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The other night the moon was supposed to be extra big and bright (news story) which won’t happen again for two more decades. I set out to a secluded place near my home and set up my camera on a tripod to wait for the moon rise. It was a fun and cold night. I had just got back from Texas and was used to the warm weather, and the cool spring night here in Utah made for a fun adventure.

I started out shooting the sunset, as there was about a 15 minute difference from when the sun would set and the moon would rise. I shot for HDR which means you shoot a couple exposures to capture the shadow and highlight details and then sandwich the images together in one image, but ended up just using single exposures as my final images as I feel they look much more natural and esthetically pleasing. Here’s a pano looking west to the sunset.

During twilight, I created some long 30 second exposures of the ground and scenery around me. I really love the next two images and the blue in them.

I especially love the direction of light and the high horizon in this one below.

I was using an iPhone app which pointed to where the moon would rise. I waited for it to peak above the clouds and began to shoot. I really like this image. Everything is so blue.

I pulled back for another image, showing more foreground. I could have digitally enhanced and lightened the grass and foreground, but I prefer it like it is, feeling dark and cool like night.

I zoomed in to capture the moon, but by now it was climbing fast.

The higher moon gave me a bit more light to work with, and I took one more with a lot of foreground and a high horizon, hyper-focal focusing to get as much in sharp detail as possible, especially for such a long exposure.

I really like how these turned out, but nevertheless it was just fun to be outside and enjoying the cool night, looking at the moon. I also created a few images on my iPhone just for fun. Here’s when I first arrived…

My camera and the moon while creating the last image above…

Some weeds against the night sky. I shot this while walking back to my vehicle…

And one more of weeds that I sent from my iPhone to my iPad using PhotoStream, then edited on my iPad to create a pseudo painting. I really like the colors in this a lot.

Well, that was my Big Moon Adventure. If you love photography like I do, and you understand the value of a great image that can stand the test of time, then give me a call. Now is a great time to set up your Spring appointment for your family portrait. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 to schedule a time. And feel free to browse my main website at BryCox.com.

I’m so excited about these images and can’t wait for you all to see them! This is an outdoor commercial shoot that I did for Katherine Nelson. You may recognize Katherine as the actress that played Emma in the LDS Church film, “Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration.” That movie plays daily at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and she was also in the movie “Emma Smith: My Story.”

Katherine is also an accomplished singer/songwriter, winning all sorts of awards for both her solo work as well the work she’s done with various groups like the Nashville Tribute Band and Kenneth Cope.

For this project, she had a specific need and concept, so I chose one of my secret locations that matched what she wanted to create.

I set up all sorts of lighting equipment imaginable to take control of the scene. Lighting this scene was difficult, but it needed to be specific and controlled in order to create images that pop, while still being real and natural. The results are phenomenal! I was especially excited that a storm had gone through earlier, giving us great storm clouds to work with. I love a sky with drama!

Katherine is a fantastic model and a joy to be around. I find her easy to photograph, easy to direct, and she really had great expression. She even did her own styling and created her own clothing, accoutrements and flag for the shoot. It all worked together so well. I flipped out when I initially  saw her and the details of her outfit. It was all so perfect. I especially love her red skirt against the green grass.

We really had a fun time at this shoot. Looking back over it, two of our initial favorites were the image above and below. I love the sun shining through the clouds in the photograph above, and in the image below, the flag blowing against the awesome storm clouds with a little bit of blue peaking through, really makes this sing!

And this next portrait below is one of my all-time favorites from the entire shoot. I love the stance, the directional lighting on Katherine, and the color harmony with the dominant blue sky. The clouds have wispy pink highlights painted by the sun that has now set. This image is at twilight, and has such depth! I actually put this up on my website’s main splash page today, cropped square.

We were having so much fun that even after the sun set completely, I continued to shoot and create in the dark, using all artificial light. However I did it in such a way that it looks like real sunlight. The scene in these next images was actually dark to the eye at the time, but with the right techniques the scene glows and feels like sunset.

Then to end the shoot, I finished up with some close-ups, again with all artificial light because the sun had set at this point. The idea was to create a fake sunset but with the control of darkness, and these images are some of my favorites! (That’s one of my lights as a fake sun in the image below because it’s actually dark outside.)

You really need to see the entire shoot, but there’s not room enough on the blog, so I created a slideshow set to music. Start it up and enjoy.

It seems funny, but anytime I post a shoot like this, I get a lot of emails and phone calls asking where my images were taken. When I suggest that they hire me and I’ll photograph them there, some will admit that they just want to go to the same spot with a cheaper photographer – as if my locations are what yield great results. This is of course untrue.

