughly competent images rehashing the same old subjects. Might your efforts be better used in photographing something less mainstream? Given my interest in archaeology I was surprised to find that of last years 200 shortlisted images only 3 captured the monuments which were built by our early pre-Roman ancestors. And equally delighted that this one made the top ten:
Commended 2017: Avebury henge and stone circles, by Paul Adams, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Last year’s shortlist also surprised me with its paucity of photographs showing building interiors. Less than 15% of the entrants attempted to cover this area, and only one made the final cut. So the key to finding something new, and possibly success in the 2018 competition, might be as simple as moving indoors!
Commended 2017: East Building Of Central Market, London, by Stevekeiretsu, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Viewpoint
Try to avoid the classic ‘postcard views’; no matter how perfect your image might be it will struggle to make an impression if it’s one of several dozen almost identical photographs. A great many of our monuments are so well known and so heavily photographed that even if we haven’t been to, say, Salisbury Cathedral/the Clifton Suspension Bridge/Stonehenge we will already be so familiar with the monument that we already know the viewpoints that by public consensus are reckoned to be the best.
And this is where the challenge lies. Walk around the monument, look at it through fresh eyes and find a viewpoint that avoids the ordinary and illustrates the monument in a way that others will not find so familiar, and will ideally never have experienced. Last year’s entries included a number of photographs made by photographers who had certainly found new viewpoints, working with UAV or ‘Drone’ camera platforms. Sadly none of these aerial images made the final cut. This year might be different. I know from my professional life that, used well (and legally), this technology can be a tremendous asset, but it’s essential to remember that it’s not enough to have an unusual viewpoint. Composition and lighting are also key to success.
Commended 2017: Perch Rock Lighthouse, by Mark Warren 1973, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Composition
Once you’ve selected the viewpoint for your photograph you’ll start the process of composing the image, finding the ideal way to frame the subject. The use of a tripod will help enormously, not simply by providing a stable base but more importantly by slowing down your actions and giving you time to consider fine adjustments.
Be aware of the classic guidelines of composition: rule of thirds, leading lines, and use of symmetry. But also keep enough background in the image to convey a sense of space and set the monument in context. Not only will the additional space give greater presence to the subject, it will also make the image more ‘useable’ and potentially more successful than the same view and moment tightly cropped.
Consider the use of human scale in your images. Less than 10% of last year’s shortlisted submissions featured people and in only 2 of those did their inclusion appear to have been deliberate. It’s undoubtedly true that a bus full of tourists can ruin an image, but one or two well-placed people can provide an added focal point for your shot, introduce a sense of scale and create a more engaging image overall.
3rd prize 2017: De La Warr Pavilion, by Oliver Tookey, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Lighting
Lighting is almost everything in an image. Walk around your subject and predict how it might look at different times of the day or night. Consider the movement of daylight across your subject and try to plan the ideal hour to make your photograph.
Try to avoid harsh midday sun and exploit the golden hour. Light in the morning and early evening is much better suited to photography – long shadows accentuate texture and detail and the light has a colour and quality that can lift atmospheric quality.
But that being said, don’t be afraid of bad weather. People do their best to avoid wind, rain, sleet and snow. And as a result there’s a lack of photos of monuments in these conditions which immediately sets such images apart from the rest. The 2017 shortlist had only 4 images made in poor weather and 2 of them made it into the final 10.
Spectacular, or subtle and atmospheric lighting is sometimes encountered by accident, but more often by planning and effort. British weather is fickle and many attempts might be required before you find perfect moment to make your photograph.
Commended 2017: Martello tower at Felixstowe Ferry, Suffolk, by Tony Lockhart, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Focus
If your camera allows it use selective focus to draw the observer’s eye into the frame, don’t simply let the camera determine what’s important. Selective depth of field can concentrate the observer’s attention where you want it, and can throw unwanted visual clutter into a soft un-distracting fore- or background. If appropriate, consider the use of long exposure to add a sense of movement to your image. Trees, clouds, flags, running water all lend themselves to this technique – but make your intentions apparent, there’s a world of difference between the apparently clumsy slight blurriness of water on the seashore and the mercurial silk like quality of a waves captured by a tripod-mounted long exposure.
