The Wiki Loves Monuments competition has begun this Friday, 14th September. We chose this
date as it is the beginning of a month-long holiday
period and especially as it is the beginning of the extended weekend of the Jewish new
year.
We marked the opening of the competition with three tours in areas with
high saturation of heritage sites and monuments – the agricultural village of
Mikveh Israel near Tel Aviv;
the German Colony in Haifa and the old city of Safed.
These three tours are the first of 25 tours around the country (and four
more tours are in planning stages) to which 310 people have registered so far.
The tours are the fruit of joint collaboration with the Council for
Preservation of Heritage Sites and are guided by expert guides provided by the
Council.
Images of the tour to Mikveh Israel:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_in_Isr…
The first Wiki Loves Monuments event in Israel took place last Friday
when a photography workshop was held by the Galitz school of photography in
which tips were given for taking quality pictures focusing on composition and
lighting of images. An additional workshop is scheduled for next Friday. A
total of 90 people have registered for both workshops.
Images of the first workshop:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_in_Isr…
We also attended the Israeli Photography Conference – an annual
conference held at the Tel Aviv Basketball Stadium – attended by about 4000
amateur and professional photographers (this year the key note speaker was Spencer
Tunick). We operated an information booth regarding the competition and more
than 500 photographers visited our booth, viewed the winning pictures from last
year's competition, and took our information leaflet and a complimentary
Wikipedia pen. This booth had very high visibility and achieved outreach to
specific, relevant, target audience. Images of the booth:
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Wiki_Loves_Monuments_2012_in_Isr…
We hope that the successful opening events are the beginning of a
fruitful and successful competition and wish you all a happy New Year.
Deror