Kay Designs Blog

Philippe Kerlo Shoots Beauty Shots Through Plexiglass and Paint (Repost from Fstoppers)

2011-02-06T09:07:00.000-08:00

Philippe Kerlo is a really creative beauty and fine art photographer based out of Paris France. Some people are dubbing his work as “extreme glamour” which might be a fitting title. I was truly inspired by his creative project of him shooting beauty portraits through plexiglass covered with paint, acrylic, wax, and other colored materials. The results are really stunning and the idea is so simple I thought I had to share it with everyone. Be sure to check out Philippe’s portfolio because his work has a lot of interesting angles like the photos shown here.

Here's the behind the scenes clip:

Photo Shoot for "My Mark" Collection

2011-01-25T13:42:00.000-08:00

2 weekends ago, I had a fun photo shoot for a dear friend Marie Ortega's My Mark collection, who designs unique and amazing dresses and tee shirt prints.

We had a very hard time trying to get a studio for the shoot so I decided to use a projector screen and white paper on the screen and let it drop down to the floor with the help of tape... a lot of them. Post Production was simple but took a long time because I had to clean up the transition from the projector screen to the paper but I think it went well :)

Model: Carol Wong

Model: Anastasia Adams

Model: Fatima Stuart

We went outside of our "studio" once we were done with all of the dresses and had some more fun shots. It was freezing cold outside so we had to be quick.

Here's the simple light set up from the photo above:
And of course, a quick photo of me and Marie!

Fight Club Photo Shoot and Behind the Scenes

2010-12-14T12:57:00.000-08:00

It's been a while since I wanted to do this concept. and couple weeks ago, I finally found time to plan this. Inspired from David Fincher's Fight Club film, I wanted to use that similar concept and bring the fight to my portfolio. I must say this has got the be the most planning I've done for a photo shoot. First off, I needed a crowd in the background the get hyped! Luckily, we got enough friends to join the shoot. Other thing I needed was smoke... a lot of em. I got dry ice to sit at the floor and had a fog machine for the higher areas. Next was fake blood. What's a fight without blood? I mixed red and blue food coloring with corn starch and small amount of water. Last prop used was charcoal. It is to rub it across the two fighter to give a dirty look. Anyways here's the behind the scenes shot and edited by Dan Yar:

And here's some of the final images:

Thanks to all of my friends who came out for the shoot! Really appreciate it!

Photoshoot: Team MoneyBaggs

2010-10-23T19:28:00.000-07:00

Hope you guys are having a nice relaxing weekend! Just finished editing a photo shoot for team MoneyBaggs. They're coming out with a mixtape really soon and needed some shots for their commercial use. That's where I came in. We met up at the Washington Monument where we set up the lights and had some fun shots. We then moved to more urban area near Dupont circle and George Washington University to give more city-like atmosphere. Anyway, here's some of the shots.

Her Morning Elegance: Stop Motion BTS (From Fstoppers)

2010-10-19T19:40:00.000-07:00

This music video created by Oren Lavie was a huge viral sensation back in Jan of 2009. I never knew there was a behind the scenes video showing the production of this clever project until fstoppers posted this on their website. What’s great about these videos is not so much the photography but the overall creativity with just one camera angle.

Here's the actual music video:

Here's the behind the scenes... WOW:

Pictures From Recent And Summer

2010-10-15T22:00:00.000-07:00

I just got a bit lazy and been a long day so here's some of the pictures that I shot from July to October.

Back To Blogging... Sorta

2010-10-15T21:02:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post of note on this page.
My second half of summer was a crazy with shoot after another. but ever since September, I had to get back to classes and haven't had the time to follow up on my blogging.

So this is one of the shoots I did before my summer ended. The concept of the shoot was to portray a vampire differently from the way the media is portraying them ;) We had to make a school auditorium look like a movie theatre. so what could look more like a movie theatre than having the female model with a soda drink! To add a bit of gore into the shoot, I prepared some fake blood. There were many ways to make the fake blood but what was more important for me was it should be edible, since it's going to be in my male model's mouth. Along with awesome make up by Lily Yang my models Kai Shaw & Taylor Arif were fantastic in portraying an image I had in my head.

