Central Park is in the commons.

In the summer of 2006, somewhat inspired by Garrett Hardin’s essay The Tragedy of the Commons, I set out on a project to create my own ‘commons’: a body of high-resolution photography copyrighted to allow the public to use it, even alter it, without my permission.

Educational institutions, community newspapers, authors, blogs, the independent press and other groups who can not afford Getty need quality stock photography.  Very few have the time or money to hunt down and negotiate for affordable images.

Natural, candid images were preferred over the fake world airbrushing and Photoshop have given my mind’s eye.  I set out to see–record–things for myself.  And to share what I found.

Wikipedia made a good platform because there were so few free photos available in 2006.  It needed endless images: People, emotions, buildings, engineering, expressions, conflicts and every ‘thing’ in sight.

Nobody–presidents, poets, porn stars–was off-limits.

With Billy Name, Warhol's Factory photographer, in his kitchen in Poughkeepsie.

The Wikimedia Commons project ended in the fall of 2009.  Below are galleries that provide select examples, but the totality of the work is found throughout Wikipedias in over 250 languages, illustrating tens of thousands of Wikimedia project pages.  It has also been used by the New York Times, Vanity Fair, the Weekly Standard, Wonkette, Last Call with Carson Daily, the Miami Herald, Bloomberg News and countless others.

It is work that you now share in the ownership.  Just don’t violate anyone’s personality rights.

New photography is hosted at my Creative Commons Flickr Photostream.  Recent CC portraits include the Time 100, the Tribeca Film Festival and Joan Jett.

Click below to see 100 of my favorite portraits: