Karen Strunks Professional Birmingham-based Freelance Photographer

Birmingham Twitter Flash Mob – Sat 21st Feb

UPDATE: Flash tweeters! Pre flash mob meet will be near entrance to St Phillips Cathedral in ‘pigeon park’ 11.45. For map click HERE . If you don’t know who you are looking for, I shall either be wearing a red coat and/or red shoes lol. See you later! Don’t forget your twitter signs!
 
Please follow @karenstrunks or @flashtweet The meeting place will be announced early on Saturday morning on Twitter

This idea was created out of a recent conversation I had with Pete Ashton about social media and photography. As with my B4AM project, I wanted something that could involve other people, and thus Birmingham Twitter Flash Mob was born!

Where: Birmingham City Centre – exact location will be advised nearer the time

When: Saturday 21st February 2009

Time: 11.45 meet for midday Flash Mob

Who: Twitterers!

What: Simply a flash mob of Twitterers in Birmingham City Centre. At midday, the mob will stand still for two or three minutes, and produce signs saying “I’m a twitterer”, “Twitter rocks”, “tweet tweet”, you get the idea.

Why: For fun! Well, let me expand on that a bit more……

I love Twitter. And most people I know that use Twitter love it too.

I consider myself very new to this thing called Social Media. My interpretation of social media may not be the same as other peoples, but for me it’s something online (such as twitter, myspace, facebook, flickr, youtube etc) where you can interact with people. Connect. Swap ideas. Make comments. Debate.

I’ve been trying to use social media more in my photography, to generate interest and interaction with others by asking people to vote on where I will go for my next B4AM (Birmingham at 4am) outing. I’m just guessing at things as I go along. “Will this new website be just what I’m looking for? I’ll give this a go! I wonder what will happen if I try out this idea? Now, if I mix this and this together, what will the result be?” It’s all a bit of trial and error, but it’s a good way of learning what works and what doesn’t.

But, of all the social media tools that I use, Twitter is my NO.1! It’s opened up a whole new world to me. I am connecting with people (online and in person) that without Twitter, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t meet, or if I did, it would take a very long time; like minded people, and people that share my interests, even some that don’t but they are interesting people.

Twitter is fast, it’s instant. Follow people, make friends, connect, throw out ideas, ask questions, invite people to events, share your events with other people, play games, tell people what you had for lunch, tell them about your favourite film…….. I could go on!

Twitter asks a simple question: What are you doing? What ARE you doing? Tweet it! Share.

Haven’t got a Twitter account yet? Sign up for a free account HERE. And start tweeting. If you don’t know anyone to follow yet, you can follow me. THIS is a useful tool you can use to find people living near you, and people with whom you share interests.

 

So to answer the WHY: To celebrate Twitter, and spread the word!

What I would like you to do now: A few things. Let me know if you are interested in joining in. Leave a comment on this blog, or send me a message on twitter. It would be good to have a rough idea of how many people are likely to turn up. If you have any questions, you may leave them in a comment or tweet me.

Make a sign! Use some of the suggestions above, or make up your own. Get creative! You will need this sign to ‘flash’ on the day. I have no budget for this I’m afraid, so cannot produce any fancy signage, but we are all individuals, so our signs can reflect that. Make them a decent size, I suggest approx A3, but also something that can be folded into a bag and whipped out at the right moment. I think it would be a nice touch to add ‘twitter.com’ to the bottom of the sign.

I will photograph the event, and maybe other people will too. I’d also like to make a video, so you must be comfortable with being photographed and being captured on film, as I will put the pics and tell the Birmingham Twitter Flash Mob Story on my blog/flickr/youtube etc, and the pics and film may get picked up by other websites. Just so you are aware.

Talking of filming. I’d like a couple of volunteers to film the event as I would like to make a short video. If you have a video cam, and feel like getting involved in this way, please get in touch!

I’d say allow about an hour of your time for the event. The actual ‘flash mob’ bit will last about two or three minutes, and you will be required to stand still and hold up your lovely sign. I will be encouraging everyone to head to the pub for a celebratory drink afterwards! (sorry, no budget for that either!). The exact location in Birmingham City Centre for the flash mob will be revealed nearer the date.

What to do in the meantime: Put the date in your diary. Spread the word! Tell your friends. Tweet it. I’d love for the Birmingham twitter community to get involved, as they are the reason why I love twitter so much.

I really hope you will join me. From my experience on Twitter so far, if anybody can make something happen, Twitterers can!

B4AM – Jewellery Quarter

Thank you for everyone who made suggestions about where I should go out to next. The majority of people suggested the Jewellery Quarter.

I went out on Monday morning. I set the alarm for 2am, and the first thing I did was check the weather. It was very mild with a tiny bit of rain which I thought would be manageable to work with.

Once again, I pretty much had the streets to myself. That’s one of the things I love about going out at 4am, as I’m sure I have mentioned before. To be in the second city and not seeing another soul is so rare, and feels like a secret…

I was very brave this time!! There is a graveyard on Pitsford Street, and I briefly ventured into it to take some pics. It isn’t gated (if it was I don’t think I would have ventured into it), and I didn’t go into it very far, just a few feet. I had an idea about using off camera flash for some shots. Unfortunately, there was so little light in the area, that my idea didn’t work and the pictures aren’t really usable. Oh well, I tried!

It wasn’t long before the rain got a lot heavier, and it really slowed my progress. I had to constantly wipe the lens dry and quickly take the shot, and repeat…… Because it was such slow going, and time was ticking on, I didn’t get as many shots in as many areas as I would have liked.

This is a year long project, and I am looking forward to seeing the change in seasons and the light as the months progress. I am sure by the summertime it will be very light.

So, here are this months pictures. I hope you enjoy them. Click on the picture to enlarge. Feel free to leave a comment or ask any questions.

Henrietta Street

Chamberlain Clock. I wanted to get this shot when the clock showed the time at 4am.

Key Hill Drive

St Paul’s Square

St Paul’s Square

St Paul’s Square. The gravestone reads ‘In Memory of Moses Barber, Police Officer, who departed this life June 16 1853, age 40 years’. I did a brief search online, but I couldn’t find any more details about Moses. If anyone knows of a good place to look, or knows anything more about Moses, could you let me know? I’m just curious.

Please vote for Created In Birmingham

Update: I’m very pleased to say that Created In Birmimgham won!

I would just like to ask you, dear reader, to vote for Created In Birmingham. CIB is nominated for the Best UK Blog in the 2008 Awards.

Created In Birmingham link together Birmingham’s creative and artistic community, and do a jolly good job of it too! I am grateful for CIB’s support, and if it wasn’t for them, this wouldn’t have happened. It was through CIB’s website that the magazine found me.

You don’t have to register to vote, and it only takes a few seconds. You can vote once every twenty four hours. Votes close on Tuesday January 13, 2009 at 10:00 p.m. Greenwich Mean Time (GMT), so there isn’t long to go now. It would mean a to the creative industries in Birmingham if Created In Birmingham won.

Please click HERE to be taken to the voting page. Thank you for your vote