Making money with free photos
Wikipedia and Wikimedia Commons are home to a number of expert photographers who contribute professional-quality freely licensed photos (see the 2009 Picture of the Year candidates on Commons, for example). But while free licenses make it easy for Wikipedia and other projects to use, distribute and modify these photos, they still allow the original authors to derive income from their work. Copyleft licenses—in particular, the GFDL and the Creative Commons Attribution Share-Alike licenses—have significant requirements that come with the right to freely use licensed works, and many people and organizations are unable or unwilling to meet these requirements. This is where entrepreneurial Wikimedian photographers step in, licensing their work in other ways—for a fee.
I spoke with two such Wikimedians to learn more about what it's like trying to make money through photography while contributing to Wikipedia. Diliff and Muhammad are both prolific contributors of Featured Pictures on the English Wikipedia, and have similar perspectives on the financial issues surrounding free photography.
