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.

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.

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).

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).

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).

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 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).

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!

The trip was with my ward and friends, and we had a blast.  A side note, all of these images are with my professional point and shoot camera too — a small and completely manual camera that is great for travel.

I took this first image on my drive down, looking out my window while driving.

Our friend Benton, who is an expert fly fisherman, took my cousin Tony and I on a fishing expedition up the Colorado River.  We started here, just below the dam.  I call this image, “The best dam image of me.”

Here’s Benton showing off one of Tony’s catches.  With his help, we caught a ton of fish — all however were too big to keep.  It’s a funny rule on this part of the river.

Here was one of my catches, one of the biggest of the day.  If I could have kept it, it would have made a great dinner!

Here is a pano looking out from our boat.

Because of my recent knee dislocation, I wasn’t able to wakeboard with everyone else.  I’ve been working hard on rehabilitation, because I like being active and don’t want to miss out on summer fun.  My knee was feeling pretty good so I tried some light surfing behind our friend Mark’s boat.  It was great to get in the water.

If you haven’t seen or heard of this, you start behind the boat with a rope in order to get started, and then throw the rope back to the boat once you get your balance.   A pro can surf on that wake indefinitely.

It not only was a great trip, but a reminder for me to photograph my casual moments in life, as well as the professional.  Photographs are a great way to preserve memories not only for us, but for future generations.

If you need any photographs of your family this summer, give me a call.  801-728-3317.  And in the meantime, check out more of my professional work on my website at BryCox.com.

I drove to the top of the Cape to a small town called Provincetown.  On the edge of town there’s a jetty.  I hiked across the jetty to photograph this lighthouse that was way out on a little piece of land.

Once on the other side, I hiked around in the brush to get just the right spot, where the sun would only be lighting the side of the lighthouse — creating some depth.  This was one of my favorites.

Then I decided to create some self-portraits because I have realized that when I go to fun and beautiful places that I only get great photographs of my surroundings, but never of me.  At some point in life I’m sure I will want to look back and see photographs of me on one of my adventures.

So I set up my tripod with a radio shutter release and went to get in the photo when I could hear the camera snapping photographs randomly and without my control.  I ran to the camera to stop it and as a result of my camera’s mishap, I got these two images which I really like.

The movement gives them a certain interest and life, which makes them more interesting than me just standing there next to the lighthouse.

After I got the release working I took some more on purpose, but kept the idea of movement in the images.  The running images made me think of Richard Avedon’s self-portraits that he did while in 1950′s Paris with the Eiffel Tower.  I used that inspiration and created this set of images.

It was so quiet and serene out on that little piece of land.  I tend to be more introspective when I’m out of town, and especially when I’m in a beautiful place creating a photograph just for me.

There’s something about just relaxing and getting away from the distractions of life, and just looking at light, and being creative … and just thinking.  It took me about four hours total to cross the jetty, take some photographs, and hike back to land.  A very fulfilling night!

On the walk back, I took this image, looking back towards the lighthouse.

And here is the jetty looking back towards Provincetown.  I wanted to get across before sundown while there was still light to see, and I just made it.

When I got back, I saw a quaint hotel right on the beach and I booked a room.  It didn’t have a restaurant, so I headed into town for dinner, but missed everything.  All the restaurants were closed.  I went to bed on a few candy bars, but felt very fulfilled!

However, in looking them over and trying to decide what to post about today, I decided that I’d rather post a family portrait in honor of Mother’s Day.

This is the latest photograph of my family, and I created it at my sister’s wedding.  I set it all up, stepped in, and fired it with a remote that’s in my other hand.  It shows my folks, my sister, her new husband, and my grandma — it’s a portrait of the three women in my family.

I love that we as a nation, have a special day set apart just to honor the women and mothers in our families.  It’s a great day to show the love and respect that we all have for them.

There are many great lessons that I’ve learned from my mom, more than I could possibly list here.  Because this is a public blog, I don’t want to get too personal, but I’ll just list a few things that have to do with my business.

It’s because of her that I have a love of beauty and of working in my garden and yard (which is on my to-do list tomorrow).  She’s been my champion and my photographic critic, and is one of the reasons I’m an artist today.

Throughout the years, my mom has always encouraged me to do better, she’s helped me raise my level of quality, and has always helped me troubleshoot problems in my business so that I could go further.  She’s helped edit my books and magazine articles and has helped me become better at words and writing.

And it’s because of her and my upbringing that I have a love and respect for women.  Many people have noted over the years that I photograph women in a respectful and attractive way, without objectifying.  I owe this to my mom.  It has always been my goal for complete strangers to be able to look at one of my portraits and feel like they know who the person is inside in some way.  That I think, is a different and higher level of attractiveness.

My folks have taught me integrity, honesty, and a love for others, and I know that it’s because of them that I am who I am today.

So even though I’ve wished my Mom this many times today, I just wanted to say publicly, Happy Mother’s Day!

Here are two of my favorite images.

BryCox - Mark Koelbel

I really like kind and real look on each of them, and the airiness of the lighting and background.  And I have to say too that Mark and Shauna are always just fun to work with, and entire shoot was just a joy.