1st prize 2017: The Derelict West Pier at Brighton, by Mathew Hoser, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
Finally …
If possible work with a tripod-mounted camera. Work slowly and make fewer, better images.
Try to see ‘the whole picture’. Many potentially great images don’t make the cut because they were ruined by a fleeting cloud shadow, or an unintended passer-by.
Shoot raw if possible and certainly use the tools available in your preferred processing program. But don’t overdo it; use your skills to finesse a good image, not to rescue a poor one.
Be critical of your own work; avoid at all costs submitting several slightly different versions of the same image; you might leave one stand-out image swamped by your apparent lack of confidence.
Your image should evoke an emotional response which demands more than a cursory glance. It should require a little work from the observer, drawing them into the frame, into a captured moment and place.
Ask yourself if your selected image will stand up to the ‘calendar test’… imagine it on your wall or desk for an entire month. When it’s time to turn the page a great photo still engages and entertains – will yours?
East Building Of Central Market, London, by Stevekeiretsu, Wikimedia Commons CC BY-SA 4.0
There’s not long to go now until Wiki Loves Monuments returns in September 2018, when you can start uploading your photos of heritage monuments in the UK and try to win one of our prizes!
As we’ve been running the competition for several years now, we already have external photos of quite a few of the top tourist sites. But we’re still missing images of many interesting local or lesser-known sites. And we have very few high-quality photographs of interiors. With that in mind we thought we would write an update on last year’s blogpost on heritage open days to suggest places you can go to take photos of interiors.
England
For England, check out the Heritage Open Days website here. The open days this year are on 6-9 & 13-16 September and you can search for events in your area here or by region here. This is the first time that the events will be held across two weekends, as more and more places are participating.
This year there are a number of archives taking part, which you can see on this map, and there are lots of other suggestions on the website for outdoor events, family friendly events, museum events and much more. You can also read about National Trust properties which are participating in the Heritage Open Days programme on their website.
The theme of this year’s event is Extraordinary Women to mark the centenary of Women’s Suffrage, and there are a number of places to visit that tell the stories of great women such as Gertrude Bell and Marianne North.
Other events giving you a rare look into heritage sites in September include Open House London (22-23rd September).
Scotland
In Scotland the website to look at is Doors Open Days. You can see the list of events here. For more ideas, see this page.
Wales
Events in Wales are organised by Cadw. See the list of events here. For more ideas, see this page.
Join us
If you are planning on taking photos at one of these events, why not get in touch and let us know? If you are a member of Wikimedia UK (only £5 a year! Join us here). You can also borrow photographic equipment for free to help you take photos for the competition. Don’t hesitate to get in touch if you have questions about how to get involved or submit your photos!
You’ll need to read James’s article to see the example images, but here are his tips, in brief:
1. Before taking a picture, walk all the way round the building, acquaint yourself with the site.
2. Decide exactly what you want to say about the building, what it is you want to communicate through the photograph.
3. Use the ambient light and time your photograph accordingly. Watch how a building responds by the way light changes from dawn till nightfall.
4. Try to keep the composition simple. Try not to over complicate the frame. Remove unwanted clutter and remove superfluous items.
5. Look for even illumination across an elevation and beware the elevation that’s half in shadow. Try to shoot either early morning or late evening when the the light is more sympathetic.
6. If shooting whole elevations, don’t truncate the building, step back, use space and let the building breathe.
7. Photographs don’t always have to taken from eye level, look for elevation, this will give a better sense of proportion.
8. Keep looking. Your initial ideas and viewpoint may well encompass everything you want to say, but don’t rely on it. By changing position and watching how the light changes other shots may present themselves.
9. Be persistent. Successful photographs take time, so slow down and never rush a photograph. If the conditions are against you don’t succumb to the act of taking the image, return the next day, the next week; the building and architect deserve the best.
10. Shoot RAW files, use a prime aperture, use a tripod and endeavour to keep verticals true. Use your eyes and feet to compose the image before setting up the camera.
