It was a fun shoot and we created some amazing images  – some smiling, some serious, some color, and some black and white.  Here is another one of my favorites.

But in the end, the top image won out and the CD is now finished and on shelves.  Here’s an image I took with my iPhone while strolling through the store.

You can get the CD here from the official Deseret Book shopping site, deseretbook.com.  Also, check out Carmen’s commentaries as a blogger for the Desert News.  Good luck on your new CD, Carmen!

There is an immense amount of work and skill that goes into a portrait like this, but this is what I do every day for children, families, wedding couples and everyone else — I create portraits that strangers look at and feel that they know the person.

I always like to have a flag in a professional campaign portrait, so we started the shoot in the studio with the flag that I originally acquired years ago when I did Governor Leavitt’s official portraits.  Then we moved to some more relaxed images for options.  I loved how these all turned out.  His smile is genuine, his stance is powerful yet relaxed.

To see more about Mr. Wallack, visit his website, howardwallack.com.  And keep an eye out as you drive along I-15 for some of his billboards!

Check out this demo video I created while testing this camera last weekend on my friend’s boat.  I love the abstractness of the bubbles and water.  I shot for that quite a bit.

During this underwater shoot, I securely mounted the camera to my wrist, my chest, and even to a pole.  I tested it in sunlight, underwater, with movement, and everything else I could think of.  I’m excited because I didn’t have to edit any of the clips.  All of what you see is exactly what I created in camera — no adjustments.

About a week before I also tested it for time lapse ability and also wanted to test the mount I got for it to secure it to the outside of a vehicle.  I wanted to see how it would hold up to the wind at freeway speeds.  Here’s what I created while driving from my house to 7600 South in Salt Lake.

I am very impressed and have a bunch of new ideas for using this camera now.  I really hope to use it on high school seniors.  Years ago I created music videos from weddings and seniors, but the time involved to produce the pieces was so time consuming, that the packages became very expensive.  Now though, with this camera and with the newest editing software that I’ve also been testing, I hope to be able to create these kinds of things again for seniors and wedding couple, but in a more cost-effective way, and with even greater production value.

If you’re a high school senior and want a hip music video that you can post on your facebook page, then give me a call!  NO ONE creates images like me!  My shoots are super artistic, fun, and I know just how to make you look great!  You will LOVE your images!

Give me a call to schedule your appointment.  801-728-3317.  And feel free to browse my main website, BryCox.com and my blog at BryCox.com/blog.

This is Wasatch Christmas, a Christmas CD that is produced every year by one of my best friends, James Conlee.  In fact it is a joint project of friends in many ways because the cover painting is by another 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.

The name of the cover painting is, “Saint Nicholas of Myra.” James Christensen’s paintings are always so incredibly captivating.  This particular painting I hadn’t seen until working on this project, but I love it.  The colors, the details, the expression — everything just keeps me looking deep into this painting.  It really made this CD artwork wonderful.

It’s a little known fact that I design all of the CDs that both James Conlee and Ryan Shupe produce, and I think that this is the 12th CD I’ve designed for James.  Some can be seen right here (James Conlee – Sunday / Ryan Shupe and the RubberBand – Last Man Standing.)

I was told that my class was the first to fill up and that they actually oversold my class.  The event went great and I loved the opportunity to help and inspire others.

But I was also inspired with some new ideas.  I stayed and watched one of the other speakers, Alex Buono who is the Director of Photography for the Saturday Night Live Film Unit.  He shoots all of their parody commercials and the opening sequences for SNL.  You would definitely know his work.

Watching Alex, I was inspired to do a time lapse photography video.  He has one he did that is now the opening sequence of SNL, and it gave me an idea.  Sunday morning, I mounted a camera to the side of my car, and created a time-lapse video of me driving to Salt Lake.  Here is the result.

If you’re a photographer and would like to attend one of my workshops, check the schedule and sign up on my email list at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.  And or everyone else, browse my main website, BryCox.com and my blog at BryCox.com/blog and give me a call if you need some new portraits for your business, or family.  801-728-3317.  

This first image is very captivating.  The expression is great and the selective focus is real, created in camera and not in post-production.  There’s something so great about true, organic, soft-focus and selective focus.  This image is reminiscent to me of a Rolling Stone interview portrait.

Everything we created in the portrait studio was done with the mindset of being different and unique.  A CD has to stand out and almost ask to be picked up, and the images have to do that.  I used a very edgy fashion lighting style on these to create a different look, mixed with a unique stance and fun background.

We then switched it up to Scott playing his electric guitar, again with selective focus before moving outside.

We then went on location to one of my favorite places because it’s so far from anywhere.  As far as you look on the horizon, you won’t see civilization.  We are really in the middle of nowhere, and the colors and textures are so great!  I really like the lines in this particular image, and how they all work with the guitar’s neck.

