BryCox.com Blog-topia

Last week I was in Maine.  I was asked to judge and speak at the Professional Photographers of Maine convention.  Afterward, I took a day to myself before flying home to just drive the coast looking for some great photographs.

I started at Portland Head Lighthouse, in Portland Maine, because it’s one of the most beautiful and photographed lighthouses on the east coast.  I woke up at 5:00 am and left my cozy and warm hotel room to battle the freezing cold in hopes of a great sunrise image.

This is one of my favorites, because it shows the rockiness of the coast.  I love the yellow coming in from the horizon, and you can barely see another lighthouse on the water in the far distance.

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse

Here’s a closer and vertical image of the same lighthouse.

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse 2

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse 3

I really liked this one. I used a Lens Baby shift lens to give me optically soft edges, and then breathed on the lens to fog the glass.

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse 4

Later that day I found this lighthouse, Pemaquid Point.  It was getting late as I did this panorama.

BryCox - Pemaquid Point 1

Here was a little building just to the side of the lighthouse.  I liked how all the rocks pointed to it.

BryCox - Pemaquid Point 2

This was a little bench that looked out to the ocean.

BryCox - Pemaquid Point 3

The next morning on my drive back to the airport I stopped to photograph this frozen lake.  It was so cold there.  I was just out of my car for a moment, and absolutely froze.

BryCox - Maine Frozen Lake

It was a great trip and I’m very happy with the images I created.  I hope to have a reason to get back there sometime soon…and hopefully when it’s a bit warmer.

I have created and posted a new short video of incredible Bry Cox wedding portraits. I made it to show that photographs are life-long heirlooms, and that wedding images can be fun, yet also classy and timeless.  It doesn’t have to be one or the other.  To see it, click on the image below, or go to BryCox.com, and click on ’slideshows’ on left menu.

BryCox - New Slideshow

Check it out and let me know what you think.

BryCox - JSMB 1

This Saturday is the big bridal show at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, called “Salt Lake’s Premier Wedding Show.”  I’m very exited for this show — it’s one of the biggest shows of the year and one of the classiest ones as well.  I’ve been working on some fun new things for for my booth and hope that everyone loves the new changes.

I’ll be on the Mezzanine, right off the elevator and I hope to see you there.  To pre-register (and get some prizes too), or for any info, click here.  The show goes from 10:00 am to 5:00 pm this Saturday the 23rd.

Me at last year's show

If you’re even in the area, come by and say hi.  The show is totally free!

BryCox - JSMB 2

Now that I’m settled in the new year and have gotten past some of my big events, I took time to get some of the 2009 weddings up online.  I work really hard to get all my weddings retouched, designed, printed, book-bound and completely delivered for Christmas so that all my brides can have their beautiful albums for the holidays.  And I succeeded this year and was able to get all m 2009 albums out for Christmas.  I didn’t however have time to get all those wedding designs up online until now.

I love people to see albums all the way through to the end – seeing all the images and the entire design so that they know that everything I do is quality all the way through, every page, every image, the entire design!

BryCox - Ashley's Album

I am so excited about these albums.  These are fantastic! Here’s the first, Ashley & Adam’s Album.  I love Ashley and have photographed her and her family many times over the years.  It was a great wedding.  Her wedding was at Red Butte Gardens in Salt Lake, with her dress was custom made at my favorite dress shop, Alta Moda.

And as always, these albums are laid out to look great open, with two pages up at a time.  I’ve made these designs play as movies which show each 2-page spread, just like these images show.  The book would fold in the middle of these pages.

BryCox - Brittney's Album

And this is Brittney and Ben’s Wedding.  It was in the Denver area at the Denver temple.  This was so fun, because I’ve photographed almost all of the bride’s side of the family at different times, and I feel like a relative in a way.

BryCox - Cammy's Wedding Album

And here is Cammy and Dan’s wedding.  It was up in Huntsville Utah at the groom’s home, and my favorite part of the day was catching the sunset out in the field.  They were such a great couple, as were all of these couples.  I feel honored to be apart of these people’s special day.

Well there are more albums still to post from 2009.  I’ll get to them hopefully very soon.

Until next time, America!
– Bry

I was recently interviewed over the phone about my upcoming photographic teaching workshop at the US national convention (held this year in Nashville, TN) called ImagingUSA.  I actually spoke two years ago at ImagingUSA when it was in Florida, and that time I was a platform speaker.  This time I’ve been asked to teach a hands-on workshop called Speed Shooting With the Pros.  I will be demonstrating how to create fantastic and great photographs in various on-location environments, with very little equipment, while working very quickly.  It is perfect for wedding photographers or any portrait photographer who works on location and needs to create amazing and emotional photographs of people, and at the same time work within a confined environment.

This interview was done by a group called More Photos.  I’ve included a player here on my blog which should be able to play the interview in its entirety.  The entire interview is only about 5 minutes long.

Photographers wishing to attend need to register special for this class, as the number of attendees is capped.  More info is at the ImagingUSA website.

Here’s the interview:

I had someone post on my blog today a link to the radio interview I did on creativity for the religious show, LDS Radio.  I thought I’d post it here so it’d be easy to find.

The interview was of me and two other people, all creative in our trades, asking about our thoughts and procedures in creativity.  Here’s a direct link to the show, here.

