THANK YOU to everyone who has picked up their camera, taken part, spread the word, set their alarms, lost out on sleep and contributed to the 4am Project over the last 4 years! The project cannot happen without you!
Put the date in your diary! Set your alarm clock! Grab your camera! (And your birthday party hat!)
For…..
Sunday 14th April 2013 at…….4am!
What is the 4am Project?
The 4am Project is a ground-breaking global photography project that aims to encourage worldwide social collaboration to capture a view of the world at the often unseen time of 4am.
Since it’s launch in April 2009, the project has attracted participants from nearly 50 countries, and there is a digital archive of over 7000 images and is one of the biggest world-wide photography collaborations.
Why not flex your photography muscles with other photographers around the world at 4am (in your local time) on Sunday 14th April?
It’s a thought provoking project that inspires and challenges! Experience an often unseen time of the day and be part of a world wide community collaboration!
The event will take place at Birmingham Museum Collections Centre. This is a rare opportunity to photograph the wealth of archived articals and artifacts that are not on show to the public at the Birmingham Museum. From classic motor vehicals, to stuffed animals and interesting curiosities! It’s a huge place, with plenty to see and photograph. The Museums Collection centre usually only lets the public in 2 or 3 times a year, and have been kind enough to open it’s doors to the 4am Project this Saturday!
The 1.5 hectare site, close to Duddeston Station, holds hundreds of thousands of objects. Among the collections are steam engines, sculptures, an entire collection of Austin, Rover and MG motor cars, a red phone box and even a Sinclair C5
THERE ARE ONLY 30 TICKETS AVAILABLE on this occasion. Get your tickets now, first come, first served, and don’t forget to set your alarm clocks!
NOTE: Please upload your photographs to flickr and tag them 4amprojectand for this occasion, please also use the tagbmagas the City Of Culture bid team would like to showcase some of the photos from the event. For more instructions about flickr and tagging, please visit the 4am Project website.
There is a car park on the site, but please be on time as the car park will close and be locked for the duration of the event.
Can you believe it was this time last week when we were all getting ready to take photographs of our world at 4am?! Time sure does fly by!
What was fantastic this year was that even more photographers wanted to get together and meet up with other people in their areas and take part in a 4am photo walk! I did my best to try and help orchestrate that and put people in touch with eachother, but I’m hoping to have a dedicated page put on the website so people can add their towns/cities and add their names, which I think will really help everyone to get in touch with eachother for next time.
I am going to blog about those walks, and first up is the 4am photo walk that I organised in my home city of Birmingham, UK.
It was quite a chilly morning but 23 hardly photographers turned up in time for 4am armed with their cameras and tripods.
The first (and third) videos were made by the City Of Culture team & it was a video that went out to announce the ‘Night At The Museum’ The 2nd video is one I made and I asked participants how they had heard about the 4am Project and if they enjoyed themselves!
Sit back, relax and take a few minutes to watch all the beautiful images of 4am in Birmingham.
Thank you to everyone who supported the project and came out to take part in the Birmingham event!
It’s been an exciting week, and I am delighted to be able to announce that 4ip and Screen West Midlands are supporting the 4am Project!
4ip is part of Channel 4 which helps to support and invest in digital media enterprises, and Screen West Midlands offers support, advice and funding for film, television and digital media.
4ip and Screen West Midlands investment and business support is a great boost for the 4am Project which will soon entering it’s second year! (My, how time flies!)
To the question that we always address when we announce a new investment, why 4iP? For me the 4am Project is a collaborative project that takes art to the mainstream; everyone has a camera, whether you’re passionate about your darkroom, or snapping something on a mobile phone, we are now able to capture every minutiae of our busy lives and share them with the wider world. The element of the 4am Project that really works for me is its focus. What do people see at a particular time on a particular day? At its core this is a project that is about collaboration, participation and discoverability. It’s also an example of an existing site that fits with our criteria beautifully. In order to continue to grow and capitalise on the success that it’s already achieved, the 4am Project needed both financial and business support. Through an initial project investment we’re able to help take Karen and her project to the next stage and a wider audience.
Along with the support from 4ip and ScreenWM, the outcome and ideas generated at the Crossover Lab course I attended recently and my own plans, it’s going to be a very busy and creative year!
I’ve got stuck in already and my days are whizzing past with uber productivity. This productivity is taking the form of lots of; phone calls, emails, meetings, tweeting, blogging, phone calls & emails. I’m enjoying meeting new people, whether that be online or in person. Connecting with people who love the idea of the 4am Project and want to help support it and people who have their own projects & dreams that they are working on which creates inspiration.
Last April I made a video (well, three videos actually!) about how the 4am Project started, how I spread the word, the help I received and problems encountered (and overcome!).
On the 4th Arpil 2010 the 4am Project will be celebrating it’s first birthday! Why not try something different, join other photographers from around the globe and take a photograph of your world at 4am! Get your friends involved, go on a 4am photo walk, explore your neighbourhood at an often unseen time!
If you would like to support the project by sponsorship, donating prizes for participants or you would like to contribute an idea, it would be great to hear from you. Drop me a line hello@4amproject.org or get in touch on twitter.
