Karan Kapoor image is PDN photo award winner 2013

This striking image of model Keely throwing her hair back has been selected for a second industry award: this year’s annual PDN Photo awards.

In March, I blogged about the fact that this image was one of only 185 photographs chosen by the American Photography 29 awards panel in this year’s AI-AP photography awards – it is now in the AI-AP archive, a juried website collection (which you can view at American Photography 29).

I was recently told that the same image was selected as a winning photograph in another of the industry’s most prestigious competitions: the PDN Photo Annual 2013.

By being chosen for both the PDN Photo awards and American Photography 29 in the same year, this image has won two of the most coveted awards in the international photography scene. I’m delighted and would like to thank the judging panel and jury at both awards bodies and competitions.

See the galleries of winners for the 2013 PDN Photo awards.

Of course, the winning image wasn’t a solo project! I’d like to extend special thanks to everyone involved in the shoot:

Model: Keely at Nevs
Art Director: Martin Yates
Hair and Makeup: Nadira Persaud
Assistants: Dan and Rob
Retouch: Sinisa

Finally, I’m now tweeting so please do follow me for news and awards, updates on my travels and personal projects and my general thoughts about the latest in the photography industry: Karan Kapoor photographer Twitter.

Karan Kapoor image is PDN photo award winner 2013 award is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog. His main website is here Karan Kapoor photographer website and you can follow him on Twitter here Karan Kapoor photographer Twitter.

“Active Lifestyle” photography project

Here are some images from my most recent personal project: an “active lifestyle” shoot I completed in March 2013.

I worked on this shoot with Art Director Martin Yates. Ever since the beauty shoot we collaborated on in 2012, we’ve been keen to work on a completely different project: one that focused on energy, colour and movement. We decided on an athletic theme and set about looking for sports people, athletes, gymnasts and dancers to shoot. It took a while to find the right models and location but it was worth it, as I hope you’ll agree!

It was great to work with such strong, athletic, dynamic bodies and was a pleasure to capture them in motion as you can see from these shots.

As always, planning, patience and careful casting (as well as having the best crew ever!) are all key to a stress-free shoot day and a successful set of images.

More images from the Active Lifestyle shoot can be viewed at www.karankapoor.com

Photographer: Karan Kapoor
Art Director: Martin Yates
Stylist: Thea Lewis-Yates
Make-up and Hair: Hannah Paul
Models: Katie Byrne, Antione Marc, Haylene Ryan (all are represented by WA Athletic Model Agency)

“Active Lifestyle” photography project is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog. His main website is www.karankapoor.com and you can follow him on Twitter here.

No matter how many years I’ve been doing this job, and how many high-profile clients and agencies I’ve worked for, some personal projects can still really stir the emotions.

And so it was with my daughter’s school prom recently. I was asked to take the official photographs throughout the evening, capturing the excitement and anticipation, the atmosphere and the exuberance. But it wasn’t just the young women and their prom partners who were running with high emotion. It was a very special occasion for me, too, and far more than just a photography job.

Here are just a few of the many shots I took of the youngsters (I also shot the whole class as they entered the assembly hall and captured the fun of the first dance). My aim was to engage with the kids and really catch their individual characters, along with the excitement each was feeling.

Thank you to my daughter’s school for inviting me to photograph this year’s prom. This was one photography project I’ll remember my whole life!

School Prom: personal shots from a professional photographer is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog. His main website is here.

Karan Kapoor shoot stills and video for Royal Caribbean “Barbie Experience”

Karan recently spend time on board the “Allure of the Seas” – the world’s largest cruise liner – to shoot both video and stills for his latest commission from client Royal Caribbean. For the “Barbie Premium Experience”, the Royal Caribbean cruise liner brand will be going pink, as you can see from Karan’s shots here. The “Barbie Premium Experience” will launch in January 2013, and Karan’s shots and video will be used to promote the experience. (Read more after the images.)

This isn’t the first time Karan has shot for Royal Caribbean: he also worked on this big-budget advertising campaign for the cruise brand, with his images transforming NYC’s Times Square shuttle into a cruise ship holiday experience during February 2012.

For this job, Royal Caribbean wanted video footage and stills photography to promote their “Barbie Experience”, aimed at girls aged 4-11. “It was a crazy shoot,” says Karan, “and I had to shoot the stills and video at the same time. With lots of child actors and models involved in the shoot, it was very busy as you can imagine. Each shot had to be replicated three times to include a little girl from each of the three ethnicities which Royal Caribbean wanted represented. It was pretty crazy!”

The shoot was held on the Allure of the Seas (the biggest cruise ship in the world) as it set sail from Miami and around the Western Caribbean. “I didn’t get to see any of the sights,” says Karan. “In fact, on a ship of that size, you don’t even necessarily see the ocean! The cruise ship is so huge, and we spent all of our time inside.”

And here’s the video which Karan shot as part of this job

This was a direct job which didn’t involve an agency. “It was nice to work with this client again,” Karan says.

Look out for a future blog post on the shoot he did for Dreamworks.

Credits:
Client: Royal Caribbean
Photographer: Karan Kapoor
Production: Jenn Kim/ Anderson Hopkins
Marketing Manager: Addy Lubin
Retouching Stills: Siniisa Savic
Video Edit: Mat Sunderland / Sunipa Pictures

Karan Kapoor shoot stills and video for Royal Caribbean “Barbie Experience” is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog. His main website is here.

Beauty photography and new gallery

Last year, Karan collaborated with makeup artist Nadira V Persaud on a personal project showcasing her makeup work (see this blog post). In April 2012, Karan once again worked with Nadira, and the resulting images play a central role in the new “Beauty” gallery on his website.

“I have been interested in this style of portraiture for a long time,” said Karan, “and have now given beauty photography a dedicated area on my website. Do take a look.”

The project began as a collaboration between Art Director Martin Yates and Nadira. Martin saw the previous beauty shoot and wanted to work together. He approached Karan and the project grew from there.

During the shoot, Karan and Nadira worked to a brief, concentrating on creating the three distinct looks you see here. “The three models each have their own brand of beauty and their own distinct style,” explained Karan, “and were perfectly suited to the three looks we worked towards. It was lovely working with Martin, who came up with come great ideas. The collaboration between myself, Martin and Nadira worked like a dream. We only had a few hours with each girl, but worked well together and managed to create some great stuff.”

The brief for the shoot included a “less is more” feel for skin and hair, with both Nadira and Karan working hard to create and capture luminosity and the natural beauty of skin.

Nadira V Persaud blogged about the shoot here. To see more of Karan’s beauty headshots and portraiture work, see his Beauty gallery on his website.

Art Director: Martin Yates
Makeup artist: Nadira V Persaud
Photographer: Karan Kapoor
Models: Cassandra at BMI, Keeley at nEVS, Shumi at Nevs
Retoucher: Sinisa Savic

Beauty photography and new gallery is a post from Karan Kapoor’s blog. His main website is here.