We’re very pleased to announce that the UK is taking part in the Wiki Loves Monuments photo contest again in 2018. Eligible subjects for you to photograph include all grades and categories of Listed buildings, plus Scheduled Monuments. See our eligible subjects page for details.
Photos for the contest can be taken at any time, so get shooting now ready to enter your images in September!
When someone mentions mills you might think of picturesque windmills or massive textile mills of the Industrial Revolution. Both are often protected historic sites in the UK, and Wiki Loves Monuments has plenty of impressive photos.
In October 2013, I received an unexpected email. A photo I had taken of the Albert Memorial and submitted to Wiki Loves Monuments UK had placed in the Top Ten as a Highly Commended photo.
I was shocked. Never in a million years had I expected one of the four photos I had submitted to the competition to place in the Top Ten.
The reason why – I was an amateur photographer, who had only received their first DSLR about six months earlier. I was still learning how to use certain components of the camera and my editing skills were shaky at best.
The photo that had placed, had been taken on an early June evening as my daughter and I wandered around Kensington Gardens, ahead of a performance we were to be attending at the Royal Albert Hall. I had noticed the tourists walking around the monument and taking photos, but I didn’t want to take the typical tourist shot, I wanted a different perspective of it, I wanted it to be different.
I couldn’t tell you now, what led me to that spot or even why. All I know was I saw an opportunity at that point for a different vantage point, a different perspective. With the branches and leaves of the tree framing the memorial and the low evening sun behind it, I took my chance and got the shot.
In my eyes, the photo wasn’t anything special. It had been shot on Auto and in JPEG as at the time I was too new and too scared to try to use manual or any other file type. Even so, I was pleased with the photo I had captured.
However, it seemed the judges of the UK National competition of Wiki Loves Monuments did think it was something special.
Knowing this, it gave me a boost in my confidence in my skills and potential as a photographer. It also gave me something to focus on, an interest in which to take photos – architecture.
Since 2013, I have continued to pursue my interest in photography, slowly improving my skills. I have also continued to partake in the competition, which led to one of my photos placing second internationally in 2014. I have had many of my photos which I have submitted also used across Wikipedia, despite them not placing in the competitions.
My message to those amateur photographers who are too nervous to compete against professionals, please don’t be. I am proof that someone with limited knowledge of photography can create a special shot and place within a competition. However, even if your photos do not place, you are helping to build a collection of images of important historic buildings and an amazing resource for future generations.
This is even more important than ever with wars and natural disasters threatening and destroying historic architecture across the world. A prime example of this is the partial destruction of the Old City of Aleppo because of the Syrian Civil War. Thankfully, Wikipedia has numerous photos of the beautiful city from before its destruction. Therefore, if you can capture a photo of a Listed Building, then please do. You never know how important that one photo will be.
The First World War caused carnage on a scale not seen before or since. In its aftermath, thousands of memorials were erected in Britain as in the other countries involved. They started as a way for communities to mourn their dead, given that the vast majority of bodies were never repatriated, and became a focal point for local remembrance ceremonies which continue a century on.
I have been editing Wikipedia since 2009 with a particular interest in military history. About two years ago, I was looking for a project related to the First World War centenary and noticed that Wikipedia’s coverage of war memorials was patchy. I decided to start with the works of Edwin Lutyens.
Lutyens is probably best known today for his country houses, but the war profoundly affected him and much of his work from 1914 onwards focused on commemorating the casualties. He designed around 50 memorials in towns, cities, and villages across England as well as one in Wales and dozens of memorials and cemeteries in France and Belgium. His most famous memorial in Britain is the Cenotaph on London’s Whitehall and this served as the model for many of his other works, including memorials in Southampton, Rochdale, and Manchester. I began by creating articles for those of Lutyens’ memorials that didn’t already have one, starting with the Gerrards Cross Memorial Building.
I started there because I’d been to Gerrards Cross with a friend and fellow Wikipedian Chris McKenna and because it’s an anomaly among Lutyens’ memorials (it was the only war memorial he designed with a functional purpose). Being a perfectionist and having a full-time job, it took me a few months but all 43 of Lutyens’ free-standing war memorials in Britain now have a Wikipedia article and I’m working my way through those that already had articles. These are taking longer because they tend to be big city centre monuments with a lot of detail to cover. So far I’ve taken five war memorial articles (Northampton, Devon County, Spalding, North Eastern Railway, and York City) to featured article status, the highest level of recognition an article can be granted by the community, which comes after months of detailed review and criticism. Eventually, I’m hoping that those will be joined by several more and that these can be showcased on Wikipedia’s main page, hopefully on major anniversaries.
