Art Images

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 4

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. This is the last and 4th part in this series documenting this year’s ride. (See Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3.)

As everyone headed out from the Santa Barbara docs in their various directions, Mike Ridinger, his son Cade, and myself made a route home that would take us on backroads through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats.

Cade as the passenger on Mike’s bike would check routes and give us options as we rode. It allowed us to avoid all the LA traffic and large freeways clogged with cars, and instead take the most beautiful scenic side routes in California.

We slowly weaved our way northeast, spending hours curving through farm land and orchards. It was a completely different view of California than I’ve seen previously. It was a sea of orchards and farms, interspersed with little towns perfect for gas stops.

In one town, there was this building on the left with a series of colors. I stopped to photograph it while changing up clothing. We seemed to go through warm areas, then cold, then rain, then back to warm all along this route. We’d go up mountains and hills, down, and the weather would constantly change.

At one point we stopped along a roadside to change up our clothing and gear. Mike got this photo of me and Cade chatting and looking at the sunset.

It’s amazing how open and wide the country is when you get off the main roads. While stopped, I took a photo of my bike on the side of the road.

As we looked off at the sunset behind us, we were amazed by the colors and the layers of mountain peaks in the distance.

As we continued on into the twilight, we found a town with a suitable hotel and got some dinner for the night.

The next day we got up, packed our bikes, and headed for Death Valley. It started out as a hot morning, and as we rode through this area, we had no internet. But Mike’s thermometer consistently showed we were in the 100º-115º range depending on our elevation. At this temperature, the “wind-chill” that happens when you ride is actually makes the temperature feel even hotter. At a certain temperature point, the wind blowing past you as you ride isn’t cooler, but hotter.

Being this hot, this was a great place to stop to eat, cool down and gas up. I liked this old truck with the sign saying, “Last Gas for 45 minutes.” Gas out here is far and few between – as we find out later. But first, we absolutely enjoyed our time and Death Valley. My phone kept shutting down from the heat, even if I put it in my pocket out of the sun. At one point, we visited a gift shop, and I put my phone in the ice cream freezer to get it to start working again.

From Death Valley we headed to a town called Tonopah to fill up – it’s the last gas station for 170 miles on the way to Ely, Nevada. Mike’s gas tank is bigger than mine, but I had some spare gas on me too, just in case. My tank, with normal riding can go about 120-140 miles before I run out of gas and have to switch to my reserve tank, where I’ll get another 30 miles. It was cutting it close on making it the 170, but we were too far away from anything for another route, plus I did have extra gas on board.

So we gassed up and headed out to Ely. Along the way we’d talk and re-calculate, wondering how close to town I’d get. Eventually, my main tank gave out and I switched to reserve. Eventually, that gave out and I poured the rest of my gas I had with me in my tank and we continued on. When that puttered out, we were about 9 miles from town. Mike and Cade went ahead into town to get me gas, while I pulled over and watched the night and the empty road. Before long, they were back with extra gas for me and we went on into town, got a hotel, and talked about our day’s adventures over dinner.

The next day we headed to Wendover, Utah, dodging storm clouds and getting hit at one point with the edge of a wild rain storm. I shot this image at a Mexican restaurant were we cooled down and got some lunch.

With a new tank of gas, we went out to the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.

We took some time to enjoy the flats and photograph our bikes on the stark, white salt. My blue bike really popped with the color scheme of the flats – blue sky and white clouds and salt.

Mike brought a small studio flash and we had some fun playing with lighting on the Salt Flats.

From here we headed home to my place in Utah, a few more hours to the east to relax, eat, and decompress. The next day Mike and Cade packed up and headed home to Lewiston, Idaho. It was the end of a great adventure. Over 2100 miles and friendship and adventure.

And on a portrait note, kids are back in school and fall weather is coming. It’s the perfect time to update family and kids’ portraits before the pretty green dies off. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 3

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. This is part 3 of this year’s ride. (See Part 1 and Part 2.)

Waking up in Santa Barbara, we all hit the road looking for the curviest highways we could find. I took these images off-hand with an SLR camera slung on my shoulder, pointing backwards – using a BLACKRAPID sling (of course) to avoid dropping it on the pavement below. I love how these turned out. I love seeing the group hug the road on the curves, the gorgeous sky, and all the beautiful terrain we rode through.

Ron took us on a particular backroad that was mostly secluded. It was quite a pretty place to stop and take some photos.