And here’s the same image in a multi-toned black and white version, because it just looks so cool!  The textures really pop this way.

I love working outside and using the clouds and terrain in Utah.  They add so much drama to an outdoor image if you know how to light it.  Shooting in the desert with exposed sun is very difficult to do well — which is why I love it so much.  Few people can create images like this in direct sunlight.  There is a trend amongst new photographers to call themselves “Natural Light” photographers, because they don’t know lighting and can’t work inside and can’t work outside unless it is in shade or the sky is overcast.  There is no control and their images all look flat and dull.

Contrast that look with these images.  They have depth, they have real highlights and shadows, the colors are real and dynamic, and the sky and scene has drama, and all the lines and colors all work together.  There is no “plastic” looking photoshop effects.  Everything is real and because of that, you feel like you can step into these images.

We ended the shoot with Scott walking away, feeling that this could perhaps be the back of the CD or a foldout page inside.  It gives room for text and design work.

And here is the same image, but in my special multi-toned black and white.  Both are so cool!  Which one do you like?

Well, I can’t wait to see the final CD design and hear all the new recordings that Scott has been working on.  He is a great musician and a real artist and it was fun to be able to create this images for him.

If you’d like to check out his music and get his new CD, his website is TheRealScottFoster.com.

Well thanks for looking and if you need some new portraits for your project, business, or family, give me a call.  801-728-3317.  And browse my main website, BryCox.com and my blog at BryCox.com/blog.

We had a blast at the shoot talking about music, song-writers, and the industry in general.  It was fun to see how well they played off each other at the studio, and I can see why they are so good at what they do on the air.  We were all laughing constantly.

I loved the images that they picked too.  This first portrait of the two of them together captures what I wanted, which is how much fun they are.  You may have seen this on some of the billboards along I-15 this week.  It’s also on their website too.

We also did some individual images of the two of them, which I really liked.

I love the smile and personality of these two in their images and I’m so glad they called me for this project. It’s an honor for me to create the images for Utah’s #1 Country station!

As with many commercial jobs, I used a particular shade of gray that I love for the background, a shade that I call it “fashion gray.”  It is the most used color of gray in magazines and commercial shoots.  If you keep an eye out, you will see it everywhere through GQ, Vogue, or practically any ad you can imagine.  It’s so great because it’s neutral, it’s both classic and edgy, but it also gives the client the ability to change the background digitally later if needed.

Every portrait is important in life, and if YOU need some new images for whatever reason (business, family, or event) give me a call.  See how wonderful and real you’ll look in a Bry Cox Portrait.  801-728-3317.

Well thanks for looking and feel free to browse my main website, BryCox.com and my blog at BryCox.com/blog.

The MC and Host of the event was Stephen Jones, well known for the BYU ad that resembled an Old Spice Ad.  (See it here on YouTube http://youtu.be/2ArIj236UHs).

There was even a performance by Kendra Lowe, one of the judges and also the director of the event.

The big winner was ‘Artie Hemphill and the Iron Horse Band.’  Here he is performing.  And here are some of the musicians that competed in the event.

The point of this article was to show how I use a monopod to mount a flash fired by a PocketWizard.  This way I can custom light people with full control, and can move the light and adapt as the model moves.  The point of great photography is to always light someone in a custom way that makes them look good.  Most people just light the person in a general way.  By having my light mobile, I can constantly move and adapt to get great lighting as the client moves.

For my non-photographer followers, PocketWizard makes devices that sync your flashes to fire when your camera fires.  Normally you’d have to wire them all to your camera, but with these radio syncs, a wireless signal is sent instead.  This allows for wireless shooting which means putting your flashes anywhere, and not just where a wire will reach.

The brand new PocketWizard Flex and Mini systems have been improved to allow for E-TTL, meaning that they have electronics inside that compute how to fire a flash multiple times in a shot, and in just the right way so that you can use a flash with cameras that in higher sync speeds than normal.  This means you can get the look of overpowering the sun with a small and lightweight setup.

These devices are amazing and I have loved them.  And I really appreciate PocketWizard calling and interviewing me about them too.

Well thanks for looking and remember, that it’s the best time right now to do family portraits in the garden studio here at Bry Cox Studio.  The place looks fantastic and the weather is perfect.  Call now to schedule something soon.  I have some specials going on right now too, which is an added bonus to getting a Bry Cox portrait right now.

Also, browse some of my past blog entries (BryCox.com/blog) or even my my main website at BryCox.com.

Annie is incredibly talented and she personally did everything on this project including the arranging, mixing, production and mastering, as well as playing many instruments on it as well including flute and piano.

