Yes! You heard it right! The 4am Project is about to hit Manhattan. This is probably the project’s (and my!) biggest goal to date.

I am so delighted to be able to bring the 4am Project to the heart of New York City. 

Times Square will be pumping with energy and will promise some stunning images to early morning photographers who want to capture the exhilarating activity in a 24 hour city.

If you are a New Yorker with an interest in the unusual (and perhaps mild insomnia) come and take part in this  innovative global photography project to record and document the world before dawn.

I’m going to be hosting a special event in the beating heart of Manhattan that is Times Square at 4am on October 17th, and I’m inviting bleary eyed photographers on an exhilarating early morning photography walk to capture images of the city that never sleeps.

I hope you can join me and other New York photographers in this extraordinary photo walk at the ‘crossroads of the world’.

The 4am Project is an exercise in global solidarity to encourage the sharing of visual imagery that reflects the world we live in. This is the Project’s second year,  and word has spread like wildfire, with people picking up their cameras in over 40 countries across the globe including UK, Brazil, Italy, China, Swaziland, Libya, Germany, Laos and the USA.

It’s a worldwide collaborative experience, aiming to capture a time of day that many people rarely see.  At the heart of the 4am project is the aim to bring both photographers and non-photographers together, to create a global community which demonstrates how amazing our surrounding landscapes can be.

EVENT DETAILS

Time: 3.45 AM on Sunday 17th October

Meeting Place: Outside the New York Police Station on Times Square

Event ends at 5am, though I suggest it would be a nice opportunity to grab a coffee and meet the 4am Photographers!

Don’t forget your camera!

Tell your friends too!

Looking for the Press Release? You can find it here.

Follow the 4am Project on Twitter. My number whilst in NYC is (001) 646 233 3478

Karen

 Photograph by Hrish Thota

As you can see from Hrish’s slide show, 4am in the market place is very busy indeed! For these market workers, 4am isn’t an unusual time. They regularly set their alarm clocks and are working hard whilst most of us sleep.

Who will you meet at 4am? Will you have your neighbourhood to yourself? Will you get together with other photographers? Let me know your plans!

Karen

Twitter |Facebook |Flickr

Thank you to everyone who were awake enough to grab their camera and take a snapshot of this historic occasion!

By Kinky Fantastic - The Times Newspaper newsroom

By Kate Day - The Telegraph Newspaper Office

By Dave Harte

By Pete Flint Murray

By Mike Priddy

By Olympus User

By Ilicco

By Narflet

By Ulleskelf

By Andy Broomfield

By Rachel Creative

By Emmander

By Ben Whitehouse

By Jaki Booth

Follow the 4am Project on Twitter.

Karen

I had 24 prizes in total and selected my favourite 24 4am photographs out of over 1500 that were submitted from around the world! Everyone was invited to vote for the photo they liked the best. You can view the poll results here. And if you would like to know a bit of background on the prizes and my selection process, I have written about it over on my personal blog. 

Here are the fab prizes that were on offer: 

1st Prize: from Nikon D90 Camera with 18-105mm lens (worth £1029.99) 

2nd Prize: 30″ x 36″ photo canvas 

3rd Prize: 50 page 30cm x 30cm photo book 

4th Prize: 24″ x10″ photo canvas (2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes from Photocreator) 

5th through to 24th Prizes: Packet of 20 postcard for you to put your images on from Moo 

Thank you to Nikon, Photocreator and Moo for the prizes! 

And a big thank you to everyone who took part in the 4am Project! The project is growing all round the year and is a date for the diary for photographers from around the world. 

I’m already being asked when the next 4am Project date is, which is a wonderful compliment.  Please watch this space, or follow the project on Twitter or Facebook for 4am photo highlights and the lastest 4am news. 

So, without further ado, here are the prize winning photos!  

1st Prize – Nikon D90 Camera with 18-105mm lens 

Photo 10 By Nandor Hargita, Budapest

2nd Prize – 30″ x 36″ photo canvas from Photocreator 

Photo 14 By Matt Allen, Ipswich, USA

3rd Prize – 50 page 30cm x 30cm photo book from Photocreator. 

Photo 2 by Fran, Birmingham UK

4th Prize – 24″ x10″ photo canvas from Photocreator 

Photo 21 By Yashwanth Madhusudan, Bangalore, India

And, in no particular order, the following 20 photographers will win a pack of 20 customizable postcards from Moo! 

Photo 1 By Sal Olivas, West Covina, USA

Photo 3 By Rene Segura, Santa Maria, USA

Photo 4 By Creepeh Sue, Hongdae, South Korea

Photo 5 By Gaurav Patel, London, UK

Photo 6 by Dale Shephard, Wolverhampton, UK

Photo 7 By Derek Shanks, Toronto, Canada

Photo 8 By Jeanne Brophy, San Francisco, USA

Phot 9 by Jean Marie Jenanji, Dubai, UAE

Photo 11 By Cerealboxstar, Manila, Philippines

Photo 12 By Luis Amaral, Lisbon, Portugal

Photo 13 By Andrew Stuart, Llandudno, Wales

Photo 15 By Egneg, Birmingham UK

Photo 16 By Andy Toots, Warwickshire, UK

Photo 17 By Steve Anderson, Sweden

Photo 18 By Strawbleu, Leeds, UK

Photo 19 By Miki Ballard, Fairview, USA

Photo 20 By Kat De'Vries, San Diego, USA

Photo 22 By Adrian Burrows, Frankley Beeches, UK

Photo 23 By Vladimir Morozov, Birmingham, UK

Photo 24 by hanung665, Jakarta, Indonesia

Save the 4am Project on your favourites or subscribe to the blog’s RSS Feed. I’ve got lots of blog posts coming up, including the most recent 4am Project event that was held on 24th April in my home city of Birmingham UK which formed part of Birmingham’s City Of Culture bid for 2013! 