I really like my pretty blue bike, and how the blue pops against different backgrounds. So at this stop I took a few angles of my ride. These kinds of images make great small prints for the house to look back on our adventures.

I always try to photographed the team now and then too. When the group would stop to talk for a minute, I’d swing my camera up and get these images.

At one point, I got out my drone for some group photos, but first took a test shot – a drone selfie (… a dronie perhaps?).

With the drone set up, I got some group shots with everyone standing by their bikes, and then looking down for the abstract angles on the bikes.

You can see Ron here looking up with his hands out.

We eventually hit a small town called Solvang. It’s a Danish inspired town with fun buildings and architecture. It’s a great place to stop, photograph, and perhaps stay a bit to enjoy the food and the ambiance. Everything about the town was quaint and lovely.

Our bikes looked especially good lined up in this cute town.



From there, we headed back to our hotels in Santa Barbara to eat, relax, and compare stories about the day. That night as we talked, we realized that various people needed to head in different directions, and this seemed to be the best place to split up.

So the next morning, before everyone took off, we went out to the Santa Barbara board walk. I got out my drone for an abstract shot looking down on us and our bikes. 



Ron was wearing his official BLACKRAPID Moto-Ride sweatshirt.

And of course one more shot with Ron before everyone headed out in their various directions.

And as different groups headed out, I got a shot of them each leaving, driving off down the boardwalk.


As Mike and I left, I got this image of him and Cade behind me. But before that, Mike, Cade, and I hung out a bit longer, figuring out a route home to Utah – avoiding freeways and focusing on curvy backroads. We found an outdoor breakfast place and ate as we planned and talked tings through. Then we headed out through some beautiful California country.

As we drove, Cade was our travel agent, checking routes, available gas stations and hotel options. Our route home through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats will be featured in the final Part 4 coming up.

In the meantime, it’s time to updated kids’ photos as well as your family portrait before the beautiful summer green dies off.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 2

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. This is part 2 of this year’s ride. (See Part 1 here.)

After waking up in California, we headed up the coast through various towns.

We picked up a new rider and photographer in California named Robyn Richardson. Being from the area, she led us on some curvy and beautiful roads as we moved through the state. We eventually stopped at a famous biker stop called the Rock Store on Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica Mountains. The owner gave us a tour of his place, and we stayed for a bit to order food and eat outside.

From there we explored various roads and highways, hitting mist and fog, sunshine, and a bit of rain. Here’s some of the photographs I created as we rode.

There’s some famous biker stops along the way, and we stopped to see them all. Neptune’s Net is one, and it was set in a beautiful location.

Here’s a selfie of Ron Henry (founder of BLACKRAPID) and I.

From there we went up the road a bit to look off a cliff and hang out. I got out my small drone and created this fun group portrait overlooking the ocean.

We eventually landed in Santa Barbara, and got hotel rooms for the night, ate dinner and relaxed – talking about our adventures and planning out next day’s ride.

Coming up in Part 3, we explore the small roads and towns surrounding Santa Barbara. The creative side of my brain really loves to see the world as abstract squares, so I’m often running away from the group here and there to capture the square abstract in my mind. Here’s some of these from these two days in this area.

Coming up, I’ll share more images from our ride through California (part 3), then our ride home through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats (part 4).

In the meantime, it’s back to school week here in Utah. It’s time to updated kids’ photos as well as your family portrait before the beautiful summer green dies off.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 1

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. I do a lot of commercial work for BLACKRAPID and have long loved the brand. If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, they make the best camera straps in the industry and are the most comfortable and versatile strap I’ve used.

Ron has a place in California, so this year we did a ride down to his place and toured around California. It started with Mike Ridinger and his son Cade, driving from Lewiston Idaho down to my place in Utah. Then we took a couple days to ride out to California. Being photographers, we stop along the way to photograph anything that catches our eye.

From my place to Ron’s, then touring California and back, was over 2100 miles.

The rule of riding is to avoid freeways and straight roads. We prefer the curvy, less used highways that take a bit longer and cut through small, older towns. These places are passed over by all the travelers on faster roads, in a hurry to “make good time” and get somewhere fast. We may ride fast, but our emphasis is on “good,” not “time.” We stop to take pictures, backtrack to hit a curvier, prettier road, or search out the highly-recommended small town burger stop.

