For a few years, back at the beginning of the Photomarathon in Cardiff, we used to print up a batch of T-shirts for the big day. You’d often see the team adorned in a design we’d created for that year’s event. With the few we had left over, we’d sell them on, and to this day, you’ll still see these T-shirts making an appearance on Photomarathon day.

However, since 2007, we’ve been sans T-shirts – much to the disappointment of the many who ask us each year if we have event T-shirts. Well, we’re pleased to report that for 2012 the famous Photomarathon T-shirt is back – and what’s more it’s available in three different designs, for men and women and in a whole host of different colour options (not just those in the pic). And if T-shirts aren’t your thing – and tea and coffee is – we’re also doing mugs. Don’t say we don’t look after you all!

The t-shirts come in three basic designs – a Photomarathon logo version, a 2012 special and the Photo 12 version. The first 2 are self-explanatory but the Photo 12 requires some background.

You might recall, we asked a while back for you to sum up the spirit of Photomarathon. One of those responses – from Matt Joyce – we thought not only captured the event really well, but would also look good on a t-shirt. And it does (thanks Matt!). We hope you like too.

So – if you’d like to order your own T-shirt, please visit our shop page and order there. They’ll be delivered right to your door in about 5-7 days. Happy shopping.

A big thank you to our friends at DizzyJam, the Cardiff-based online music merchandise gurus for helping us out with the bespoke production and distribution of our exclusive T-shirts. They rock.

We’re thrilled – and slightly bowled over – by the response from everyone to the event. Thak you to everyone (that’s all 400 of you) who have signed up over the past week – we’re really looking forward to June the 16th.

For those of you who missed the deadline, our apologies. If you want to make sure you find out about future events, please sign up to the mailing list or follow us on twitter and facebook.

Thanks.

After two sell-out events in a row, we’re anticipating another busy year, so if you want to secure your place for 2012, make sure you sign up early. Entry is on a first come first served basis – and as someone once said, ‘once we’re full, we’re full’.

The entry fee for 2012 will be £17.50. We’ve fought long and hard over the past few years not to raise the cost of entry, but we’ve had to make a small increase for 2012. We hope you’ll agree that even at £17.50, it still represents fantastic value – after all, where else would you get 12 hours of creative stimulation, a great day out, free travel, your pictures on the wall of a gallery, an invitation to the exhibition opening night and a chance to win some great prizes all for under £20? A pretty good deal, even if we say so ourselves!

A big shout out too to our sponsors and supporters – Wales Millennium Centre, Cardiff Story, Cardiff Bus, Arriva Trains Wales, BobBooks, Techniquest, Waterloo Gardens Teahouse and Express Imaging. Once again, their support is helping make Photomarathon happen.

Anyway, we look forward to seeing old friends and making many new ones this year. We’ll be posting regular updates on the website and, as ever, we’ll be on twitter and facebook, so if want to keep in touch or just share your experiences we’d love to hear from you. For those on twitter the hashtag for the event is now #phmUK. Let us know when you’ve signed up!

We do hope you’ve all had a good winter and are ready to take on the Photomarathon challenge once again.

As we announced the date of the 2012 Photomarathon, we also posed a simple question. Can you define the ‘spirit of Photomarathon’? We often talk about the wonderful feeling that Photomarathon day brings, but we’re weren’t sure we’d ever summed it up in words.

So, we asked our entrants what they thought? Could they sum up the spirit of Photomarathon in 80-100 words or less (or for the twitterati out there, in 140 characters or less). We’ve had a great response – thanks to you all -  and some lovely insights into the big day. Feel free to add any more – either directly below, or via email, twitter or facebook.

• 12 themes, 12 hours, 10 lovingly composed photos and 2 of random stuff (which kinda fits the theme) just to finish in time. @thankyousam

• The anticipation for 10am, the initial feeling of hopelessness, then the inspiration, then elation. repeated at 2pm and 6pm @LOUARNCLIFFE

• Defnyddio dychymyg i wneud pethau hollol wirion. @NosworthyR

• A Swarm of Shutterbugs telling the tale of a summer’s day in Cardiff and it’s surrounds through 12 lovingly crafted photos @TheGemTrem

• Flicking clicking flashing framing swapping chopping stooping stretching laughing stressing cycling walking 10pm and sleep!  @Sparkie71

• Wanted: 400 people to take photos, think creatively, meet lovely people, explore a great city and have an amazing day out.  @emmatheshep

• A creatively challenging, physically exhausting, totally amazing way to get your photo on.  @emmatheshep

• Thinking, looking, evaluating, shooting, hoping – amazing!  @jolwen

• An annual obsession that I convince more and more people I know to compete in everytime…  @Po1ythene_gir1

