As part of the 4am Project I organised a photo event on 6th December which was held at the Bodies Revealed exhibition in Birmingham. The 4am Project my global photography which asks people to capture their view of the world at 4am.
Thank you to everyone who took part! I’ve had lots of great feedback and I’m glad you enjoyed the event.
Lots of amazing photographs 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
“ This Exhibition–which features actual human specimens–allows people of all ages access to sights and knowledge normally reserved only for medical professionals. Take the opportunity to peer inside yourself, to better understand how your elaborate and fascinating body works, and how you can become a more informed participant in your own health care.”
I had done my research before attending. I knew the subject matter, but I was more concerned with the technical aspects of photographing the ‘bodies’. What would the lighting be like? Would I need a tripod? I’ll bring one just in case. What lenses will I need? I filled my flash unit up with fresh batteries (but as it was I never used the flash). I made sure I had spare memory cards… all the sorts of things that go through a photographers mind before taking out the camera and clicking the shutter.
When I first walked into the exhibition, I was quite at ease with the ‘bodies’ and body parts surrounding me and got on with the task of taking great shots. However, it wasn’t until someone asked me to pose with one of the body’s that I started to feel a bit uneasy. It took a minute or two to get the shot (see below) and whilst I was looking the body in the straight in the eye, the strangest of feelings came over me. I could see every eyelash of the body in front of me. The combination of that, and the sweet chemical scent I could smell, made me realise what I was actually face to face with. It’s very hard to describe. I didn’t feel disgusted. I didn’t feel ill. It was more of a “Wow. This person was once living and breathing. Had friends and family. Had stories to tell. And now I am studying his eyelashes and looking inside of his body”. Surreal I guess you could say.
Admittedly this was one of the hardest shoots to edit. What images to include, and what to leave out. So I present you with a taster of images of the exhibition.
Would I recommend the exhibtion? Absolutely. It’s a chance to see the human body how you would never get to see it ordinarily. It is facinating, informative and something very, very different.
Me studying the eyelashes of the person before me…..
I took the opportunity to grab a quick sound bite from the Medical Director of the exhibition, Dr Roy Glover.
I have also made a video of the images too.
Tomorrow night is the Royal Television Social Awards. It’s time to charge my batteries (and my those of my camera!) and get ready for, hopefully, a star studded event
Well, I’ve kinda been waiting for your suggestions for my next B4AM venture. That, plus, well, time just has a habit of flying away.
Also, a new opportunity has appeared for the project since my last post which, if it works out, may mean I will be delaying my planned 4am visit, that I mentioned in this post, until January. So, I’m still taking votes. At the moment it looks like the Jewellery Quarter is were I will be heading. If you have any suggestions, please feel free to leave a comment.
What’s this new opportunity, you ask?! Well, I would like to surprise you. All being well, it will happen next week. As my plans are to go out once a month, that will be my December outing.
Some people I have spoken to about my project have raised a few concerns. It seems that some folks don’t want to vote or make suggestions about where I should go out on this project because if something happened to me in an area that they suggested they would feel somewhat responsible.
It was only when speaking to people about this that I realised that it was a concern. I really hadn’t thought about the responsibility that could potentially lie in making a suggestion. Thank you to those that have expressed their concerns. I completely understand. I can only say that it is my choice to go out in the wee small hours. If I wasn’t asking for votes/comments, I would be deciding on an area myself and still going out anyway. As I have mentioned before, I would like this project to be a collaboration, and for that to happen, I need your votes and comments. I take full responsibility for whatever the outcome – good or bad.
I just want to reassure you that I do take some safety precautions when I go out. I let someone know when I am going out, where I am going, and arrange a time to call them. They are under instructions that if they don’t hear from me then they can alert the police. I also don’t advertise anywhere when I will be going out, so no ne’re-do-well’s on the internet can be at the same place at the same time. I also carry an alarm and a knuckle duster (ok, I’m kidding about the knuckle duster).
I hope I have gone some way in allaying your concerns. I am very excited about this project.There is something special about the hour of 4am, and it seems I am not the only one who thinks so. Thank you to Ben for telling me about this video. It’s a great watch! If the video doesn’t play, just follow this link.