Heading south through the backroads of Utah, we were constantly avoiding rain clouds. At one point we were in the clear area between three different rain storms surrounding us.

This way of traveling meant we rarely saw anyone on these pretty Utah backroads. The wide-open country was just ours.

By nightfall we had hit St. George, Utah, and needed to reluctantly use the freeway to get to Mesquite, Nevada to stay for the night.

The next morning we gassed up in Vegas, and then headed south-west through the desert heat on more backroads.

My attention is always caught by abandoned signs. These old roads used to be the main roads before freeways, so they’re littered with the remnants of old signs from motels and gas stations. When I look back on my photographs from the trip, I have tons of images of old abandoned signs. This one was particularly pretty.

When we arrived in Palm Desert, California, we met up with Ron and our friend Angel who rode in from Arizona. Then we all went to eat in the swanky town.

Coming up, I’ll share images from our ride through California (parts 2 and 3), then our ride home through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats (part 4).

In the meantime, the summer heat here in Utah is dropping. It’s the perfect time for family portraits outdoors in my studio gardens or even inside in the studio.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Motorcycle Tour of Utah (Part 2)

During the summer, I helped lead a motorcycle trip through Utah for BlackRapid. I posted a while back about our first day (Part 1), and wanted to share more of the images created along the way.

Continuing from where I left off in Moab, the next morning we took some long day rides around the area. First we drove down the windy Colorado River, stopping along the way to photograph various rock formations. I love this group portrait with the red rocks behind us.

Sometimes along the curvy roads, I’d grab some photographs with my free hand. I love the terrain of Utah, and the ride was amazing. The mix of deep blue skies from the 100º degree weather, mountainous terrain, and windy roads made for some unforgettable moments.

We stopped at the Sorrel River Ranch to rest and get some drinks in the shade. Frank Masi got this image of me in the parking lot there.

I saw Frank walking around and creating images, and at one point he was perfectly framed in this window overlooking the Colorado River.

After some time relaxing in the shade, we went back into the sun to make the ride up to Dead Horse Point.

There’s some amazing curves and turns on the ride to Dead Horse.

At the Dead Horse overlook, we setup our bikes for various photographs. Here’s Ron Henry and Frank Masi.

This wide panorama of the overlook does not do the area justice. The image is amazing up close, but the scene is overwhelming in person. It’s awesome to look over and see how big, vast, and inspiring this area is.

Frank stood up on his bike to get an even higher view of the overlook.

With my small packable tripod, I was able to get this group portrait of all of us at the overlook.

Here’s Mike Ridinger and his son, Cade with their bike at the overlook.

I got this image of Angel’s bike and I’m glad I did. This beautiful bike was later stolen from his home in Arizona.

Here’s my blue bike in the same location both alone and one with me on it.

Exploring more through the Dead Horse area, we checked out some other overlooks.

I almost died on this cliff. 😉

After a long day of riding, we headed back to Moab for some dinner and air conditioning.

I have much more to share, and will continue later in Part 3. In the meantime, if you’d like to see any of the iPhone images created along the tour on Instagram, just search the hashtag #BlackRapidMoto2020

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Motorcycle Tour of Utah (part 1)

We recently had the BlackRapid Motorcycle Tour of Utah, and it started here at my home studio. Photographers from around the country came for a week of touring the backroads of Utah via motorcycles.

I do a lot of commercial work for BlackRapid, and have long loved the brand, and the camera straps the company makes. If you’re a photographer, make sure you check them out. They’re by far the most comfortable and versatile strap I’ve used.

Ron Henry, the founder of the company put on the event and I’m happy he did. I had gotten used to the Covid life and could feel the change and a feeling of relaxation when I saw all these cool bikes lined up in my driveway.

We headed out and met in Salt Lake to gather the rest of the group and begin our ride south through the 90-100º heat towards Moab in southern Utah.

Though some photographers cancelled due to Covid and some couldn’t make it across boarders, the photographers that came were a great group of guys. The size was perfect, and we took this group shot before heading out. The photographers are from left to right:

On the long ride to Moab through the heat, I took a few photos with my iPhone during some of the long stretches of highway.

Though we posted iPhone images along the way to social media, my favorite way to create images is with an actual camera. But for things like this, I don’t like taking my high-end professional gear. Though I’d get the best possible photographic images if I did, instead I take a small and compact camera with manual controls. It takes up less space, I’m not worried about it getting broken or lost, and I know the images I’m creating with it are going to work out and give me the highest resolution and bit-depth possible for it’s small size.

