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This article would benefit from a photograph. I'm having trouble locating one with the appropriate licensing. Iamjessklein (talk) 15:15, 6 September 2019 (UTC)[reply]
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]
Thanks HLHJ (talk) - I will contact someone from the temple to see if they can get me in touch with a photographer who is **hopefully still living** Iamjessklein (talk) 14:53, 9 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
Great, Iamjessklein, best of luck with it. Sorry to be the bearer of bad news. Welcome to Wikipedia, by the way! HLHJ (talk) 03:56, 10 March 2020 (UTC)[reply]
