Thirty Photos Later: My WP Credits Final Report

My name is David Fallas Morales, and this is my final report for the WP Credits program. Throughout this course, I contributed to the WordPress community by selecting, preparing, and submitting 30 original photographs to the WordPress Photo Directory.

My contributions focused mainly on photographs captured during my trip to Canada, including mountains, lakes, wildlife, nature, and city scenes. This report summarizes the work I completed, the challenges I encountered, the skills I developed, and what I learned about contributing to an open-source community.

Teams and Projects I Contributed To

My main contribution area was the WordPress Photos Team. My project consisted of submitting 30 original photographs to the WordPress Photo Directory, where they could become available for use by the WordPress community and the public.

I organized my submissions into batches of five photographs. Each image was reviewed and prepared according to the Photo Directory requirements before submission. Although nature photography became the main focus of my collection, I also contributed photographs of Calgary and other urban locations to provide some variety.

Learning Resources

Before beginning my contributions, I completed the onboarding courses provided through the WP “Credits program”. These resources introduced me to WordPress, open-source contribution, and the different teams and contribution opportunities available within the community.

I also used the “WordPress Photos Team Handbook”, the “Photo Directory Guidelines”, and the “Contributing Photos guide”. These resources helped me understand the submission process, image requirements, licensing, privacy considerations, and reasons why a photograph might be rejected. I also received guidance and support from my mentor, Dayana Vindas Sosa, throughout the project.

Challenges and Solutions

One of my first challenges was preparing my photographs in an appropriate file format. Many of my pictures were stored as HEIC files, which caused compatibility problems when uploading them. I resolved this by converting and exporting the selected images as JPEG files and checking each file before submission.

Another challenge was selecting city photographs that followed the Photo Directory guidelines. Some images were rejected because of strong light glare, image-quality problems, or people appearing in the background. After reviewing the feedback and guidelines, I searched through my albums for replacement photographs that met the requirements.

Time management was also important because I completed this project while working full-time, finishing my university degree while coordinating what I think is my biggest personal project so far. Dividing the project into batches of five photographs made the goal more manageable and allowed me to document my progress consistently through my blog.

My Contributions

I successfully submitted 30 original photographs to the WordPress Photo Directory. My collection includes Canadian landscapes, mountains, lakes, hiking trails, wildlife, city scenes, and roadside lookout points.

My complete contribution profile can be viewed here:

View my WordPress Photo Directory contributions

Each photograph was personally selected, prepared, described, and submitted for review. Once approved, the photographs became part of the directory’s collection of openly licensed images.

Key Learnings from the WP Credits Program

One of my main takeaways was that open-source contribution is not limited to programming. Photographers, translators, writers, designers, testers, and many other contributors can provide valuable work to an open-source project.

I also learned the importance of carefully following contribution guidelines. The moderation process helps maintain the quality of the directory while protecting privacy and ensuring that submitted photographs can be reused appropriately.

Finally, I learned that steady progress can make a large project more manageable. Submitting five photographs at a time allowed me to learn from each batch, respond to feedback, and eventually complete all 30 contributions.

New Skills Gained

Technical skills: WordPress website setup and customization, blog publishing, media management, HEIC-to-JPEG conversion, photo preparation, image-quality review, writing image descriptions and alternative text, and understanding open-content licensing.
Soft skills: Attention to detail, time management, adaptability, persistence, responding constructively to feedback, content curation, and documenting progress clearly.

Personal Reflections and Next Steps

This was one of the projects I enjoyed most during the semester because photography allowed me to make an original and personal contribution. Reviewing my Canada photographs also gave me an opportunity to revisit the places and experiences behind them. Nature photographs clearly ended up dominating the project, but the collection still includes a mixture of landscapes and city scenes.

I was surprised by how accessible the contribution process was and by the variety of ways people can support WordPress without writing code. I also appreciated how carefully photographs were reviewed, particularly regarding image quality and the privacy of people who might appear in them.

Although I have completed the required 30 photographs, I still have much to learn about WordPress. I plan to continue improving the design and organization of my blog, and it may look quite different in a few weeks or months. I may also submit more photographs from this trip or from future travels.

For now, however, the original goal is complete: 30 photographs contributed, several new skills gained, and one small corner of the internet filled with images from Canada.

– D.F