Put the 4th April in your diary, start charging your camera batteries and join in the global photographic project! 

What’s your view of the world at 4am? 

Toa Payoh, Singapore by Mo Zhuang Ze

This next 4am event will mark  the 4am Project’s 1st birthday! Here’s how it all started……. 

My name’s Karen Strunks, and my curiosity about 4am began in 2008 

I live in Birmingham – the UK’s second largest city – and after a night out, I was driving from one side of the city to the other. It was around 4am and I was really struck by the cityscape. Streets and roads normally teeming with people and traffic were deserted. The city was asleep and it felt like I had it all to myself. I liked it. 

In 2008, I went out to take my first pictures at 4am in Birmingham. I’ve made some of them available on my blog. I’ve been asking readers of my blog for their suggestions of places they’d like to see at 4am. They decide where to go, and I take the photos, so it’s become a collaboration. 

When I started to think about how the idea could be extended, the 4amproject was born. 

I’d like to involve you in this project. What will YOU be doing at 4am on 4th April 2010? 

Put the date in your diary, set your alarm, and take a picture of your world at 4am. 

I’m going to get some friends together and go out and have a 4am party. Why not do the same? Get some of your friends and family involved too. Or simply set the alarm, take a picture, and go back to the land of nod. 

Whatever you’re doing, it’d be great if you could get involved and play a part in building up a big picture of the world at 4am. 

Crabs On Ice by Bruce Kerridge, Sydney, Australia

In the last year over 2,000 photographs have been taken by 4am project photographers from over 20 countries! People have blogged about their 4am experience, newspapers and magazines have written about it, there has even been radio and tv coverage! 

Anyone can take part, all you need is a camera, whether that be an dslr, a camera phone or anything in between! Just sign up for a free flickr account,  and tag your photos ‘4amproject’. The  Get Involved page has a few more details which you may find helpful. 

This year I am opening the door to sponsorship, advertising, and will be trying to source some prizes for ‘4am-ers’ so the project can grow and reach a wide audience, so if that’s something you are interested in, then please get in touch. 

Lonely Shooter by Luis Amaral, Portugal

If you have any questions or suggestions, you will find the 4am project on twitter, or you can send me an email hello@4amproject.org, and you can join the 4am Project group on Flickr too. I’d love to hear from you! 

There are a few little blips on the website at the moment, please bear with me whilst I get them fixed. 

Roll on the 4th April!

It’s Christmas eve, so it’s a good time to bring you some 4am festive photo treats!

By Michael1759 - Las Vegas

By Nicky Getgood - Kington

By Ian T Edwards - Birmingham

By Kington Town - Kington

By Kington Town - Kington

By cwcoates.t21 - Kington

By Nicky Getgood - Kington

By Nicky Getgood - Kington

By Nicky Getgood - Kington

Thanks again to everyone who took part on the 6th December. I’ll be blogging your pictures and blogs in the new year.

Remember to put the 4th April 2010 in your diary!

Merry Christmas everybody!

I’ve put together a round up of the 4am Project event on 6th December. Thank you to everyone who took part! Over the coming weeks I shall be featuring your fab photos on the blog and putting in links to the photographers who have blogged about their 4am photo experience.

As part of the 4am Project I organised a photo event on 6th December which was held at the Bodies Revealed exhibition in my hometown of Birmingham.  I’ve had lots of great feedback and I’m glad you enjoyed the event!

Lots of amazing photographs of the exhibition have been submitted to flickr!

I took the opportunity to ask some of the photographers how they heard about the 4am Project and if they enjoyed the event! Thank you everyone who took part in the video.

And there is more! Being a world wide project, lots of other photographers from around the world set their alarms and headed out in the wee small hours with their cameras to capture their world at 4am. Take a look!

If you would like to take part in the next 4am Project event, put the 4thApril in your diary! Maybe get some friends together too! You can keep up to date with all the 4am Project news on the website, and you can follow the project on twitter too @4amproject

A big thank you to the sponsors of the Birmingham event. Hello Digital, Big Cat PR and of course the Bodies Revealed exhibition.

Photograph by Supercoolkp

There are tons of fantastic shots, and I’ll feature them here on the blog.

The big build up now is for 4am on 4am on 4th April 2010, though there may be another date included between now and then

4:44 by Katy Parry

I would really appreciate your support and your vote for the 4am Project.

Visit the Digital Press Awards here - the voting area is on the bottom right hand corner.

Here is what I submitted to the awards:

I wish to nominate my global photography project: 4am Project.

The aim of the 4amproject is to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am.

Although it’s roots lie in Birmingham, the project is a worldwide community experience and aims to capture a time of day that many people rarely see. Building on the ever growing phenomenon of social media, the 4am Project is an exercise in global solidarity to encourage the sharing of visual imagery that reflects the world we live in.

The idea was born out of my ‘Birmingham At 4am’ project, where I have been going out at 4am to take pictures of the city centre. I wanted to share this experience and get other people involved.

I knew it would be a big task to get the word out worldwide and that social media tools would play a huge part in this. The social media tools I have utilized are a website, flickr, a blog, facebook, and twitter. By doing this I have taken an online idea and made it into offline mass participation event.

I am relatively new to social media having only ‘discovered’ it about 8 months ago, but by using these tools the 4am Project is an ongoing success.

The first 4am date was set for 4th April and over 18 countries have taken part so far such as Russia, Canada, USA, Australia, Malaysia, Sweden, and Brazil, and approx 1800 photos have been submitted. A new 4am date of 21st June has been set and once again I am utilizing these social media tools to spread the word.

I have received so much great feedback about the project. From people saying that they enjoyed experiencing theirs streets at a different time, to others saying it has helped them learn more about their cameras. Some said it has helped them embrace photography again. The beauty of the project is that anyone can take part. All they need is a camera. And a willingness to get up a 4am!

Thank you again to everyone who has supported the 4am Project, given their time, skills, advice and enthusiasm. I hope you can take part on the 21st June – at 4am of course!

Open image to print

Tell your friends about the 4am Project!

Please print it off  and put it up in your workplace, college, university, anywhere you like!

Interest in the next 4am Project on 21st June  is really growing, and it would be great to share the idea with your friends, family and colleagues. Let your community know about it, and share the 4am experience. Perhaps you could even arrange to meet up and go on a 4am photo walk together.

There are only 11 days to go until 4am on 21st June! Just right click and click on ’save as’ to save the poster to your computer to print off

Well, the voting has now closed for choosing a theme for the next 4am photo date. And it’s a draw between Shadows and Street Signs!

I’ve had a good think about it and instead of choosing one or the other….we shall go for both! They are both really good themes and you can choose whichever one you prefer, or both!

Thank you everyone for voting!

 Remember to put the 21st June in your diary, and tell your friends!

By Jennifer Maiser, San Francisco, California, USA

By Sérgio B, Lisboa, Portugal

Lunar Eclipse by Alex Crick

Canary Wharf, London by Abdul Haseeb Basit

Downtown Atlana, USA by Atlsat

Blue Water in Boise Idaho USA by Question Seven

Portland City Scape by Helen McConnell