Being in a great location with the right gear and a beautiful model certainly doesn’t hurt, but the real key to creating great photographs (whether it be outdoors, in sunlight, at twilight, sunset, or even after the sun has gone down) is specific control of lighting. And lighting people specifically and artistically is my unique skill.

I sometimes point to my list of awards and credentials, not to brag, but to show that when you hire ME, you’ll get something completely unique and personal, you’ll get phenomenal photography.

No matter who you are, I will make you look great, real, and natural, and generations from now people will still love your portraits and appreciate your purchase.

Now is a great time to set up your Spring appointment. I’m sure it’s time for a new family portrait, and high school seniors are getting ready to graduate. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 to schedule a time. And feel free to browse my main website at BryCox.com.

I was asked to judge at the Idaho State Professional Photographers Convention, and because I didn’t need any equipment at this event or really anything other than a dress suit, I decided to ride my motorcycle. It was just shy of 800 miles round trip and I took some images along the way.

Due to safety, I couldn’t look through the viewfinder, and had to shoot one handed off the cuff, framing in my mind. I had slung my professional point-and-shoot camera over one shoulder so that I could grab it when I needed. I set the exposure manually (which is one of the things I love about that camera) and would swing it up when needed, and swing it back down after the shot, never looking through the viewfinder. Coincidentally, I have not cropped any of these images. I love how they came out exactly. Each is perfectly cropped as it is, and I love that about them.

I have not sharpened or blurred any of these images in post production. They are as I shot them. What is sharp and what is blurry is natural and only accentuates the images for me. The vibration of the bike in the image below works great, and even zoomed in the ground is crystal clear, and perfectly sharp, in a motion blur kind-of way. I love the sharp lines that the road creates, juxtaposed against the vibration of the bike.

I decided to process out these next two as black and white and really like them. In the first, I love the swoop of the clouds filling the negative space created by the mirror and handlebars. And the mirror just barely touches the side of the image.

And this broken sign was just standing like this with awesome cirrus clouds behind it, waiting for me to drive by and capture it. It’s the kind of thing you only see in small towns or off the beaten path.

There is a small grove of trees on the west side of the freeway, and I had one shot at getting it — no turning back. As you drive by, you see each perfect row flash light at you from the end – bam, bam, bam, bam, and then it’s past. This image showing one of those rows with the blurry foreground is one of my favorites from the ride.

When you’re on a bike, you’re IN the scenery. You’re not observing it from within the confines of a car, or looking at it through some frame. You instead are really in it. You see the road beneath you, you smell the fields that you pass, you feel the warm and cold air pockets, and you look around at great scenes like this that surround you.

As I got closer to returning home, the awesome skies made up for the colder and colder weather. I was trying to beat a storm at my back and didn’t want to ride in the rain. I was getting cold enough. But storms bring great, dramatic skies, and great skies make for a great ride.

I love the lines of these clouds. This was to my far right side, almost over my shoulder.

Getting closer now, crossing the border back to Utah. You can see I’m much colder as the temperature was now about 50º, which is especially cold with the wind chill of riding through the air.

And one last one getting closer to my town.

During my ride, I listened to one of my favorite books on audio, “Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance.” A book on neither Zen Buddhism nor on mechanics,   it’s a philosophical book on a man’s search for Quality, Purpose, and the search for Values. I tend to re-read it every few years or so, and this time opted for the audio version while riding. It was the perfect book for the ride to stir my thoughts during that long solitary time.

I wrote about the same book years ago after finishing it again, and I wrote this blog post (for those who follow me regularly, you may remember it). In any case, the ride was great and I’m especially excited about the images that came from it.

If you are need of great portraits for spring, something artistic and meaningful like some updated family portraits, let me know. It’s a great time to get in. 801-728-3317.

I am so behind on my blog, but today I’m making up for it.  December kept me incredibly busy with Christmas orders and January I spoke at the national photographic convention which meant a ton of prep and time all around it.  Still, I have been flagging shoots all this time to blog about, and today I’m going through those shoots and posting them out.  So keep tuned in as there will be plenty to see.

Sorry to keep all of you waiting.  And by “all of you,” I mean all 50 Million of you that read this blog…or however many it really is.

I recently created a few short music videos with a new camera capable of going underwater.  I’ve had other underwater cameras in the past, but this one is my new favorite!  I can shoot in true and high-def HD and can shoot in true slow-motion too, giving a terrific and smooth slow motion, rather than a jittery slow-mo that is created from just slowing down clip shot at normal speed.

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.

Flying into Salt Lake, the sky and the view was amazing!  Not being able to get out of my seat to grab my pro camera, I used my iPhone to get a few images out my window.  I love how the clouds helped direct the setting sun.  Light is everything, and I love what it’s doing here.  The colors and the texture of the mountains are just amazing.

