Wiki Loves Art Photography Contest

24 Oranges, a fun, English-language blog about Dutch culture, blogged today about a photo competition that has museums opening their doors to camera-wielding amateur photographers. The contest is called Wiki Loves Art (Dutch site), and the intention appears to be to create a collection of Creative Commons images from various Dutch museums to be used in Wikipedia. Contestants can enter photographs under a Creative Commons by-sa (attribution, share-alike) license for the chance to win 500 Euros to be spent on photographic equipment. The contest is running the entire month of June.

While I’m not a great photographer, I may enter the contest just for the chance to take some photos inside museums that normally do not permit that behavior. I respect that many art pieces can be damaged by too much photography (flash exposure, etc), but limited bursts of activity like this seem relatively harmless and provide a great way for individuals to increase access to their cultural histories.