• Perfect excuse to confuse unknowing members of the public, all for the sake of a damn good photograph!  @AdamFairbank

• 400 people on a photo walk 12 subjects 12 photos 12 hours  @timdobbsphoto

• Brain aching upbeat day where new angles, endless imagination are channelled through Cardiff’s inspiring photographer buzz  @rhizy

• photo photo photo photo photo photo photo photo photo phot photo photo, collapse.  @themeekshall

• Randomising passerbys with weird requests. Too tired for a beer at the end – yet keep coming back each year.  @_ClaireB

• Marital stress : -)  @chrisburns66

• A themed explosion of imagery unfolding across a city.  @tombeardshaw

• View the world, or at the very least Cardiff, from 12 fresh perspectives! @nickdclark

• A damn good excuse to get out your camera and take photos @Samcornwell

• Friendly fun that You end with sore feet and a smile. (and a beer) @DanBurgess01

• 1 camera, 1 memory card, 3 batteries, 2 lenses, 12 hours, 4 headache tablets, 1 tank of petrol, 4 clean shirts, 5 energy bars, 2 eyes, 1 big smile (optional), 12 flashes of inspiration, 1 Millennium Centre, 42 really bad ideas (delete), 364 days of anticipation, 2 comfortable shoes, 12 photos, 1 large glass of whatever you’re drinking and/or foot massage to finish. Mix in some dogged determination, friends, called-in favours, blood, sweat and beers (no tears please),keep it honest, keep it real and if possible keep it clean. Stu O’Brien

Could you do better? Let us know. We’d love to hear from you.

Saturday, June 16^th 2012. Make a note in diary. It should be quite a day.

Cardiff is getting set to play host to the 8^th annual Photomarathon UK. The event will bring 400 photographers together for a day of creative expression, exploration, enjoyment not to mention a little exhaustion. The challenge is quite simple – to take twelve photos, over twelve hours on twelve given topics. But chances are, you probably knew that already.

What does it really mean? Well, Photomarathon will send an army of camera wielding enthusiasts scurrying across the city in search of perfect photographic expressions of a random set of topics. The real aim is to capture a great set of twelve images. Each set telling a different story, of a journey – both real and imagined – into an each entrant’s creative imagination.

It’s also a lot of fun. It’s a great way to spend a day being led a merry dance by your own creativity while at the same time, discovering a city as you’ve never quite seen it before.

We’ll be opening for entry later in the Spring, so if you want to make sure you receive details about how to enter, sign up to our mailing list. We won’t bombard you with e-mails, and we don’t pass on your e-mail to anyone else. We promise.

You could do worse than check out the Welsh Arts Review of the Year on BBC TWO Wales. A full round up of the very best in Welsh Arts in 2011 – which naturally – includes Photomarathon. The programme is on Boxing Day at 9pm, and is repeated on New Years Day at 6.30pm.

For more information visit the Wales Arts blog.

In the meantime, have a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. We look forward to seeing you all again in 2012.

The selected images are a snapshot from the 2011 event and provide an insight into the process that our entrants go through in responding to the creative challenge we set them. The Cardiff event – now one of the largest in the world – attracts 400 hundred entrants, each one tackling the creative challenge in their own way. As they seek out their responses to the given topics some focus on the abstract, others on still life creations. Some tackle the task from their homes while others venture out – on foot, by bike, by bus and by train – criss-crossing the capital on spontaneous journeys of creative and photographic exploration.

The pictures taken on these journeys can be fun, personal, surreal or simple – the choice is really down to the photographer.

The pictures chosen for this exhibition features the work of following photographers;

Kate Mcculloch, Olwen Moseley, Gavin Jones, Brad Hamilton, Mark Turner, Lois Winnert, Malcolm Kingswell, Eloise Dawe, Lloyd Miller, Carolyn Pugsley, Keith Sims, Victoria Ahmed, Adam Chard, Paul Evans, Lau Mcdonnell, Ian Wang, Emma Thomas, Lucy Chippindale, Sara Jones. Matt Botwood, Martin Wilmore. Sam Cornwell, Claire Whittle, Randell John, Bryan Hopkins, Jo Hillier, Rhian Isaac, Carwyn Jones, Mark Thomas, Teresa Einon. Jacqui Collier, Sarah Whittle, Cazz Higgins, Kate Berg, Mike Kingdon, Richard Lewis, Ian Wootten and Emma Shepherd

A budding photographer from Efail Isaf, Pontypridd, has been crowned the winner of Photomarathon UK 2011, with her photographs taking pride of place in the newly launched Photomarathon Exhibition.

