Karen Strunks Photography

Now you see me! Now you don’t!

“Hey Karen! What’s with the disappearing photo?” 

I’m glad you asked!  

Well, I’m going in to hibernation, I’m knuckling down, and entering a period of solitudinal(yes, I made that word up) busyness. For the next month or so, I’m throwing all my efforts into the 4am Project.  So, in order to do this I really need to concentrate my efforts. I’m cutting down on going out. The social Karen is going to have to take a bit of a back seat & chill out whilst the focused creative Karen goes into overdrive. I’ve explained to some friends that they may not see me as much over the coming weeks, and they have been very understanding. I love getting invites to events/parties/tweetups/etc, (and keep the invites coming!)  but please don’t be offended if I have to decline sometimes. 

So! The 4am Project! Well, it’s soon going to have it’s first birthday – Yay! If you haven’t heard, the next global 4am date is the 4th April. Please put the date in your diary and set your alarm clock and take part in the global photographic project! You can even grab a bit of code and put the 4am Project countdown clock on your blog or website. If you blog about the 4am Project, give me a shout and you can follow the project on twitter too. 

As you can probably tell, I’ve got lots to do for the 4am Project. One of those things is organising an event for Birmingham! I’m liaising with a few venues at the moment and waiting for a ‘yes’ or ‘no’. If you have any suggestions about the venue in Brum for this year, let me know. Or if you are a venue and would like to host the 4am Project event, please get in touch and we can have a chat! 

A big boost for the 4am Project was provided last week on a Crossover Lab 3 day course. From the Crossover website: 

Screen West Midlands, in collaboration with Crossover, is delighted to invite archivists, archive rights holders and producers with experience in film or television, social media, web design, games,mobile and location based services to participate in an intensive 3 day ‘creative lab’, with a specific focus on developing innovative digital archive projects. 

I was invited to apply for a place on the course, and I’m so glad I attended! It was held in the gorgeous Coombe Abbey. 

Taken with my iPhone

Taken with my iPhone

It was an inspiring, intense and invaluable! I spent three days with other creatives and met some great mentors too.  Tons of fresh ideas were generated (perhaps too many haha), and I would certainly recommend it. 

What else….? Oh yes. I know I’m waaaaay behind on photo blogging, and I’ve still got tons of photo shoots from last year to blog about. I *promise* I’ll be addressing this soon and catching up!  

AND, I’ve started a new blog! Wake Green Park Blog. I quite fancied having a try at hyper local blogging after being inspired by Nicky Getgood from Digbeth Is Good and Talk About Local. It’s still in it’s infancy, but I hope you enjoy it! 

Also, last year I went on a press trip with Nicky Getgood to Belfast that was sponsored by bmibaby and the Belfast Tourist Board. I blogged all about it here. Well, I shall be heading to Nice this year with bmibaby! I haven’t set a date yet, but it will be sometime in April or May most proabably. This time I am taking my Mother. I can’t wait to have a break and an adventure with my Mum, and share it all with you. 

Oh, and as if I haven’t got enough to occupy my mind, I’ve got a notion to spend a month in NYC. Now, this isn’t more than a notion at the moment. Well, more of an growing obsession really. I spent a few days in NYC a few years ago. It wasn’t enough. I felt so at home there. I love the city and the people. The last time I went there I didn’t use the world wide web for anything other than sending a few emails and looking up stuff. I didn’t use it to connect with people, I certainly didn’t have a blog, and social media hadn’t even registered on my radar. 

Things are different now. I practically live my life on the net! I have connected and made friends with so many people since getting all social media’d up.  I can’t imagine things any other way now. I feel like I’m using the net for what it was designed for. 

I’ve started following some NYC blogs: Brooklyn Heights Blog, Brownstoner, Curbed NY, Dumbo NYC, McBrooklyn, NewYorkology, NYC Menu Girl, Queens Crap, Brooklyn Paper, and Gothamist. If you have any NYC blog recommendations, let me know! I really want to start getting re-acquainted with the place and be ready to throw myself into the city when (if!) I get there. 

Apart from having a trip of a lifetime, I’d like to use my time there as a way to document the city. This will take the form of photographs, videos, interviews and of course blogging. I want to delve into the life of New York City and experience everything it has to offer and share it. The sights, the sounds, the food, the streets, the people, the culture - all of it! I’d like to document the experience, perhaps take up a few challenges along the way, and I’d love to hold a 4am Project event there too of course. 

I just have to figure out a way of doing it! Suggestions on a postcard, PLEASE!  

In the meantime I’ve put together a little creative wish list over on Amazon,and included some things that will be useful for NYC. If you would like to surprise me, that would be great and I would really appreciate it, but please don’t feel obliged  

So, I *think* I have enough to keep me busy for a little while yet! 

Let’s connect! @karenstrunks, Facebook,Flickr, youtube,  hello@karenstrunks.com

Happy New Year!

The new year is just around the corner! I thought I’d take a moment to compile just a few of my favourite photographs of 2009.

I still haven’t blogged a lot of my photos from this year, so must make it a resolution to catch up with that!

It’s been a wonderful year which has seen my photography business begin to bloom. I hope for it’s continued growth for 2010 and will be working hard to making that happen. I quite fancy doing a spot of pet photography and wedding photography. They are completely different genres and I will need to do a lot of research into those areas.

2010 will be the year of the 4am Project. It’s my global photography project which asks photographers to take a photograph of the view of their world at 4am. In order to make it grow and get the word out I shall be dedicating a lot of my time to that. It’s going to be a very exciting time!

I will be seeing in 2010 at Digbeth Coach Station. Nicky Getgood, Digbeth resident and blogger of Digbeth is good has had a crazy great idea of spending from 6pm to 6am at the newly re-opened station. Somehow she has persuaded me to join her! I am not as hardcore as Nicky though as will spend just a few hours before and after midnight at the station. We plan on documenting the life of the station and it’s travellers, so I will have my camera in hand. It’s even got some press attention with the Birmingham Mail writing about it. Wish me luck

I shall just take this opportunity to wish you all a very happy new year! I hope 2010 is good to you. I’ve met some wonderful people this year through blogging and twittering, and made many new friends who are very inspiring.

See you in 2010!

4am Project event at Bodies Revealed

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

A big thank you to the sponsors of the Birmingham event. Hello Digital, Big Cat PR and of course the Bodies Revealed exhibition.