Well, war memorials are everywhere. Even tiny rural villages often have a war memorial and in my opinion these are often more poignant than many of the memorials in big cities – in some cases, you can see more names on the memorial than houses in the village, which truly shows the scale of the First World War. The simplest and easiest way to get involved is to take a photo of your local war memorial or any other war memorial you pass. The good news is that many of them are listed buildings and Historic England are listing more throughout the centenary, which means you can enter photos of them into the Wiki Love Monuments Competition. It is the world’s largest photography competition, and was started to share images of our heritage. If you add your photos of war memorials near you, you are helping the whole world share in this important part of history.
For the more adventurous, many of the listed memorials will be notable enough that you can write a Wikipedia article about them. Memorials in big cities or by famous architects will probably already have an article but there might be new information you can add. There are over 1500 memorials currently listed and Historic England are aiming to list another 1000 – there will presumably be dozens or hundreds more in Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland – so the chances are you won’t have to look far from home for inspiration.
The Royal Albert Hall is best known for hosting the “BBC Proms”, a summer festival of classical music concerts. Opened in 1871, it stands 83m wide by 72m deep and 41m high, with capacity for over 5000 guests. As fitting for Victorian Britain, the hall is ornately decorated, with red and gold the dominant colours. The fibreglass acoustic diffusing discs, normally beige, are here coloured by violet LED lights.
The building is only open to the public when attending a concert or on a guided tour, neither of which afford the time or opportunity to take high quality photographs. Fortunately, the RAH takes part in Open House London, an annual architecture festival where over 800 buildings are opened for free to the public over one weekend in September.
As a photographer in London, Open House is one of my favourite weekends of the year. The focus of the event is architecture, both modern and historical. Some buildings have extremely limited access, with a ballot run to award tickets. For example, access to 10 Downing Street or going up the BT Tower, but this also includes many small places that could not handle large crowds such as private residences. Other buildings are extremely popular, with huge queues to access. The Gherkin (30 St Mary Axe) is a prime example, as it can only handle 30 visitors at a time. Many though are more reasonable in terms of queues and volume of guests.
I decided to visit the Royal Albert Hall on Open House Saturday last year and joined the relatively short queue to enter at 9:30. Guests were guided round a set route which took in most areas of the building, including access to selected areas of seating on most levels. Photographically, this was a big advantage as the downside to Open House is that fellow visitors crowd in front of the camera, providing not only a distraction to the eye but also making long-exposure photography very tricky. Here, though, it was possible to photograph the hall without visitors appearing in the frame.
The image above is not a single photograph, but is stitched together from 21 frames. In fact, I took around 40 frames that cover a wide and tall area, and this is just a crop of the full stitched image. In order that the frames align correctly without parallax errors, one needs to use a special panoramic head on top of a tripod. This equipment ensures the camera rotates around the “entrance pupil” of the lens, which is where the light rays cross before being focused onto the sensor. The frames are stitched together on a computer, using a software package called PtGui.
One problem with photographing interiors is the extremes of brightness from the dark corners to the bright lights or windows. This is too much for a single photograph to handle with current technology. To get round this, I took three photographs for each frame, at 1/3s, 1.3s and 5s. These three exposures are combined by PtGui to produce a High Dynamic Range (HDR) image. This is then converted back to a standard JPG file with Photoshop Lightroom, using a technique called tonemapping.
The result is an image with far higher resolution, much lower noise, and better lighting control than could be achieved with even the most expensive camera in a single shot. It is time-consuming both to take and to develop afterwards, but this effort paid off with second prize in last year’s Wiki Loves Monuments international awards.
September has started which can only mean on thing: it is time for Wiki Loves Monuments 2020.
We also have a special prize for the best photograph of a site in Scotland, courtesy of 
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