Emma Shepherd, 35, beat 399 other entrants to secure the coveted first place of overall winner, by impressing judges with her interpretation and execution of the 12 topics that were set as part of the Photomarathon competition.

The topics that participants were challenged with photographing were Inside Out, Community, Superhero, Drama, The Great Outdoors, Double, My Secret, Element, Movement, Obstacle, and I Have a Dream.

Upon hearing the news that she had scooped first prize, Emma Shepherd said: “I feel completely overwhelmed that I’ve won! It’s hard to believe because the standard of entries was so incredibly high this year.

“Photomarathon was such a fun day, although it’s certainly a challenge! Coming up with a photograph that captures ‘Inside Out’ or ‘I Have a Dream’ is really hard, especially at 8pm when you’ve been rushing around Cardiff all day and your brain and feet are exhausted!  But the atmosphere carries you along!”

Now in its eighth year, Photomarathon is the competition where participants must take 12 images on 12 given topics over the course of 12 hours, with all 12 images must be taken in the correct sequence.  This year’s event was a sell out once again with 400 people taking part on 11 June.

Judges then had the painstaking task of choosing one overall winner and 12 topic winners from among the 4,800 photographs that were submitted.

Now members of the public can have the chance to see the results in a free two-week-long exhibition from 30 July – 20 August at Cardiff Story Museum in the Hayes, Cardiff. Every single image taken on the day will be displayed, along with the winners of the competition.

Mathew Talfan, Photomarathon director and judge, said: ‘‘It’s really interesting to see how many different interpretations there are of the same topic, which is what makes Photomarathon so fascinating! Trying to pick winners is always a very, very difficult task.  But the judges spent two days viewing the images, and we believe that the winners have each captured the spirit of the competition.

“Emma’s set of photos, in particular, stood out because they were immediately extremely striking.  She had interpreted the topics really well, adding touches of human interest in a subtle way.”

Emma Shepherd added: “This is the second year that I’ve taken part and I’d really encourage anybody who hasn’t tried Photomarathon yet to give it a go next year!  You get to meet lots of lovely people and it really gets your creativity flowing. It makes you think completely differently about how you take pictures.”

The fill list of winners is:

Portfolio Winners
First Prize: 437 – Emma Shepherd
Second Prize: 336 – Steven Fung
Third Prize: 319 – Sarah Barnes
Junior Prize: 201 – Steffan Edwards

Topic Winners
01 My Entry Number/Work of Art: 293 Olwen Moseley
02 Inside Out: 116 Mark Turner
03 Community: 381 Victoria Ahmed
04 Super Powers: 373 Paul Evans
05 Drama: 366 Emma Thomas
06 The Great Outdoors: 357 Martin Wilmore
07 Double: 170 Sam Cornwell
08 My Secret: 183  Jo Hillier
09 Element: 166  Mark Thomas
10 Movement: 170 Sam Cornwell
11 Obstacle: 417 Richard Lewis
12 I Have a Dream: 183 Jo Hiller

The Photomarathon Exhibition is open at the Cardiff Story Museum from 30 July – 20 August. Opening hours are 10am – 4.00pm (Monday – Saturday) and 11am – 4.00pm on Sunday.

Photomarathon is now underway across Cardiff. After the morning registration at Wales Millennium Centre, the 400 entrants set off at 10am to tackle the first four topics. It’s the beginning of what will be a long, but hopefully enjoyable day.

Media Wales popped down to catch some of the action.

1. Information for Entrants
We’ve put together a pack of information for entrants for you. Can we suggest that you read this in advance of the event. It’ll help you prepare, and hopefully ensure that you don’t have any unforseen problems on the morning. That way, come June 11th, you can focus all your efforts into capturing the best 12 images you can. You see, we really want you to have a great day out!

2. Twitter Hashtag
For those of you using twitter, we’ve decided to adopt a slightly shorter hashtag this year. It will be #PHM11. We’ll be setting up a live feed on the day, so would encourage you to make use of it. If you’ve never used twitter before and want to give it a go… now’s your chance.

3. A request for volunteers
For those of you familiar with Photomarathon, you’ll know all about the registration process. We’re looking for a handful of volunteers to help with the process. Ideally, you’ll have taken part before, so you’ll know the drill and the sorts of questions you might get asked. If you’d like to help out with the morning registration (8am – 10am), please drop us a line to info@photomarathon.co.uk. We might just throw in a free lanyard!

We hope this information will get you through the next week. It might also be a good time to get your camera out, make sure it’s working, and that the batteries charge properly. Just so there’s no panic on the day.

Keep in touch with us – as ever – on facebook and twitter and we look forward to seeing you next Saturday.