The #4amProject: A triumph for Social Media

But, there aren't many campaigns out there that manage to get normal people with a camera out of bed for 4am on a Sunday morning, just to take photographs.

That is exactly what the #4amproject has managed to 7 times now.

Organised by Karen Strunks, who works in community building and social media for Talk About Local, the project has been going for about three years now. It focuses on taking photos at 4am in different places all around the world, through mass participation. It has over 6,000 pictures to date.

It contacts and reaches out to photographers from the website 4amproject.org, its Twitter account @4amproject and the Flickr group for 4am Project, where users submit their pictures.

It's attracted snappers from 50 countries around the world, and project organiser Karen Strunks said:

“The 4am Project aims to bring both photographers and non-photographers together, to create a global community which demonstrates how amazing our surrounding landscapes can be.

“Streets which are usually teeming with traffic are deserted, shopping centres are empty and hillsides peaceful, the perfect time to grab your camera and take some shots.”

The latest project took place on Sunday, April 15, and photos from the project are viewable in this slideshow below:

I went out to take photographs too, and these are my thoughts, from Llandudno in North Wales:

listen to ‘The #4amproject boo in Llandudno’ on Audioboo

The ability to get so many photographs from the time when we are usually asleep, and carry this on over three years, is pretty amazing. The power of social media is outstanding.