Talk:Project grants/Photographing war memorials

Discussion

Fantastic proposal. Looks a really exciting prospect driving around the country photographing them all!! If this could compliment the Awaken the Dragon contest somehow and you do Wales too this would be great.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 22:32, 4 February 2016 (GMT)

If this did extend to Wales and WMUK covered that we could aim to get the ones listed at here photographed too. Photograph all of the war memorials and as you go from village to village try to get some of the missing listed buildings too if it doesn't require too much extra effort. Sionk and Ham should have a fuller list of missing photos by the end of the month. Over 1000 photographs on this would go an enormous way to improving the comprehension of the site and no doubt articles would be created on them all eventually. Exciting times.Dr. Blofeld (talk) 22:48, 4 February 2016 (GMT)

If you or anyone is aware of buildings (listed or otherwise) near any of the eixsting list of targets at User:HJ Mitchell/War memorials that need (more or better) photographs for Commons, please add them to the "Nearby" field for that target so we know about them when planning detailed routes. Likewise, if you know of any access or other issues, please update relevant parts of the table - doubly so if you have contacts at any of the places where access will need to be arranged in advance. Thryduulf (talk: local | en.wp | en.wikt) 22:56, 4 February 2016 (GMT)

Hi Harry, really good idea. Just one question, have you tried to source existing openly licensed images of the memorials missing pictures on Commons from Flickr or elsewhere? Stuart Prior (WMUK) (talk) 16:46, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

I've tried emailing Flickr users and owners of other photos I've found—I've been doing a lot of Google image searches because it's hard to write an article about a physical object when all you have is a written description—but I've had no responses. Likewise with a couple of local history societies and hobby sites. I've also scoured Geograph and imported a few photos from there to Commons, which has come up trumps a few times, but these tend to be low resolution and poor quality—take this one of Northampton's (a grade I listed building and one the most impressive memorials for a town) for example. To follow your line of thought a little further, the list at User:HJ Mitchell/War memorials (and Chris's excellent map) is divided by priority so that we can aim to fill in the most gaping holes and fill in others where possible on the way rather than travelling huge distances for something that's already well covered. Harry Mitchell (talk) 22:17, 11 February 2016 (GMT)

Excellent. A couple of other things occur to me; you could recruit editors around the country to photograph memorials local to them; a quick search reveals loads within walking distance of where I live in Hackney (apologies if this has already been suggested somewhere else, it seems fairly obvious). But also, the visiting of places w/memorials could also serve other projects collecting images of local objects/buildings and provide valuable content for them. I don't want to encourage mission creep, but if there are opportunities for maximising the amount of content gathered in one location without it taking too much time/cost, it would make sense to use them. Not to create or expand articles, but the uploads could be useful to others if they were notified. Stuart Prior (WMUK) (talk) 11:46, 17 February 2016 (GMT)

This is an exciting project and will work well in conjunction with Project grants/Books on war memorials. You've done/are doing a lot of research and I'm glad you plan to prioritise the gaps in coverage to maximise output. I'm not surprised that you've struggled to get anywhere with licensing existing photographs online, as I've had similar experiences; sometimes there is just no substitute for going to the place and taking the pictures yourself. Given the level of effort going into this, I would definitely recommend taking a higher-end camera (such as a DSLR) with you to get the best results. Wikimedia UK's Canon EOS 60D should preform well with its 18MP APS-C image sensor, even if its just used in auto mode. Make sure to have your memberships renewed for when the project starts as equipment is no longer generally loaned to non-members. Overall, I'm inclined to back this, but I will need to see a draft itinerary and a budget breakdown (not to the penny) before giving this proposal my formal support. CT Cooper · talk 03:19, 17 February 2016 (GMT)