If I want to make prints large or small, or even crop, edit, or zoom into an image, I’ve got the quality to do so.

Once in Moab Utah, we got our hotels secured, unpacked our bikes and then headed out to ride through Arches National Park for the latter part of the day.

The sun low in the sky, made for some dramatic light and shadows on these gorgeous red rock formations. We’d ride a ways, stop, chat, and take photos, …then ride some more, just soaking everything in.

A motorcycle is a great way to be in this environment. In a car you can’t look up or around, nor can you feel the air change you pass different vegetation or go from sun to shade. On a motorcycle you’re in it all and you feel it.

As Robert Pirsig says in his great book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”

At one point we stopped to watch the sun go down behind a formation, but the setting sun created some beautiful light on us and the formation behind us.

The great thing about traveling with photographers is that we all are on the same artistic journey – we all want to stop and take photograph along the way. When we travel with other groups, we feel pulled to go in different directions or stop and take photos and enjoy some particular scenery, but no one else wants to. It means leaving the group, which is hard to do.

Here, if someone wanted to pull over to photograph something, we’d all pull over and just enjoy the moment and look to see what that particular photographer was seeing.

As the sun set below the horizon, we rode the curvy roads out of the park, through the dark and warm summer air, back to the small town of Moab for dinner. It was a great first day on the moto tour of Utah, and there’s much more I have to share coming up in part 2. The next day we did some awesome day rides and took some great photographs. That will all be coming soon in the next part of this series.

But in the meantime, if you’re on Instagram get a peak of our iPhone images by following the hashtag, #BlackRapidMoto2020.

And until next time, America.

Chasing the Total Elipse

The total eclipse was absolutely breathtaking and inspiring. Words really can’t describe the feeling and overwhelming awe of being there, feeling the air on your skin dramatically change, watching the sky all around you go dark, and then suddenly seeing the sun’s white rays burst out from behind the moon in the darkness in an angelic way… it was beautiful!

I’m glad I made the last minute decision to drive the 3 hour route north to see the eclipse in totality. Here at my place in Utah it was going to be 91% which sounded pretty good to me. I debated if that extra 9% would really make much difference. It did.

The local news made a big deal about all the traffic and congestion that would be heading north into Idaho, and their daily talk of armageddon (gas stations dry and store shelves bare) made me want to avoid the crowds and just watch the eclipse near my home.

But the night before, some friends called me to join them on their drive up. They said there wasn’t any traffic and that they had a spot for me in their camp. So excited about the adventure, I loaded up my motorcycle with my bare essentials and some items of preparedness and headed out at 1:00 am to drive through the night. As I got further north, the temperatures dropped to the 50’s, which when going 80 mpg makes it feel like 25º. Freezing. I arrived shortly after 4:00 am, found my friends sleeping under the stars in a farm plot turned makeshift RV park, and I got out my sleeping bag for a few hours of warmth and sleep.

The rising sun in our eyes woke us up and we all greeted each other, made some food, and began setting up to watch the eclipse. I had a sheet of solar film from my friends at Pictureline in Salt Lake, and it was awesome. I had enough film material to cover my camera lens, my binoculars (which were an amazing way to watch), with left over pieces to give to a few close friends for their cameras.

Here a drone shot of us hanging out at camp, watching the eclipse.

As the eclipse progressed, I created a series of photographs that I later combined into this one-piece collage. Since the moment of totality was such a wondrous experience, that image needed to be much larger. And as much as I like this collage, it is just a reminder of the experience. It doesn’t do the real thing justice.

Here are all of the images I did during that procession.

I only took a minimal setup because I was on a motorcycle and hoped to enjoy the event too, not wanting to get bogged down in technology during the wondrous moment. I’m happy with my results, but we met many people at the camp who’d planned for months and years, even coming from out of state for this event. This California man shown below spent years building this elaborate setup, which included multiple computers and analyzers to track the sun and adjust for micro movements. And with all that equipment, he forgot to remove his solar filter to get a photograph of totality because he was so engrossed and blown away by the experience as it was happening. Only afterwards did he realize he forgot to photograph it.

I flew my drone around the area during some down time, and shot the nearby country side and the snake river running right past us.

Then to avoid the horrible traffic being funneled down the only road south to Utah, we instead went bridge diving with some other friends we met up with.

