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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

For the US article, they asked me to talk about breaking the rules of posing, and creating images where people don’t look stiff.    That article and magazine will be coming out in a couple months, and gets mailed to all professional photographers automatically.  It will also be on newsstands and I’ll let you all know when my issue is out for anyone else who wants to pick it up.
The biggest thing about a fun style of posing is making people look great, while at the same time making people look comfortable, natural, and real.  Care has to be taken on every detail, but the look is that things happened naturally.

The reason this is a hot topic, is because most photographers don’t understand posing, but want to create fun images.  However, just breaking the rules for the sake of breaking them (while not understanding them) really means awkward images where people don’t look their best, and many times even look heavy.  These photographers then cover the image over with computer effects so that the image looks fun or funky, but yet the person still looks awkward.

Creating sub-par images and masking them with computer effects should never be the result of a professional photographer.  Every portrait session should be about making people look amazing, no excuses!  And it should be done in the camera and not the computer.

This means then, understanding classic posing very well, and being aware of every detail in an image, but also being able to back off and let someone’s personality come into the pose for a spectacular, unique, and creative look.

For this article, I wanted some amazing images to go along with it, and chose some of these fashion images of Liz, because each of the poses from her photo shoot were spectacular, different, sexy, and showed her personality.

I turned in some other images as well, and we’ll all just have to wait and see how the article gets laid out in its final form.

The Chinese magazine asked me to talk about how weddings are photographed here in America.  Weddings are not only different in our two countries, but they are photographed completely differently.  My article for them, will hopefully give insight and ideas to Chinese photographers as well as satisfy curiosity.  I talk about equipment, approach, and reasons things are done as they are here, compared to how they are done there.

This article will be published in the same month as the US article, but will only be available in China.  The entire article will be translated and written in Chinese too, so I won’t even be able to read the copy they send me.  I just hope the concepts translate as I hope.

To see more of my images, browse 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!

The trick is to always create a spectacular portrait with complete control of light, and to do it under any lighting condition, and still have it custom for that person’s face shape and body.  Meaning great images anywhere…no excuses!

Here are some of the fashion portraits I created in Miami.

These first few images were created around the hotel using ‘other’ lighting techniques.  These ‘other’ techniques that I was showing was due to the fact that the original lighting equipment that was provided to me, DID NOT WORK!  But rather than waste time trying to dink around with the equipment, I went right into showing problem solving techniques, and how to still create stunning and correct lighting for the model in other ways.

These next two images are shown just as they were shot, with no effects!  I was showing a very high-key style of lighting using some special equipment, and exposing for the final image.

Here are just some black and whites done in a very sassy and fun way.

These two studio images I was showing the use of shadow, color tone, and angles to highlight the eyes.

A very pretty and young high-school senior.  A fashion approach works great with high school senior photography.

This is a model from the country of Malta.  She has very exotic looking eyes and lips, so all of my images of her seemed to be closer to really show those features.  I have a great one of her below of her on the beach.

If you notice in my photographic work, I ALWAYS light people so that their eyes pop, no matter the situation.  Eyes are key to a great and emotional image.

Some images of a different model in direct sunlight, using docks and boats as a background.  Busy backgrounds and sunlight are both very difficult.  Both together are even harder.  These images show that both of these can work really well if done right.

And then back in the studio…

And this next image shows just how fun it is to work with me.  :-)

And the Maltese Princess again, but out on the beach.  Later that day I showed photographers this image directly in the processing software, so they could see that this was shot straight…no adjustments at all!  This was shot in direct sunlight on the beach with external lighting, and everything was set up manually — no auto flash, no auto exposure, no auto anything!

It shows photographers that we all need to be a technician and be more exact in or work, and that pays off in extremely difficult lighting situations like this — Perfect, right out of the camera!  Being a technician means having the ability to forget the equipment and work better with the model for a more stunning and captivation expression.

And this was just a fun art image I created on the beach and then painted in front of everyone later that day using some specific tools that I sell to photographers.

Well there are way more images, but this blog entry is already long enough.  This event in Miami was called AfterDark.  It is an event that travels the country and I’ll be doing more for them in the future.  If you are interested in attending this or any other of my photographic workshops, please visit my workshop site, BryCoxWorkshops.com to see my upcoming schedule.

I started at Portland Head Lighthouse, in Portland Maine, because it’s one of the most beautiful and photographed lighthouses on the east coast.  I woke up at 5:00 am and left my cozy and warm hotel room to battle the freezing cold in hopes of a great sunrise image.

This is one of my favorites, because it shows the rockiness of the coast.  I love the yellow coming in from the horizon, and you can barely see another lighthouse on the water in the far distance.

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse

Here’s a closer and vertical image of the same lighthouse.

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse 3

I really liked this one. I used a Lens Baby shift lens to give me optically soft edges, and then breathed on the lens to fog the glass.

BryCox - Portland ME Lighthouse 4

Later that day I found this lighthouse, Pemaquid Point.  It was getting late as I did this panorama.

BryCox - Pemaquid Point 1

Here was a little building just to the side of the lighthouse.  I liked how all the rocks pointed to it.

BryCox - Pemaquid Point 2

This was a little bench that looked out to the ocean.

BryCox - Pemaquid Point 3

The next morning on my drive back to the airport I stopped to photograph this frozen lake.  It was so cold there.  I was just out of my car for a moment, and absolutely froze.