Along with awesome help from Danyar from Danyar Studios, we starting shooting some frames! Here's some behind the scenes:

And here are some of the finished frames:

Here's a behind the scene video made by Danyar from Danyar Studios

BTS of Vampire photo shoot with Gsper Kay from dan yar on Vimeo.

Nexus of Desperados

2010-06-28T20:00:00.000-07:00

I've been having this idea in my head and I couldn't wait to get it out through my lens. So this weekend was a huge hit for me. Not only the weather cooperated with me, the models were gorgeous and were easy to work with. To add to that, we had a very talented make-up artist Lily Yang taking care of models looking extra stunning. I also got help from Dan Yar, my brother Phillip Kay and Brandon Brown with setting up and rearranging models.

Here's our first ever behind the scene shots! Taken by Lily Yang

CO-OP Photo Shoot

2010-05-30T18:33:00.000-07:00

I teamed up with CO-OP music to do a shoot and a promo for their new single "Shoes".
Go listen to the single "Shoes".

To view more photos from the shoot, click here.

Eternal Throne Photo Shoot

2010-05-16T23:35:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, me and my buddies from Danyar Studios and PML Prints drove up to New York to do a photo-shoot with a melodic deathmetal/thrash band Eternal Throne. Although it was hard trying to find a spot since it wasn't in my usual area, I had a load of fun taking photos of the band on a beautiful day.

Danyar Studios is Up!

2010-05-03T20:15:00.000-07:00

My fellow designer/friend have finished updating his website Danyar Studios. First let me tell you about Danyar. He is one of the most creative and technical person I've met. His skills with video shooting and editing is nothing like I have ever seen. Every video he makes always has a unique storyline that attracts the audience with simplicity yet very technical and well thought out scenes.

Take some time and go check out his work at www.danyar.com or www.danyarstudios.com
You won't regret it.

Portfolio In Motion 2010

2010-04-25T12:02:00.000-07:00

Last Friday and Saturday, Marymount Uni hosted the annual event Portfolio In Motion. It is a chance for Fashion Design majors to show off their work on the runway. I had a pleasure to take some pictures of this successful event. This is one of the biggest events of the year.

Hope you guys enjoy the photos.

My First Night Portraits

2010-04-11T17:39:00.000-07:00

On Friday night, I wanted to get some portrait shots of my brother Phillip who has been my lab rat for many shots I wanted to try :) We planned to get a shoot during the golden hours during sunset but unfortunately we were too late for that. So I set up my lights in the dark to get the shots and surprisingly they turned out pretty good for me. These are my first new portrait shots after sunset.

Fashion Shoot (Model: Kevin Limpic)

2010-03-25T23:08:00.001-07:00

This was taken inside Jefferson Hotel where I accidentally ran upon on.

Jefferson Hotel

2010-03-16T15:35:00.001-07:00

I was looking for a Damask wallpaper as a background for one of my shoots and came across this hotel called Jefferson Hotel in D.C. I went to scout the place but found out soon after that they did not have damask wallpapers in reception and lobby areas. But I came across this cozy classy room with a warm fireplace on the lobby floor and I just had to take some shots of it so that I can come back with a model to do a shoot there.

New York City Skyline

2010-03-05T12:33:00.000-08:00

This scene has got to be one of the most breathtaking view I've seen.

Enjoy. :)

Forest Haven

2010-03-05T12:32:00.001-08:00

Photoshoot with "Urban Freestyle Crew"

2010-02-19T22:54:00.000-08:00

Georgetown (Model: Long Hua)

2010-01-19T15:58:00.001-08:00

Washington D.C (Model: Phillip Kay)

2010-01-15T14:09:00.000-08:00

Arlington Cemetary

2010-01-15T14:00:00.000-08:00

New York

2010-01-15T13:45:00.001-08:00

National Harbor (Model: Phillip Kay)

2010-01-15T12:48:00.000-08:00