Here’s a video clip of us jumping, shot by flying my drone out above the water.

As it got later, I thought the traffic would be clear enough to go. Plus I wanted to avoid another cold night’s ride home. I packed my bike and headed out an hour and a half ahead of my friends. …and I hit horrible traffic. It took me 7 hours to drive the normal 3 hour route. There were no alternate roads, no turnoffs. Just one long 200 mile road in gridlock. I even got a ticket for what I consider normal motorcycle driving (i.e. passing gridlocked cars).

Nevertheless, I am so happy that I made the drive north to see the eclipse in totality. It was worth the photographs, but more importantly it was worth the experience. The difference in the last few moments (95%) when it just felt dim outside and the sun was still pretty bright without the solar glasses, versus that moment of totality when the sun burst out in a bright angelic way from behind the moon was spectacular. It lasted only a few moments, but it was an incredible experiment that is hard to describe with words.

I’m grateful I’m a photographer and lived close enough to be able to experience such a wonderful moment with dear friends.

And until next time, America.

Gorgeous Drone Video & Photos of the Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah

I’ve got so many great photos and shoots to share here on my blog. I photograph people of course, focusing on custom portraits that capture emotion and are extremely well lit. But sometimes I also like to photograph abstract shapes and the natural beauty of the world.

I live near the edge of the Great Salt Lake which gives me a variety of beautiful terrain in all directions. My studio location is in a forest of tall green trees, but a few miles away I’ve got salt flats, open desert space, waterfowl and wetland areas, and large open fields and marsh areas too. Twenty minutes away to the east and I’ve got tall mountains and rugged canyons. Heading south there’s all the gorgeous red rock often used in movie locations. And heading north (as we did with friends here) we can explore the north end of the lake, which is a mix of alkaline flats and shallow shores of the Great Salt Lake.

So at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, a small group of friends of mine all went out to the Spiral Jetty. Some wanted to float in the extra high salinity of the northern end where the water is so dense, you can’t sink. Others wanted a fun excuse to enjoy the desert and great weather. I personally loved the idea of getting away from civilization, enjoying the beautiful air and open country, and I really wanted to fly over the area with my drone to photograph the colors and shapes from above.

Play this video above in full screen and in HD to see the gorgeous clarity. I especially love the moving water ripples, and the moving cloud shadows over top of all the wonderful and abstract shapes and colors. I also like the mix of very high shots (300-400 feet up) with video from very low, flying right over the water and photographing the reflections of the sky and clouds. And the music really makes this work, thanks to MusicByElise.com.

And here are some of my favorite photographs. If you look closely in this first one, you can see me standing at the very top of the spiral. I’ve got a colored landing pad (to protect the drone’s tiny parts from flying dust). You can see that pad as a small speck of color in the otherwise blue/gray dirt and rocks.

Here’s a photograph of some of my friends, out wading in the water. All of the alkaline and salt deposits create beautiful and abstract shapes that are best seen from above. I especially love the blue shapes in the bottom left corner juxtaposed with the warm colors, with a hint of blue sun reflecting in the top right corner.

More abstract colors and shapes.

Here is flying really low over the water. I love seeing the mix of mud and reflections in the water, along with the mountains in the distance.

Here are a couple long shots showing the distant mountain ranges that surround the Great Salt Lake, along with the mix of sand, water, and colors.

And closing the shoot with a drone-selfie before packing up our gear and heading to a favorite steak restaurant in the area.

It was a great day with friends to enjoy the open space of Utah in the warm spring weather.

If you need some drone photography or video for your business, give me a call, 801-728-3317. There are some legal requirements for shooting drone photos and video commercially, which people may not understand. However my dad is a long-time private pilot with the FAA, so with him on site for the shoot, we are good to go and can get some fantastic footage for you. Unique and artistic perspectives are always needed to stand out. And my artistic background in lighting and composition, mixed with the unique perspectives of a commercially flown drone means I can give you that and more.

And until next time, America.

The Unique and Amazing Individual, James Christensen

A good friend, James Christensen, has passed.  I extend heartfelt condolences to his wife and family and thank them for the great times my friends and I have had with them at their home. Well alll miss James dearly.

He was a great man to look up to, and I identified with him particularly because he was deeply religious while also keeping a young, humorous, slightly rebellious streak. He gave so much of himself and his time and talent to the LDS Church in a variety of callings, and the enormous murals that he painted in temples will forever inspire, as does all of his art.

