Karen Strunks Professional Birmingham-based Freelance Photographer

Birmingham 4am Project – A night at the museum!

Okay, at last I can announce what is happening in Birmingham for the 4am Project on Sunday 4th April at 4am. So sorry for the delay in announcing, but I didn’t get it all confirmed in full until yesterday.

We are having a Night At The Museum! The Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery to be precise. I had a chat with the City Of Culture Bid team and they have kindly helped out.

The 4am Project is a global photography project that aims to capture a view of the world at the often unseen time of 4am. What’s YOUR view of the world at 4am?

A few people have asked if there are any limits on numbers of attendees. Yes and no. Please read on….

I’m encouraging as many people who want to take part to come along! The 4am Project is a collaborative project and is open to any one who would like to join in.

The museum & art gallery is going to be especially staffed by two security guards (many thanks to them for being willing to get up!). Due to this, health and safety and insurance reasons, there is a limit as to how many people can actually enter the museum and art gallery at the same time. This number is 12. Also we will not have the full run of the museum, but will have access to the round room, the two hallways that lead off from that, the Victorian tea room, and there is a great long balcony that runs around the top of one of the galleries and the tea room too, giving a great vantage point! Plus there are some beautiful stained glass windows which I am told look amazing at night as they are lit from behind by the outside street lighting.

At this point I have NO idea how many people will attend. It’s quite short notice so that could play a factor, but then we have the wonderful power of the internet, so the new could really spread! Another thing is that it is a bank holiday weekend, so many people that would like to come along may be away on a break out of town, or the opposite could be true, people are staying at home over the Easter break and are looking for something to participate in! Who knows!

Here’s the plan!

We meet outside the main entrance to the Museum at 3.45am. (see red dot on the map below) We count how many 4am photographers there are and allocate time slots. For example if 20 people attend, we can make two groups, and one group can have access to the museum for 30 mins, then the second group as we have between 4am-5am to take photographs for the 4am Project. This way it will be fair to everybody.

Of course, we don’t only just have access to the museum, there are the streets and squares surround the area too, which haven’t been photographed at 4am! It’s a great chance to explore the heart of Birmingham at a unique time of day!

You can also view the map online here.

I really hope you can attend on 4th April and have fun taking part in the 4am Project. Thank you to the City Of Culture Bid team for helping out!

If you have any questions you can tweet me, drop me an email hello@karenstrunks.com or call 07835 754 310

If you are interested in the Press Release about the 4am Project you can find it here, on the 4am Project website. And a big thank you to Big Cat PR who are doing a great job at getting the word out world wide about the project! And not forgetting of course 4iP and Screen West Midlands whose investment is helping the project grow and reach a world wide audience.

I did an interview with the Birmingham News Room yesterday about the 4am Project & Birmingham’s City Of Culture Bid. You may need to turn the volume up!

I am also pleased to announce that according the the BBC weather report, it’s going to be a clear, dry morning on Sunday! Yay! 

I look forward to meeting you on Sunday morning! Any questions, just get in touch.