Delta Airlines knows that if I don’t get my seat upgrade to first class, that I at least need a window seat on the right side.  It’s just automatic because  I love to look out at the city and the mountains as I fly home.  You can see the Draper temple in this image at the bottom.

This last image shows the Sandy area where I was picking out the homes of friends.  It’s always fun to look for familiar places as I fly in.

Well I just wanted to put these up.  I have a lot of really cool jobs to blog about this week, and will get them up as soon as I can.  But until then, browse some of my past blog entries (BryCox.com/blog) or even my my main website at BryCox.com.

Last week I spoke in Illinois, right across the Mississippi River from St. Louis.  I took an afternoon to go visit the arch when I first arrived, and took some self portraits.

I used an extendable pole to control my camera, rather than relying on someone else or using a tripod.  This way I can see what I’m doing and get exactly what I want.

I’m still in my flight clothes, with jacket (great for pockets which are much needed on a flight), and Skull Candy headphones (great for movies on the plane, tunes on a trip alone, as well as iPhone calls too).  A local looking at these photos on my iPhone commented that he’s never seen photos of people by the arch where the arch looks small.  Everyone gets images up close, he said.  I specifically choose not to do that, because you just can’t see anything that way — but I did create some more artistic images up close.

It was a fun afternoon and a great start to an awesome week of speaking, teaching, and creating some awesome images!  That part of the week is coming shortly.

If you’re a photographer and would like to attend one of my events, please check out my speaking website for an updated schedule,BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.  Also, if a big event isn’t your style or if there aren’t any events in your area, you can host a small and intimate event at your place as long as at least 8 photographers attend.  If you can get 8 or more there, you can attend for free!  Call me for more details.

Well thanks for looking and please browse my main website at BryCox.com (or my entire blog if you’re reading this in a separate feed reader like facebook BryCox.com/blog).

Davis County Education asked if I would donate a portrait package to their yearly auction that raises money for schools in the Davis County area.  I donated a few packages as well as gift certificates totaling $4000.00 in all!

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).

This month, I’m on the cover of Rangefinder Magazine, a magazine for professional photographers.

While speaking in Vegas recently, I also had some meetings with some of my sponsors.  One sponsor asked me to pose for a photo collage they were working on of some of their favorite photographic artists.  The result I found out is now the cover of this month’s Rangefinder Magazine.

The idea was a hallway of photographers, each posed doing something else that they loved besides photography.  Aside from photography, I really love guns, music, and I guess I could add girls to that list too.  But not having any props prepared, I used my ipod as a substitute for a musical instrument.  I also really like comedy and so I over-posed in a fun way, really low.  This was the resulting image.

If you’re a professional photographer, this magazine should come to you automatically.

And if you’re not a photographer, but are looking for great images from an artist that trains all the other photographers around, then give me a call.  801-728-3317. Come visit with me and see how fantastic I will make you look in your photographs using natural techniques like light and optics.  Look great without the over-retouching and plastic skin look.  Great portraits are heirlooms, and everyone deserves images of themselves that they absolutely love!

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).

This week our LDS singles ward was broken up and we held one last party, a talent show on Monday night.  There were a lot of wonderful performances by so many in our ward, and I participated by singing an original song.

I played the guitar and harmonica and posted a video of it on my facebook for my friends to see.  A few people including my mom have since asked how they could see it or share it with people who weren’t my friends on facebook.  So today I posted it on my YouTube channel and put it here in my blog.

I have written a lot of ‘love-gone-wrong’ songs over the years which is usually what I perform.  Like the blues, they are always fun to listen to and play, and everyone seems to be in the mood for that kind of song, no matter where they are in life — if your relationship’s good or bad, you always like hearing the blues.  Also, ‘love-gone-wrong’ songs are easier to perform as they don’t require me to open up my heart or show any vulnerability.

However, I have written some really cool love songs that I really like and feel are fantastic and moving.  My favorites grow on me and get stuck in my head, yet I never play them in front of people because they seem too personal.

I admire my favorite songwriters, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, and Glen Hansard for their ability to write such great love songs.  I am amazed at their ability to be honest in their writing and for their willingness to be vulnerable and open to playing them and sharing them with the public.  It’s hard to play such deep and heartfelt songs in front of an audience knowing that many people will not even understand or appreciate them at all.  It’s one thing to hide behind someone else’s song, but it’s another to play your own.

So (1) based on the inspiration of my favorite songwriters, and (2) feeling that I always need to push myself into new and uncomfortable territory in life, and (3) because girls said they wanted to hear a love song and appreciated seeing more of that side of me, and (4) realizing that this was the last time I would see some of good friends from my ward for some time, ………I played a love song!