His love of symbolism in scripture and art, and his ability to see what others might miss, and to add these details to his own pieces provide an almost magical insight. He hosted various barbecues and kung-fu film nights — he had the ability to connect with all of our friends despite age differences.

And as you can see in this portrait below, he raised a wonderful family that I’m honored to have photographed for Sari’s wedding.

And my friends and clients will remember the many Christmas CDs that we produced over the years bearing his artwork. These were a joint project. James Conlee produced them, James Christensen provided the cover art, while I handled the graphic design and printing.

I would sometimes have to adapt his painting to a square design or to allow text to flow over top. That meant digitally changing his art, sometimes extending things or cropping areas, all of which I was always very cautious about doing. But when it was needed, I made sure every change was true to the original feel of his painting so it’d be un-dectable. And then I waited for his opinion. He was always very kind and would say, “Well done, Bry. I like how you did this, and how you did that.”

Here’s a few covers from over the years.


The most dramatic change was with this painting below where I removed everyone but the one angel in the middle, and then recreated stars and sky in their place. All these alterations were discussed beforehand. He was great about them. Here’s his original painting.

And here was the final CD cover. I feel lucky and blessed to have known him, to have his artwork on my walls, and my heart goes out to his family and loved ones. I can’t imagine the loss they feel. But I also have no doubt that he was welcomed with open arms into the highest levels of the next life.

For anyone looking for more info, here are a few links. First, his Official site at Greenwichworkshop.com. Next a video produced by Deseret Book. Despite the awful production value of this video, it is really nice to hear him talk again, and to remember how he discussed his work, to see his thought processes, and to hear the familiar cadence of his voice.

And finally, a news article about his passing.

Bry Cox in Glacier National Park at Fall, September 2016

Adobe Spark Page
[ Click the window above to view even more as an Adobe Spark page. Best viewed horizontally or on a large computer screen. ]

I recently returned from a trip to Montana and Glacier National Park with a couple friends. Driving the ‘Road to the Sun’ road, there were too many things for me to want to stop and photograph, so the compromise (if you can call it that because I think it was the best idea ever) was for me to stand up out of the sunroof and photograph as we drove. It was a frigid and cold day, and I loved the cold air blowing against me, the unobstructed 360º view, and the ability to absorb everything and shoot photos.

bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_01

And I found it really fun and a creative challenge to shoot motion blur images as we drove. It’s a technique a good friend, Julieanne Kost showed me once while we were riding on a train. She’s absolutely perfected it, and her images are emotional and phenomenal. Here’s a link to her work, JKost.net, and a link to her recent book, Passenger Seat.

And I have more of these images on my Spark page (linked above), but here are a few of my favorites.
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_03
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_04
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_05
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_06

The fog was beautiful at the top of the mountain, perfect for our hike, a 9 mile loop along the Highline trail.
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_02

Normally on this trail you can look down the cliff and see the ‘Road to the Sun’ about 100 feet beneath you. As we started though, we looked down into just fog. It was quite beautiful.

bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_13_highline-trail

And the higher and further we got in, the more the fog changed. I shot quite a few panoramas.
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_07
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_08

In this image below, you can see the trail close on the left as it hugs the mountain side, and also the road beneath us on the right of the photo.
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_09
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_10
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_11

On our hike back, you can see the trail cutting along the mountain behind me, and the road down beneath that at the bottom.
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_12
bry-cox_glacier-national-park_fall_2016_13

It was an inspiring and awesome adventure. The colder weather made for a great hike and even more gorgeous scenery. The fall leaves were out, and the park’s busy season was over so we had the mountain and our trail practically to ourselves. To see even more photos in a very cool responsive presentation, click the window at the top or click this link.

And if you would like some beautiful fall portraits of either you, your family, or your high school senior, now is the time to get it booked. Here in Utah, the fall colors have hit and we have a very limited time to catch these beautiful colors up the canyons. Lighting is the key to making you look your best, and that’s what I do. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.

Bry Cox’s Commercial Shoot of Death Valley

I feel honored to have been asked by a large corporation to create some artistic views of Death Valley. I shot for an entire day, starting early before sunrise and going until past dark shooting a variety of locations and places. I was accompanied by the company’s rep who took me to places I never would have been able to go without his unrestricted access to various areas off limits to everyone else.