It begins with the quote from President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Second Counselor in the First Presidency of the LDS Church:

“The desire to create is one of the deepest yearnings of the human soul.  We each have an inherent wish to create something that did not exhist before.  The more you trust and rely up the Spirit, the greater your capacity to create.”

Me at LDS Radio (2)

And here is my original blog entry, with more info on the interview.

Happy New Year, everyone!  It’s my sister’s wedding is in the morning and I thought I’d put up some of the images I’ve been working on for her display tomorrow.  These are from her engagements and bridals.

BryCox - Engagement #1

We did some in the studio, and some in the leaves here at my outdoor garden studio…

BryCox - Engagement #2

…and finished at the State Capital building where they got engaged.

BryCox - Engagement #3

BryCox - Engagement #4

And then for her bridals, these are some of her favorites.  These were at the studio…

BryCox - Bridal #1

BryCox - Bridal #2

BryCox - Bridal #3

I’m very excited for my sister’s wedding tomorrow.  As far as the weather, it should be warmer than it’s been lately (the high is supposed to be 32º F), and there’s a strong possibility of snow too.  I hope it does snow because that will mean some very fun outdoor portraits at the temple after the wedding.  I’ll put some images of her wedding soon.

I also need to post some of the wedding album designs that I finished for clients for Christmas.  I was very excited about them and feel they were some of the best albums I’ve ever created.  They were so fantastic!!  Now that the holidays are over and I’m back to a regular schedule again, I’ll get the up online.

Until next time, Amercia!
– Bry

Every year at this time, I give all my clients a Christmas CD with their orders, and this years album is absolutely fantastic!  I am excited for you all to get a copy.  I have not only finished the design work, but have the finished products back in my hands and love how they look and sound.

This is Wasatch Christmas, a Christmas CD that I design every year for one of my best friends, James Conlee, the producer of the project.  In fact it is a joint project of friends in many ways because the cover painting is by a friend of ours, James Christensen, a famous painter with Greenwich Workshops, and some of the tracks are by our other good friend, Ryan Shupe (Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand), as well as some tracks by James Conlee himself.

Here is how the album looks.  The name of the cover painting is, “Angels of My Village.”

BryCox - Wasatch Christmas 2009

Now there are other recording artists on the album, but my favorite tracks are by James and Ryan.

The absolute first thing I would do when you get this CD is to play track #7, Pie Jesu, recorded by James Conlee with the Prague orchestra.  It is a duet with James and an incredible boy soprano, and I believe that this is the last recording of this boy before his voice changed.  This track is so moving that it may bring tears to your eyes, and I am not exaggerating.  I find it to be emotional every time I hear it.  It is such an incredible recording and is so well handled, that it shows just how talented James Conlee is, not only as an incredible singer, but also with his producing abilities, bringing together so many talented people for one wonderful and moving piece.  For that reason it is symbolic really of the entire CD project.

If you don’t know James, he used to sing on Broadway, and is responsible for the yearly Wasatch Christmas concert series in Utah county.  This is now about the 10th album that I’ve designed for him including past Wasatch Christmas albums and his Sunday album — each one is so wonderful.  He puts his whole heart and soul into these projects and I’m very proud to be associated with him and to call him my friend.

So for all my holiday clients that are ordering this time of year, whether you get a large collection of wall portraits or even just reorder one small print, I am giving away a FREE Wasatch Christmas CD!  The cover painting is phenomenal, the music is phenomenal, and the whole production is worth owning!

See you all soon!

This weekend was both the state and regional (multi-state) convention for professional photographers.  Every year, professional photographers are allowed to enter 4 prints for critiquing and possible awards, and the judging is done by out-of-state affiliated judges from the Professional Photographers of America.

I received NINE new image awards, including what is considered ‘the Best of the Best,’ the ASP State Elite Award! To even be eligible, a photographer must first me be a Master photographer, which is why it is called the best of the best – the highest scoring image by a Master photographer.

I also won TWO Kodak Gallery Awards, one of the most coveted awards available.

Here are the images and the rundown of awards for each image.

• ASP State Elite Award
• Kodak Gallery Award (Wedding)
• 1st Place Multi-State Regional (Master Wedding)
• 1st Place State (Master Wedding)

• 3rd Place State (Master Pictorial)

• 2nd Place State (Master Illustrative)

• Kodak Gallery Award (Portrait)
• 3rd Place State (Master Portrait)

Also, as one of the top scoring photographers, I won the ‘Court of Honor‘ award – an award that goes to the top 10 photographers.

Now these images will go on to the national level where I expect them to win even more awards.  I will now also be awarded ‘Photographer of the Year’ at nationals, but I’ll have to wait until then to receive that.

If you’re looking for some fantastic images of your family for Christmas from one of the state and region’s best Master Photographers, give me a call!  I’d love to create something award winning for you!

Until next time, Amercia!
– Bry

Last week I was hired to photograph Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina.  They were in town for an exclusive concert, and I was there to artistically document the concert and then create some studio portraits backstage.

Here’s one of the studio portraits of the two of them together…

BryCox - Kenny Loggins & Jim Messina

And here’s a few from the concert itself.  One of Kenny Loggins…

BryCox - Kenny Loggins

and one of Jim Messina.

BryCox - Jim Messina

It was a fantastic show and I was proud to be apart of it.  It was all apart of a great fundraiser to raise money for children needing dental work provided by the Caring Foundation for Children.