It’s a song I wrote while missing someone.  I was out of town on work, thinking of someone too much, and wrote this on the plane ride home looking out the window.  I have for years had my seat preferences set up with Delta so that I always get the window seat.  I love looking out at the world and taking that time to just think and ponder, and on this occasion with my head full of thoughts, I landed with a new and cool song.

(This photo was taken by Sister Sansom, the wife of my bishop.  I appreciate her taking this as I never really ever get photos of myself, especially playing the guitar!  Thank you, Sister Sansom!)

Well take a listen and tell me what you think.  And let me know if you think I should put more posts up like this too.  I was a musician before I was a photographer, and though photography is my life and business, I will always be an artist and music is a big part of that.  The music side of me really helps the photography side. So on that ‘note,’ I’m off.  Thanks for listening!

{ My main photography website is BryCox.com and my blog is at BryCox.com/blog }

I just got back from speaking at SYNC, held at St Pete’s Beach, Florida.  It’s a gorgeous location and an incredible event run by some wonderful people.  I was very impressed by the incredible turnout.  My room was setup for 550 people and was packed!

I asked my “out-of-town-girl-buddy,” Angelina to come help me run my table, and I’m so glad I did — we were swamped.  We ended up needing even more help, and other photographer friends that were there came and chipped in to help me fulfill all the orders.  So thank you to Angelina, Travis, Troy and Teri for your much needed assistance.  I wouldn’t have been able to do it without you all.

Afterwards, Angelina and I went out on the beach to take photographs and had a great time.  It’s exhilarating to just create photographs for fun, outside of any job.  The sunset was awesome and I even shot a little video.  Here’s a 1 min collage of clips I shot that day.  I edited it to look like 8mm film.

Here’s how the sunset looked that night.

And one of Angelina doing a self-portrait with her camera phone for one of her personal art projects.

A day or two later, we went back out to the beach and just played, creating fun images again.  Here’s a sampling of the images I created that day.

One of me because I seem to always come home without photographs of myself.

A fun one together…

Angelina is a great model.  She’s got a great style and she moves very well.  I’ve actually used her as a model now many times on shoots, even when I have officialmodels on site, because she’s usually better than they are and more fun to photograph too.  Take a look at some of these images and see if you can see what I’m talking about.

These are all shot with no particular purpose in mind, just having fun on the beach with our cameras.

And then the light started to go.  The sunset wasn’t as dramatic this night, but I was still able to use it for some great portraits.

And then one closing image of some palm trees.  This is a true motion blur, created by spinning my camera as I shot.  I took one blurry and one straight, and I like this one much better.  The blur adds some great interest for sure.

If you’re a photographer and would like to attend one of my events, please check out my speaking website for an updated schedule, BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.  Also, if a big event isn’t your style or if there aren’t any events in your area, you can host a small and intimate event at your place as long as at least 8 photographers attend.  Call me for more details.

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

Did you know that 1 out of 255 women and 1 out of 12 men have some form of color vision deficiency?  I wonder if that means that women see color better generally then men?  I’ll bet that a lot of women already believe this is true.  Nevertheless, I’ve always thought that I could see color really, really well which is why I’m such a stickler about quality and my production methods.

Well now you can test your ability to see color.  There are a lot of photographers who follow my blog, as well as some designer friends too.  But really, everyone ought to try this and see how you do.

Here’s the link, X-Rite Online Color Challenge. It’s an easy test.  All you do is arrange the tiles in order of hue.  There’s no registration or email required, just a fun test to try.

When I did it, I tried not to take too much time, but just worked fast.  I think you’re better at seeing that way.  You can take the test over and over, and even try it on different computer monitors too.  However just see what you get on the first try.

I took it for the first time last night after a photographer friend sent it over to me, and here’s what I got — Zero errors — a Perfect Score! YES!

Bry's Results from the online color test

There’s a reason then that I do what I do.  Well thank you to X-Rite for putting this online.  X-Rite is actually one of my suppliers and they sell color profiling equipment for cameras, computer monitors, printers, and projectors.  I’m a stickler about color and profiles and have used their equipment for years, even back when the company used to be called GreTag MacBeth.  If you’re a photographer, I strongly recommend (as I always to when I’m speaking), that you have a color profile system in place for your workflow.

If you’d like to know more about my color profile system and workflow, come see me speak at a city near you.  To see my upcoming schedule, go to my workshop site, BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And for everyone else, thanks for looking and please browse my main website at BryCox.com (or my blog if you’re reading this in a separate feed reader BryCox.com/blog).

Merry Christmas and Happy Shooting!