BryCox - Maine Frozen Lake

It was a great trip and I’m very happy with the images I created.  I hope to have a reason to get back there sometime soon…and hopefully when it’s a bit warmer.

This interview was done by a group called More Photos.  I’ve included a player here on my blog which should be able to play the interview in its entirety.  The entire interview is only about 5 minutes long.

Photographers wishing to attend need to register special for this class, as the number of attendees is capped.  More info is at the ImagingUSA website.

Here’s the interview:

It was a very rigorous but exciting schedule.  One of my favorite photo shoots came in Beijing, where I had an absolutely stunning model named Surui.  Normally when groups line up a model for me order for me to do a live demonstration, it tends to be a pretty normal person.   I was very excited to have such a captivating girl as my model.

Bry Cox - China Surui 1

I had a very limited amount of time to photograph her, and didn’t have the best backgrounds to work with either, and had to really improvise with other areas of the room to create better backgrounds. I’m happy with how these turned out but would have loved to have had more time on this shoot.  ;-)

Bry Cox - China Surui 2

Because of the tight schedule, I didn’t get the chance to get out and photograph a lot for myself.  But Louis and I did take one morning to go walking and photographing people for about a half hour after breakfast.  I didn’t get a lot of what most people would consider as art prints, but I did get a lot of very interesting images because everything was so different than what we are used to here in America.

Keep in mind that we were in all of the biggest cities in China too, the smallest having 15 Million people and the largest having 36 Million people.  In comparison, my entire state of Utah has only 2.7 Million people.  So needless to say, these cities were very dense and very dirty.

Bry Cox - China 3

I really like this old man framed by the public street toilet.  And this next image is very strange!  I found it very interesting all of the things that were just laying on the streets and in such interesting ways too.

Bry Cox - China 4

And here is a little boy playing outside his house.  I really is interesting to see such vast extremes so close to each other in China.  In each city we stayed in absolutely top of the line hotels.  But literally just across the street would be pure poverty like I’ve never seen before.

Bry Cox - China 5

Bry Cox - China 6

This image to me really shows the contrast.  I framed it so that the old and impoverished woman is in the strongest part of the photograph.  Surrounding her on both sides are some young, beautiful mannequins and some fancy stores.  She is actually sitting in front of her home, the little door between the two stores.

The constant extremes were everywhere.

Bry Cox - China 7

And here is a man working on the street, as most people do there.  He was a cobbler, and would fix and resole shoes.  You can see his sewing machine with a shoe hanging in it.  The little parts of people on the edges of the image are people waiting for their shoes.

There’s a lot more to tell you about China, but I’ll finish it in the next post.

I hope to do an art book of just Chinese art images similar to my Italian art book I did a few years ago.  I will first need to sort and choose my favorites, as well as do some slight artwork on the images and adjust for contrast and proper cropping.

For right now though, here is an early preview of some of my favorite images, before post-production artwork.  It was a fantastic journey and I’ll be excited to show these images after they are finished.

By the way, feel free to let me know some of your favorites!

BryCox - China Art Images 1

BryCox - China Art Images 2

BryCox - China Art Images 3

BryCox - China Art Images 4

BryCox - China Art Images 5

BryCox - China Art Images 6

BryCox - China Art Images 7

BryCox - China Art Images 8

BryCox - China Art Images 9

I WON THE GOLD!  It was very fun to actually be there to receive the award!  Even though I was there in China to speak at the convention, I didn’t expect to win any awards with so many photographers entering.  It was so exciting to have them call me up as the Gold Medalist too!

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 1

When I went up to get the award, I handed my camera to Doug Box and asked him to take a photo of me winning.  After the shot, I took my camera back and took this quick pano of the audience photographing me!  Look at all the people grouped up on the sides!

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 2

Here’s a close-up of one of the sides.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 3

But before they started giving awards, they event started with beautiful Chinese models coming out wearing some of the top images from the exhibition.  They were strutting to music with a heavy beat.  The lighting, fog, and bubbles made it look amazing.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 4

Here’s a close-up of one of the girls.  They were stunning women!

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 5

The model on the right of this image is wearing one of my images, the famous portrait I did of Joe McQueen.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 6

Afterward some of the models asked for a photograph with me.  It probably didn’t hurt that I’d just won the Gold Medal in front of them, or that they were wearing some of my images, or that the place was decorated with my images…but I have to tell you that I loved the attention and felt like a rock star!  They were beautiful and stunning women who were amazingly tall.  Notice how tall they are compared to me.  I’m 6 foot 4 — especially tall for China.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 7

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 8

Then before dinner that night the models changed outfits and came back out to do another dance.  I loved this one too!

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 10

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 9

The dinner room was decorated with our photographs.  That’s actually my image hanging behind us.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 11

Here’s another shot showing two more of my images on the wall along with images from the other speakers.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 12

This dinner felt like another awards ceremony because we were all presented with gifts from the Chinese.  Here is Dennis Craft and I getting some traditional cut-out art pieces.

BryCox - PPA China Awards Night 13

That night was fantastic!  It made me feel very grateful and blessed to do what I do — to be an artist and to be able to travel and meet so many people from all over the world.  It was a joy to be able to speak and share my artistic ideas with the Chinese photographers.  They were incredibly hospitable and kind.  I hope to get back over there again soon!