Karen

NEWS JUST IN! Birmingham UK 4am event!

The 4am Project will be hosting a special 4am event this Saturday 24th April (at 4am!) on behalf of the Birmingham City of Culture bid!

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!

From the Birmingham Museum Collections Centre website:

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 4amproject and for this occasion, please also use the tag bmag as 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.

Please visit Eventbrite to register for you free ticket!

I hope you can come along, experience the 4am Project and meet other photographers!

Follow the 4am Project on twitter!

Karen

And now it’s over to you!

Which is your favourite 4am photograph?

There are 24 photos and 24 prizes, so every photographer will win a prize.

Here is what is on offer:

1st Prize: from Nikon D90 Camera with 18-105mm lens (worth £1029.99)

2nd Prize: 30″ x 36″ photo canvas

3rd Prize: 50 page 30cm x 30cm photo book

4th Prize: 24″ x10″ photo canvas (2nd, 3rd, 4th prizes from Photocreator)

5th through to 24th Prizes: Packet of 20 postcard for you to put your images on from Moo

Big thank you to Nikon, Photocreator and Moo for the prizes!

Pop over to this page to see more details and pictures of the prizes.

SO! What do you have to do now?

Have a look at all the great 4am images below, chose your favourite and give it your vote!

Voting will be open until Midnight (Greenwich Mean Time)  on Monday 19th April. The photograph with the most votes at the end of the voting period will win first prize, and so forth.

You can only vote once from your computer, this is to avoid multiple votes from the same computer. However, you can of course rally round support from your friends and family and all your friends on flickr, twitter, facebook etc!

Thanks again to everybody who has ventured out to photography their world at 4am. I wish I had enough prizes for everybody!

Photo 2 by Fran, Birmingham UK

Photo 3 By Rene Segura, Santa Maria, USA

Photo 4 By Creepeh Sue, Hongdae, South Korea

Photo 5 By Gaurav Patel, London, UK

Photo 6 by Dale Shephard, Wolverhampton, UK

Photo 7 By Derek Shanks, Toronto, Canada

Photo 8 By Jeanne Brophy, San Francisco, USA

Phot 9 by Jean Marie Jenanji, Dubai, UAE

Photo 10 By Nandor Hargita, Budapest

Photo 11 By Cerealboxstar, Manila, Philippines

Photo 12 By Luis Amaral, Lisbon, Portugal

Photo 13 By Andrew Stuart, Llandudno, Wales

Photo 15 By Egneg, Birmingham UK

Photo 16 By Andy Toots, Warwickshire, UK

Photo 17 By Steve Anderson, Sweden

Photo 18 By Strawbleu, Leeds, UK

Photo 19 By Miki Ballard, Fairview, USA

Photo 20 By Kat De'Vries, San Diego, USA

Photo 21 By Yashwanth Madhusudan, Bangalore, India

Photo 22 By Adrian Burrows, Frankley Beeches, UK

Photo 23 By Vladimir Morozov, Birmingham, UK

Photo 24 by hanung665, Jakarta, Indonesia

Enjoy the photos & happy voting!

Karen

I probably shouldn’t say much more than that at this point.

Just grab a drink, get comfortable and enjoy the view of the world at 4am on 4th April!

So, it’s the day after the morning before and I’m still catching up on the wonderful photo submissions from participants from countries such as Australia, UK, USA, Portugal, India, Philippines, Brazil, Canada, and Korea to name just a few! Over 1100 images of 4am have been submitted from 4th April alone!

THANK YOU to everyone who set their alarms or stayed up to meet 4am and took part in the project. Your support & enthusiasm has been amazing! I’ve had some great feedback from you, and it really means a lot.

This event marked the 4am Project’s first birthday and it is going from strength to strength. With the addition of help in the form of investment from 4ip and Screen West Midlands, the 4am Project has been able to reach out to even more people around the world!

Don’t forget there are some prizes on offer! Thank you to Nikon, Photocreator and Moo.

Come and say hello on twitter!

Karen

This first one entitled Mountain Moon, was taken in Blairsville, North Georgia, USA. He has captured quite a beautiful and haunting scene with the moon peaking through the trees and the clouds highlighted by the light.

This second photograph was taken by the Alafia River near Tampa Florida. What a dramatic image! At first glance it looks as though a forest is on fire! I think it captures the feel of danger, excitement and intrigue. Would you step further into the wood….?

Paul has captured two glorious nature scenes. What will you capture at 4am? Remember to put 4th April in your diary & join in with other photographers around the world!

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!