This article was reviewed by member(s) of WikiProject Articles for creation. The project works to allow users to contribute quality articles and media files to the encyclopedia and track their progress as they are developed. To participate, please visit the project page for more information.Articles for creationWikipedia:WikiProject Articles for creationTemplate:WikiProject Articles for creationAfC articles
This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
Hi, Iamjessklein. As Rabbi Posner has died, and all the sources are conventional media, I don't think your chances of finding a published photo under a suitable license are very good. I'd try contacting the temple at which he worked (they do not seem to have posted an e-mail address, but there is a phone number at the bottom of this page; Rosiebeeme, if you live nearby, an in-person visit might work better). There is probably someone there who has taken a photo of him and would be willing to donate it.
I'd strongly suggest that you ask the photographer to create an account and use the Upload Wizard to upload it themselves, as this is actually easier for them than uploading it yourself and putting them through the OTRS copyright license permissions system. It may be helpful to reassure them that they do not need to provide any personal information to create an account, and that Wikipedia is a democratic website, and thus does not do objectionable things with its users' personal data. If the photo is not digital, and they do not have a scanner, the library does (and the temple may, too). Some people have taken huge numbers of useful photos that they could upload to Commons and tag; it's an easy way to contribute to Wikipedia (as is tagging existing photos).
Ah. I just searched "David Posner" on Commons, and the third hit was File:RabbiPosner.jpg. Unfortunately, it seems that the uploader was RosieBeeme, not the photographer. The copyright would normally be held by the person who took the photo, and only they can give permission. In this case, since the photo was taken by a wedding photographer, they may have contractually assigned their copyright to the wedding couple (in which case they would have to give copyright permission). If a copyright holder dies, their heirs inherit the copyright and can give permission. You will need to find out who holds the copyright in the photograph, and use the Commons:OTRS system to allow them to give permission for its use.
I'm sorry. This is a ridiculous amount of bureaucracy for a thirty-year-old photo of no particular financial value. It is not imposed by Wikipedia policy, but by modern copyright, which is hard to change. If you'll look at the History of copyright law of the United States, you'll see that the copyright term of that photo would have expired by now under all the laws prior to those of 1976. Hopefully we will eventually have better ways of funding photographers, which don't prevent people from doing eminently socially-unobjectionable things like adding that photo to this article. HLHJ (talk) 20:27, 9 November 2019 (UTC)[reply]