Here’s a short 1 minute video clip of her and her group recording at my place.

(And here’s another link in case the YouTube video doesn’t show above.)

You may notice from this video, that all the musicians are playing and recording each of their own tracks at the same time.  You may think that this is how music is normally recorded, but this is very unusual actually.

It’s easier to have everyone record separately, each laying down their own track in silence, then it is to record everyone’s tracks simultaneously.  Annie however, really wanted to record this way so that the final recording would have the soul and vibe of a combo playing together.  The result is fantastic!  Her vision was perfect!

We recorded everything here, then she took the files with her to personally mix, master and produce the final track.  It is now on iTunes and I am seriously blown away by her talent, and ability to do so much and wear so many hats in the music realm.  She really is amazing!

I urge everyone reading this to download her song from iTunes.  It is only 99 cents and is incredibly moving and inspirational.

Thanks for browsing today.  If you need some fantastic music portraits or other artsy images, give me a call.  801-728-3317. I have some specials going on right now which are great, especially mixed with the wonderful weather outside.

And also browse some of my past blog entries (BryCox.com/blog) or even my my main website at BryCox.com.

It was built by Haskell Homes, and was designed by the team at Noble House in Bountiful, which includes my good and dear friend, Jenna Rix (JM Design Sparrow).

The large oil painting above the console there, is actually from my cousin, Tony Cox.  The image to the left, above the stairway, is one of my photographs, stretched on canvas.  This particular image I took while strolling the streets of Tuscany a few  years back.  It’s a 40×60 and fits that wall just perfectly!

Here’s that same room, looking the other way, back into the kitchen.  The design team asked me to also photograph the house, so these are some of the interiors from that shoot — the day before the parade opened.

I don’t normally get to shoot images like this one above when doing interiors, but fortunately Jenna loves this style.  She loves the kind of images that show you what the room ‘feels’ like, so I was able to play and get some of these cool images too.

Here’s the office, with an Eames chair and one of my images on the wall.

The master bedroom upstairs.

Another view of the master bedroom.  The lighthouse canvas on the wall was taken on the shores of Oregon.

The guest bedroom downstairs featuring “Blue Jalopy” taken in Tuscany, and “Serenity at Twilight” (on the right).

Here’s the team the day before the big opening: Jenna (with Noble House), Guy Haskell (the builder), and Karen (owner of Noble House).

Of course one of me and Jenna,

And the house alone.

Noble House had me design up some large prints for their store.  Here’s what they look like.

Now of course, there are plenty more images and much more to show you, but instead of posting them all here, you should instead just go by and see the place.

Haskell Homes are incredibly energy efficient and Jenna and the team at Noble House are fantastic designers and carry unique and beautiful furniture as well.  Everyone has been great to work with and it’s been fun to see how it all came together.

And you really need to see my artwork in person.  Some are images that have not been seen enlarged before either, like this rainstorm in Shanghai finished as a 40″ image.

Or this one that won a number of awards this year, “Fan of Wisdom,” taken at the Confucius temple in China.

This lighthouse was one of many that I found while photographing the coast of Oregon.  The colors were a perfect fit for the room it was placed in.

And this image was also in Oregon, near Canon Beach.  You may recognize the rocks in the background.  It’s called, “Looking Forward.”

These art images and others are discounted right now while they are on display at the Parade of Homes.  Let me know if you’d like prices on anything or need something made up custom for your home.

And it’s also the best time right now to do family portraits in the garden studio here at Bry Cox Studio.  The place looks fantastic and the weather is perfect.  Call now to schedule something soon.  I have some specials going on right now too, which is an added bonus to getting a Bry Cox portrait right now.

Also, browse some of my past blog entries (BryCox.com/blog) or even my my main website at BryCox.com.

I stopped by that night to set up my samples, and this is how the room looked!  It was a beautiful event.

I set up my samples and hung out to answer questions with people.

They had even printed a large banner for one of my tables.  This was the largest package I offered.it was a full event and they sold not only my packages, but a lot of other things as well and raised some good money for their cause.

I’m grateful that they called me and asked me to participate.  It’s a great feeling to be able to help groups and organizations that better our society.

I’ve donated to more auctions this year, then I ever have and would love to do more.  If you’re in charge of an auction, give me a call and talk to me about your group, what you do.  I’d love to talk about possibly helping with some donations.

And if you’re a client looking for some great new photographs of your child, family, or anything else, give me a call at 801-728-3317.  Aside from studio work, the outdoor gardens right now are beautiful and it’s time to get your shoot scheduled, as the summer is already getting booked up.

Thanks for looking and please browse my main website at BryCox.com (or more from my blog if you’re reading this in a separate feed reader BryCox.com/blog).