Whew! That was a day and a half – and it’ ain’t over yet!
Just a quickie – a flyby post.
I’ve got the great guys and girls from Big Cat PR on board working their magic for the 4am Project. They set up a live *gulp* radio interview for me withJoanne Malin on Joanne’s BBC WM radio show this morning. I did a live interview with Danny Kelly on BBC WM last year, but it was only for about 5 mins, and Danny did most of the talking. Today’s interview was for nearly 30 minutes! The time flew by though & Joanne put me at ease!
Sorry about the video quality. I’d recorded it in high quality, but had to reduce the file size for speed. Thank you to Chris Brown from Big Cat for being the camera man!
Watch this space. I’m going to be announcing the details for the Birmingham 4am Project photo walk. I had hoped to do it today, but time has escaped me!
I can’t believe how much time I can spend agonizing (yes, agonizing! ) over titles for blog posts. Most of the time they are there, just like that *clicks fingers*. At other times I mull over them, tweet about them, walk away and leave it and hope that inspiration will just appear. It can be quite a time consuming activity! I’m sure I’m not the only blogger to suffer from delayed-blog-title-itus.
So, without ado, let’s get on with today’s photo blog!
At quite short notice I got a call from a theatre company who were taking their play on the road and needed an image for their poster. The play was about a solitary librarian who gets embroiled in an abusive relationship. She finds solace in books, and uses the stories to block out what is happening to her.
The director of the play knew exactly what he wanted; from the look on the models face, to the position she was in. When he made the booking he mentioned that the model would be naked and wanted a female photographer to help make her feel more at ease.
When I arrived at the location (a function room of a hotel) the make up artist was doing her finishing touches, and painting black hand prints all over the model.
As you can see from the image below. The model opted to keep some of her underwear on. “Can you get rid of this in photo shop?” the director asked. “Yes, no problem”, I replied. I generally use photo shop on my images, mainly to just brighten them up a bit or to adjust the colour balance, sometimes cloning out the odd spot.
When I got home to review the images I had to admit to myself…this required me to pull all my photo shop skills into play! The knickers, the knickers…….oh, those bliddy knickers! (Perhaps that should have been the blog title?)
Painstakingly, pixel by pixel, I removed every single trace of those knickers.
Thought I would put together this little gif to show you the before and after.
And one of the final images.
I’m gearing up for a busy week with the 4am Project. I’m still putting the final touches to the 4am walk in Birmingham. Sadly I have received quite a few “no’s” from various venues which is very disappointing. However, one way or another there WILL be a 4am photo walk in Birmingham & I hope you can join in. Watch this space/twitter for details. Big Cat are doing the PR for the project and I’m delighted to be working with them, they have some great ideas! The press release is about to go out any minute now. I’ve also managed to secure some prizes for 4am participants this April! However, I need some more! If you wish to donate a prize, them please get in touch and we can have a chat.
New York! New York! I’ve decided that a month isn’t long enough – 6 weeks should be about right. I still haven’t actually booked anything mind! I am building up my ideas; I want to take the 4am Project there, I want to let my camera free in one of the greatest cities in the world, and I want to get into making videos whilst there as well. With the awesomeness of the internet (I love you internet) I’m slowly making some friends over there. My Mother, however, has other ideas completely though, and has my trip all planned out; I’ll meet a man in NYC and he will propose to me at the top of the Empire State Building (no less). Um, yeah Mum. Don’t get your hopes up there! Bless her. I need a title for my (at the moment, imaginary) NYC trip. Any ideas?
One of the first pictures taken on my first 4am photo walk in Birmingham
What a great end to the week! I am so delighted and excited to be able to announce that that 4am Project is being supported by 4ip and Screen West Midlands!
4ip is part of Channel 4 which helps to support and invest in digital media enterprises, and Screen West Midlands which offers support, advice and funding for film, television and digital media.
I’ve had to keep stchum about it for a little while, but now I can tell everyone!
This is a huge boost for the 4am Project and exactly the support it needs right now as it enters it’s second year, especially with the next 4am date set for the 4th April.
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 have their own projects & dreams that they are working on which creates inspiration.
I’ve learnt so much in the last year from the 4am Project; about my own capabilities, how to organise events, how to utilise social media, how to solve problems (you just go around brick walls), how to work with the press and publicity, how to work with big corporations, how to work with other people and collaborate, oh, the list goes on and on. I guess it’s not so much Karen Strunks Photographer, but Karen Strunks Photographer/Creative Director/Experiemental Entrepeneur lol. I’m wearing lots of different hats at the moment, that’s for sure, and I’m enjoying every minute of it.
So, the 4am Project is about to celebrate it’s first birthday! I really hope you can join in the celebrations and take part on the 4th April. If you have any ideas or suggestions, would like to contribute in any way, I would welcome your input. Likewise, if you would like to sponsor the project, then please get in touch.
If you are curious to how the 4am Project began, I made a few videos last April, so if there’s nothing on the telly, take a watch. They last about 2o mins in total (I’m not good at being succinct )
Thank you to everyone who has taken part in the project and who has supported it!
) over titles for blog posts. Most of the time they are there, just like that *clicks fingers*. At other times I mull over them, tweet about them, walk away and leave it and hope that inspiration will just appear. It can be quite a time consuming activity! I’m sure I’m not the only blogger to suffer from delayed-blog-title-itus.
Blog RSS Feed 
Latest Comments