Foto Friday – David Shankbone’s Jerusalem

May 22, 2009 - 11:42 PM by Rachel Neiman · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Art, Blogging, Foto Friday, General, History and Culture

David Shankbone is a photographer, writer and vice-president of non-profit organization Wikimedia New York City, Inc. He has also, for the last three years, engaged in a public art project on Wikipedia, in which he has released all his photography on topics ranging from landscapes and cityscapes to celebrity portraits, for the public to use. As Shankbone puts it, “I set out on a project to create a body of high-resolution work whose copyright allowed the public to reproduce it, even alter it, without my permission. Even for commercial purposes, as long as nobody’s personality rights are violated.”

“The totality of the work is a documentation of human existence” states Shankbone, who has photographed everything “from subway stations to Kanye West; from Madison Avenue to Madonna; from the Rocky Mountains of Colorado to the hills of southern Lebanon.” And, as of this past March, Israel, where he was invited as a guest of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For his project, Shankbone snapped pictures of Jerusalem that are illustrative…

and poetic…

…ranging from the Old City…

…to the New…

…the past — and possibly the future!

Shankbone’s Wikipedia work is an amazing resource, giving users the benefit of being able to use work from a photographer who is both skilled technically, and an artist in terms of effect and composition.

They can also benefit from his news-savvy. On Wikinews, which is Wikipedia’s news arm, Shankbone has posted over 40 interviews with global cultural leaders. A story about the project entitled, “Why Shimon Peres sat down with David Shankbone” is definitely worth a read as it explains a bit about his history and the project.

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