I have entered the 4am Project into the Digital Press Awards and voting is now open!
I would really appreciate your support and your vote for the 4am Project.
Visit the Digital Press Awards here - the voting area is on the bottom right hand corner.
Here is what I submitted to the awards:
I wish to nominate my global photography project: 4am Project.
The aim of the 4amproject is to gather a collection of photos from around the world at the magical time of 4am.
Although it’s roots lie in Birmingham, the project is a worldwide community experience and aims to capture a time of day that many people rarely see. Building on the ever growing phenomenon of social media, the 4am Project is an exercise in global solidarity to encourage the sharing of visual imagery that reflects the world we live in.
The idea was born out of my ‘Birmingham At 4am’ project, where I have been going out at 4am to take pictures of the city centre. I wanted to share this experience and get other people involved.
I knew it would be a big task to get the word out worldwide and that social media tools would play a huge part in this. The social media tools I have utilized are a website, flickr, a blog, facebook, and twitter. By doing this I have taken an online idea and made it into offline mass participation event.
I am relatively new to social media having only ‘discovered’ it about 8 months ago, but by using these tools the 4am Project is an ongoing success.
The first 4am date was set for 4th April and over 18 countries have taken part so far such as Russia, Canada, USA, Australia, Malaysia, Sweden, and Brazil, and approx 1800 photos have been submitted. A new 4am date of 21st June has been set and once again I am utilizing these social media tools to spread the word.
I have received so much great feedback about the project. From people saying that they enjoyed experiencing theirs streets at a different time, to others saying it has helped them learn more about their cameras. Some said it has helped them embrace photography again. The beauty of the project is that anyone can take part. All they need is a camera. And a willingness to get up a 4am!
Thank you again to everyone who has supported the 4am Project, given their time, skills, advice and enthusiasm. I hope you can take part on the 21st June – at 4am of course! 
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