Karan Kapoor selected for AOP Open photography award

Posted on October 10, 2011

Karan Kapoor selected for AOP Open photography award

Karan has been selected for the AOP Open 2011 awards and exhibition, which is open both to the public and to the Association Of Photographers. The picture selected is from a personal series Karan shot in Goa, India, over a number of years.

“The image selected for the AOP Open is from a personal project I shot in Goa over the years,” explains Karan. “It started in the mid 1980s, a long time before the digital era. I spent a load of time riding around the interior unknown parts of Goa, capturing a world that was very different from most people’s perception of Goa and indeed of India. I suppose I was searching for the real old Goa. It was a great time: just me, my Royal Enfield motorbike and my Hasselblad 503. The image holds special memories of a great time for me and that’s partly why I chose it when thinking which image to enter into this contest.”

The AOP Open is run by the Association of Photographers and has been running for 11 years, attracting around 1,500 global entries annually. It is the only photography competition which gives professionals and amateurs the chance to compete on equal terms. There are no categories or themes, so each photographer has completely free choice when it comes to submitting work.

In 2010, the AOP open attracted over 4000 voters. Add your voice to the vote this year! Vote for your favourite image in the Public Choice award. Voting closes at 1pm on Thursday 13th October and everyone who votes will be entered into a prize draw: the prize is a wonderful collection of photographic books which any photography fan would love.

If you like Karan’s picture then please vote for it and show your support: just click this link to register, and you’ll see Karan’s photo (above). Thank you.

Karan Kapoor selected for AOP Open photography award is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog.

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Skyride photoshoot campaign

Posted on September 22, 2011

Skyride photoshoot campaign

Skyride city events are a nationwide series of summer events aimed at encouraging people to get on their bikes. In 2010, over 200,000 people took part in free-mass participation rides all over the UK.

Karan was asked to shoot the campaign used to promote the 2011 events. It’s a major campaign with a production to match: a section of London’s Embankment was closed off for the purposes of shooting, and more than 20 models of all ages were hired for the day.

“There was a real range of ages amongst the models,” says Karan, ”from grandparents to toddlers on bikes with stabilisers. The one thing they had in common was that they had to come hurtling down a steep bit of camber towards my camera lens! They all had to ride so close to me that I needed an assistant on each side to protect the camera lens – just in case! Thankfully nobody fell off their bike, but some of them were a bit shaky and I’ll admit to being a little worried at times. Thankfully there were no accidents, just a couple of close calls!”

The campaign was actually shot during the 2010 Skyride event, and there wasn’t a lot of space for the action-packed shoot. To get the images, Karan had to lie on the ground (for about 10 hours!) and shoot upwards. “The remit was images which were full of movement and action, portraying a range of real people enjoying cycling,” explains Karan.

Although Karan has done work in the past for Sky, this was his first time working for Sky Creative and with Christopher Ringsell.

CLIENT: SKYRIDE
AGENCY: SKY CREATIVE
HEAD OF PRINT CREATIVE: CHRISTOPHER RINGSELL
STYLIST: LOU DE VILLE

Skyride photoshoot campaign is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog

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Friends Life commercial shoot

Posted on August 24, 2011

Friends Life commercial shoot

When Friends Life insurance company launched, they commissioned Karan to shoot for this multi-media campaign. The brand was to be launched with five images and accompanying videos.

The shoot used five different locations, as you can see in the images and videos in this blog post: a beach, mountain, dirt road, dance studio and football pitch and the setting was beautiful Cape Town. Karan recalls a fun and challenging shoot which resulted in great images.

“The Friends Life insurance shoot was exciting,” he says, “because it had a video element to it as well as stills. We had bad luck with the weather and there was a small child crying on the beach throughout the shoot, but we got there in the end!

“It was great to work with Richard and John, the Creative Director and Art Director. All in all, this project was a very enjoyable one to be part of.”

As mentioned, this project involved creating video as well as stills. The video clips are at the end of this blog post; do take a look.

CLIENT: Friends Life
AGENCSY: CST the Gate
CREATIVE DIRECTOR: Richard Hayter
ART DIRECTOR: John Taylor





Friends Life commercial shoot is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog.

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Wild in Tuscany: commercial advertising shoot

Posted on July 21, 2011

Wild in Tuscany: commercial advertising shoot

Here’s a sneak preview of just some of the stunning images Karan created for an international brand when he was asked to shoot a major campaign for them on location in beautiful Tuscany.

The images, which have just been released, were shot last August.

“This was a huge job,” explains Karan. “It was a five-day shoot which involved flying in six models from London and setting up a big fake rainstorm. It represented a great opportunity for me to work with great bunch of models, a fantastic creative team and a major client and agency.

“It was hard work – physical, long hours and strenuous – but there were plenty of bonuses. An amazing location, great food, a wonderful crew and – as you can see – a fantastic set of images at the end of it all.

“One of our biggest challenges lay in creating the rain sequence you can see here. We were shooting at an incredible old Medici palace overlooking rolling hills… lovely views, but not so lovely for those who had to somehow get a huge tanker of water up the steep hill! And, wouldn’t you know it, just before we started to shoot, we had a huge thunderstorm and downpour! It was quite bizarre as that’s exactly what we wanted for the shoot, but as soon as we started work the sun came out. The rain you see in the images is, in fact, fake.”

Tuscany is a part of the world Karan hadn’t visited prior to this shoot, but he’d love to go again. “We shot in various locations, from Florence to Siena,” he says. “The scenery, landscape and light is simply stunning. It’s a great part of the world, very inspiring.”

As well as these vibrant images, bursting with Karan’s trademark energy and colour, here’s a very short video clip, shot by Karan’s assistant on camera phone. It captures the hard work – and the fun – which lies behind just one of the seemingly effortless sequences you see captured in these images. Get a sneak peak into what life is like on a high-end commercial photography shoot!

There are 11 images in total from this shoot. To see them all, visit Karan’s website.

First assistant: Dan Brownsword
Makeup and hair: Nadira Persud
Stylist: Elizabeth Cavatorta
Retoucher: Sinisa Savic

Wild in Tuscany: commercial advertising shoot is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog.

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Still motion animation project, Karan Kapoor and the LPA

Posted on June 27, 2011

Still motion animation project, Karan Kapoor and the LPA

This clip shows part of a project Karan did with the London Photographic Association (LPA). Using motion animation, the treatment gave Karan’s images a 3-dimensional appearance.

“I was approached by the LPA and asked to supply an image to do a test for a still motion project,” Karan explains. “It’s really interesting to see what happens when you put a bit of motion to a still. I really enjoyed being part of the process.

“The development of video thing is interesting and another aspect of photography for us to learn about, understand and experiment with. I think it could become a bigger part of the industry – just consider all the filmatic billboards in tube stations.”

‘Still Motion Process’ was developed by Peter Remmers. It is a creative process whereby a still image can be turned into a motion sequence incorporating sound and text. The result can be subtle or dynamic.

Peter Remmers is represented by LPA Productions.

Still motion animation project, Karan Kapoor and the LPA is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog.

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