I created more images than I expected during this full day of commercial landscape shooting, and even shot a number of bonus images – color infrared – which looked amazing and refreshingly interesting, especially in the middle of the day.

We started the morning around 5:30 am creating panoramas before sunrise.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_001

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_002

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_003

I found out that this was the spot where U2 shot their famous “Joshua Tree” album cover. After getting a number of images, the sun began to rise quite quickly behind us. I really like this image with the tops of the mountains in the distance being lit by the rising sun, and the various layers of color it created.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_004

And here is that area in full morning sun.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_005

In some areas there are some beautiful stretches of cracked earth. I liked these as abstract closeups.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_006

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_007

A lot of the areas required some vigorous hiking. At the end of the day I had logged a number of miles plus some big elevation changes on my watch – much more than expected. And these scenes we passed even as we hiked, were breathtakingly beautiful.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_008

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_009

Here, from one of my favorite lookouts, you could see a number of various rock formations which created bands of color and variety.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_010

This was also during the “super bloom” due to an earlier flood which caused a number of flowers to bloom, something very unusual for this area of the country.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_011

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_012

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_013

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_014

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_015

And in the more “civilized” areas of Death Valley, there’s some cool structures like this “Twenty-mule team” train, all part of the history of the Twenty-Mule Team Borax cleaner. I learned quite a bit about the history of the area as we drove around and hiked through the desert. It is all so much more interesting to me now, knowing some of the history of the place.

This particular train is surrounded by a fence to keep people from climbing on it, so some creative angles were necessary.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_016

And shooting it in color infrared also gave me some very unique ways of showcasing this local feature.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_033

Before shooting the Furnace Creek Resort up close, I wanted to get a long, distance shot of it to show how secluded it is, how tucked away in the middle of the desert it really is.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_017

Here it is up close. It was built on the site of a natural hot spring, and was famous for being the Hollywood hotspot getaway for celebrities. It’s an oasis in the middle of the hot desert.
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_018

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_019
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_020

They have a beautiful pool, and here is the same angle but shot in color infrared.
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_037

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_022

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_039
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_024
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_040
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_036

 

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_038

 

 

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_041
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_025

As the day neared an end, we re-hit some of our favorite spots to shoot them in completely different light. I love these vast landscapes, and the vibrant colors created by the evening sun.
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_026

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_027
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_028
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_029
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_030
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_031
BryCox_DeathValley_2016_032

And here are a few more color infrared images from mid-day.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_034

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_035

And a few color infrared images created at sunset from a few of our favorite spots.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_042

This image below is one of my favorite color infrared images from the entire trip. It shows the sun setting in the distance, but the variety of colors created by infrared makes this such an interesting image to me.

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_043

BryCox_DeathValley_2016_044

It was a very long day of shooting, but I like to make sure that people get more for their money than they expect. And I was surprised how many locations we were able to shoot and how many images I shot during this full day. It was far more than I expected which was a big bonus to the company. With so many beautiful images, I’m only sharing a small percentage here, and it was hard picking images to showcase. But I am grateful for the experience to shoot this job because I love the outdoors and I love creative photographic challenges, and making beautiful landscapes and images that people will appreciate for many years to come.

If your company needs some great photographs, give me a call. 801-728-3317. I’d love to chat with you about your photographic needs to see how I can help you out.

And until next time America.

He Is Risen, Sun over Death Valley in Color Infrared for Easter 2016

Being Easter, I wanted to post something and it hit me today what to share. I have been working on this image and many others as part of a big commercial project I did in Death Valley. This image was shot in color infrared, a light spectrum invisible to the human eye. The bright colors are real, they are just not the colors or type of light we see.

So aside from the candy Easter colors, I like this for Easter because the sun is dramatically shining over Death Valley from the horizon as if rising. It says symbolically, “The Son brings light and life to Death.”

BryCox_DeathValley_Mar2016-2702-Pano-1000p

And for a little more Easter spirit, I want to share a video with my little 4-year old nephew narrating it. He was an early reader and last year when my family showed him an Easter video he started reading the captions. My sister and brother-in-law stopped and recorded him and combined his voice with a new version of the video. They did it again this year, and this is it.

And here is last year’s video. More backstory on this in last year’s post.

Plus, here are some photos I did of him in my Utah studio to go with his cute voice.

Cox_JMartin-Mar2015-166-4up-900p

Happy Easter, everyone. And until next time, America.