Well this Saturday just past, the 11 June 2011, I took part in the Cardiff Photomarathon. In case you don’t already know, a Photomarathon is a photograph competition with a twist: Over 12 hours you have to take 12 pictures on 12 given topics. It’s not your physical condition, but your sense of improvisation, fun and creativity that is stressed throughout the Photomarathon. You can find out all about it on the Photomarathon website here.

I’m not the most technically gifted when it comes to photography and so as with the last time I took part in one of these events I opted for an approach which relying on creative inspiration rather than technical wizardry. It wasn’t all that easy to keep up this approach though due to the tight time constraints that you’re bound by.

I had thought that I would try to include a drawn/painted element in all my pictures but time got the better of me and so I did let slip with a couple of the pictures towards the end of the day.

Despite my lack of technical nous I had borrowed a lovely Nikon DSLR for the event and although set to automatic for much of the day I did discover how to fiddle with the shutter speed. Through a combination of luck and judgement I managed to get a couple of interesting shots out of this.

The pictures I took are all posted below. In keeping with the Photomarathon rules I’ve resisted any temptation I had to ‘tweak’ these photos and so the good, the bad, and the ugly are all here for you to see. The topics for all of the images are captioned just below each image.

The first picture of the day drawn with Posca Markers on a mirror. It took me a while to get a picture I was happy with partly because my mirror was grubbier than I’d realised and partly because I couldn’t use the flash in the mirror.

I thought painting my skull on my face would work quite nicely for this topic. Painting your own face isn’t as easier as I’d thought but I was pleased with the result, which is something akin to the love child of Baron Samedi and Heather Ledger’s Joker.

With hindsight I should probably have spent less time painting my face and more time taking pictures. Whoops!

Having spent far too long on the first two topics I was two pictures behind by the time the 2.00pm check-in came about and so in a fit of desperation I opted to snap this graffiti along the alley between the Arts Institute and The Pen and Wig.

Whilst still behind schedule I was struggling to come up with a superpower image. I’d tried my pants on over my trousers to no avail and the liquid I consumed for lunch turned out not to be creative juice.

Did he fall? Was he pushed?… I mocked this up with masking tape. I think I might have to find a partner in crime for next years event since it’s not as easy as it looks to draw around yourself.

I got the Posca markers out again for this one at Llandaff fields. I wrote on a sheet of glass which I held in front the lens to create this image. I had hoped to get both the text and the background in focus, but in the end settled for this since I was in a rush.

I figured that the majority of folk would opt for photographing two of something, a reflection, dice, or something along those lines. After racking my brains for a while I thought this would make for an alternative approach, doubling my entry number and re-shooting the first picture. Though I did forget the ‘no.’ that I included in the first shot.

My secret Photomarathon tattoo with the 2011 hashtag, #PHM11. Well actually a drawing with Posca pens again.

I was rather chuffed with the drawing but unfortunately I couldn’t get a decent photograph of my foot that I was happy with so I settled for this one.

As the day wore on my attempts at including a drawn/painted element within my images were starting to fail. Time was starting to run out which wasn’t helping so I settled on a photograph of the tungsten filament within one of the UV light bulbs I have at home.

As I mentioned above, I sussed out how to fiddle with shutter speed on the camera I was sing so managed to get this shot of Jesus trolling along. It’s not the most exciting shot in the world but never mind.

I was rapidly running out of time at this point and really struggling for inspiration. I don’ think the liquid lunch at Cardiff arts institute had helped!

This image isn’t going to set the world alight and start a revolution but it has a drawn element to it and so that did me just fine.

The final shot of the day. I cut out a thought/dream bubble from black card and used it as a frame through which to photograph my bed sheets. I used a long shutter speed to create the ‘dreamy’ effect. It was almost like painting with a camera which was quite exciting.

I’m quite happy with the way this turned out although I would have a liked a bit more time to play with it as there is still a lot I could improve on in this.

So there we have it. 12 topics captured in 12 hours. It was a fantatsic day out and I was cream crackered by the time I crossed the finish line. I might have had tired legs and a weary brain but I also had a large glass of red wine so it wasn’t all bad.

Aside from flexing my creative muscle one of the best things about the day is catching up with friends and acquaintances along the way to share our stories and photographs over a cold beer or two whilst contemplating the new topics as they were released. The addition of the Cardiff Arts Institute was a great idea as it cut down on the mad rush back and forth to Cardiff Bay to check-in. This of course allowed for a ‘slightly’ more leisurely approach and time for a little chinwag between shoots.

I shall just keep my fingers crossed that one of my images makes it to the long short-list and receives a magic dot when it comes to the exhibition opening.

In the meantime you can find out how other people responded to this years themes on Flickr in the Cardiff Photomarathon 2011 pool.