BryCox.com – Celebrity Style Imaging, Inc.™

As I mentioned in my last blog post, I’m in three magazines this month.  The second of the three is Gallerie, the official magazine of the Professional Photographers of Canada.

My article for them was about balancing the creativity with the technical aspects of photography.  The industry is swamped by new photographers and many of these photographers have creative ideas but are lacking in the technical areas.  These same photographers will say that they don’t want to learn the technical side of photography, because they fear it will make them boring.  This is because some older and established photographers may be very technical but aren’t very creative.  This group fears that more creative attempts will mess up the perfection of their techniques, which make them professional.

The truth is that everyone, all photographers in the industry need to properly balance both the creative and technical aspects to truly be masters of their art.

If you are a member of the Professional Photographers of Canada, this magazine should come to you automatically, and I hope you read and enjoy this article.

(Article published in Gallerie, the official magazine of Professional Photographers of Canada. Printed by Matrix Group Publishing Inc.)

And as soon as the Chinese magazine comes, I will post about it.

In the meantime, if you’d like to see more of my work, or commission me to do a photograph for you, give me a call at 801-728-3317 and check out my website at BryCox.com.

I am asked to write articles for various professional photographer magazines, and this month I’m 3 international magazines, all at once!

Professional Photographers of America, Professional Photographers of Canada, and PhotoWorld Magazine of China all asked me for articles, and coincidentally, they all printed this month, August 2010.

All US professional photographers should get this magazine in the mail automatically each month, but in case you’re looking for it on newsstands, here’s what it looks like.

My article is on Fashion Posing — how to break the traditional rules of posing to create something exciting.  The basis of my article is that you have to know the rules of traditional posing in order to ‘break’ those rules and do something completely different, but that actually works visually and compositionally.

Here’s how the first page of my article looks (page 82-84).

I’m not only honored to be in this magazine, but feel it a special honor that I am in this magazine at the very same time they have a tribute to my favorite photographer and one of my ultimate photographic influences, Richard Avedon.  Avedon was one of the most influential and longest standing fashion photographers in the industry, and he passed away in 2004.

He really raised the bar with fashion and advertising and storytelling, and I have sought after all of his art books (which are very expensive).  I think I own almost all of them now.  His article is on page 22-24.

You can see parts of the current issue at the official website, PPMag.org.  And if you are a regular Bry Cox Blog reader, then you’ll remember I mentioned writing this article in a past blog post.

As far as the the Chinese and Canadian magazines go, I have not yet received my copies, but will post about them when they come.

If you’d like to see more of my work, or commission me to do a photograph for you, give me a call at 801-728-3317 and check out my website at BryCox.com.

Over ten years ago, I switched my studio completely over from film to digital.  Digital photography was at the time very new, and practically unheard of.  Many told me at conventions that I was making a mistake.  But during that time, I went through the family’s old photographs and created this piece of my Grandpa Tony, who died long before I was born.

When people saw this, they flipped, and many asked me to create mosaics like this of their loved ones.  This started a new product line here at Cox Studio that I called the Cox Timepiece.

Just recently, my dad and others organized a Cox Reunion, for all Cox descendants going back to my Grandpa Tony’s grandpa, and down; something that hadn’t happened in about 20 years.  I was asked to restore many old photographs for my dad and others, so they could be on display at the reunion.

For myself, I went back and found this mosaic in my archives and reprinted it again, as digital printing has improved leaps and bounds over the past 10 years.

When I pulled it up on my screen, I was expecting to make some major changes since I myself have grown in my design and digital abilities over the past decade.  However, I didn’t make a single change.  I was not only impressed with the design, but I just I loved looking at these photographs all over again.

I love the photograph on the right with his tie blowing in the wind, the hunting photo, the suits, the smile….

…and in the bottom left, this vacation photo of my grandparents on the Golden Gate Bridge, dressed for fun.  Isn’t this beautiful?  I love the composition, the posing, the clothes, the paper, and the quality of this image.

I think there is a resemblance too in the family line.  Here’s a recent photo I did of myself here at my studio for comparison.

Looking at these images, I’m reminded of the importance of photographs as heirlooms.  Now more than ever, we’re being bombarded with cheap pictures and the ability to share and see them without ever printing a one.  Those serve a purpose, but the quality isn’t there.  And nothing replaces the ability to hold a photograph in your hand.

These old photographs of my grandpa, though many were snap shots, have a sense of quality, of lighting, and of composition.  They tell a story and were printed so well that they’ve lasted generations.

One of my favorite parts of my job is the final delivery where people can handle and hold their photographs.  Up until then, everything is viewed digitally.  But in the final delivery — after the retouching, the printing, the mounting and glazing and any other artwork is done — in the final delivery, there something tangible.  And with that tangible photograph comes an indescribable palatable feeling that only comes in being able to hold and appreciate a photograph, a feeling that doesn’t exist when seeing an image on a phone or computer screen, no matter how great it is.

If you’d like to see more of my work, or commission me to do a photograph for you, give me a call at 801-728-3317 and check out my website at BryCox.com.

Here is a part of Cheri’s order from her bridal session.  I started with some fashion-lit headshots for some stunning smiling images, and to get a real and genuine sparkle in her eye.

And with those series of images, made this framed trio.

Then we went to one of my new in studio sets for a vibey grouping of cool images.

Then to some modern full length images that also have a classic appeal.  Beautiful lines in this one!

One to show the full dress and one with some funkiness to show the criss-cross back.During the session, we got a bit of rain, but we decided to go outside anyway and get some fun images of her outside in the weather.  I used one to create this painting.  The final paintings are finished as a stretched canvas with hand glazing.

This was a great session!  Everything looked so beautiful and Cheri and her mom were a joy to work with.

If you’d like to see more of my work, visit my website at BryCox.com, and call me at 801-728-3317 to schedule a fantastic portrait session for you!

This beautiful girl is just turning 8, and got some new portraits to celebrate her baptism.  She was absolutely adorable and very fun to talk to!  Here are a few of the images from her portrait session.

We started off the session with some beautiful low-key images, meaning light-on-dark.  I started of with some classical style lighting, and moved to some fashion lighting styles.

Then we switched up the color scheme and brought in one of my favorite chairs and did a series of her barefoot in the chair, being a kid.  I loved how these turned out.

Then we ended with a fun portrait with her mom.  I was glad that she too was in light colored clothing.  This image is so stunning of the both of them.  Though we did some of these smiling, I prefer this one, the more contemplative one.  Both look beautiful!

If you’d like to see more of my work, please visit my main website, BryCox.com.  And if you’d like to have a BryCox portrait done at a special time in your life, give me a call at 801-728-3317.

– Bry