My Portrait of Dennis Prager Featured on His New Book Promo – “If There Is No God: The Battle Over Who Defines Good and Evil”

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Commercial & HeadshotsPosted on No Comments

Back in September 2020, I had the pleasure of flying to California and photographing conservative talk show host, PragerU co-founder, and bestselling author Dennis Prager for a headshot session at Salem Radio in Los Angeles. We set up a portable studio right in the radio station, and in a short time, created a variety of looks—clean professional portraits with tailored backgrounds to suit his needs.

Behind the scenes during the Bry Cox headshot session at Salem Radio LA – setting up lights and chatting photography with Dennis Prager.

Dennis was incredibly personable and kind during the shoot. He loves photography, owns some impressive gear, and we ended up chatting about lenses, cameras, and even Biblical Hebrew – as I have a long love of Biblical Hebrew and he’s written many books on the Bible. His energy and genuine smile made the session a highlight—one of those shoots where everything just clicks.

Fast-forward to today: I’m thrilled (and quite proud) to see one of my portraits featured prominently on the promotional materials for his upcoming book, If There Is No God: The Battle Over Who Defines Good and Evil.

Bry Cox portrait of Dennis Prager (left), and how it’s used in the official promo for his new book (right).

The book, published by Broadside Books (an imprint of HarperCollins), was just released, and is already available for order on the Prager Store or Amazon. It dives into some of life’s biggest moral questions: Can we truly define good and evil without God? Are feelings enough to determine right and wrong? What happens when morality becomes subjective opinion rather than objective truth?

From the official description: “We live in an era when people increasingly make moral judgments based on their emotions. But if feelings determine what is right and wrong, then whether murder, rape, and theft are wrong is no more than an opinion.” Prager draws on his decades of exploring Judeo-Christian values to argue for clarity in a morally confused age—making it a thought-provoking read for believers and skeptics alike.

It’s always rewarding to see my portraits in the wild. Congrats to Dennis on the new book—it looks like it’ll spark some important conversations. If you’re interested in the full session I did, check out the original post here: Headshots for Dennis Prager.

If you need some killer new headshots, the type and level that are used for national book campaigns like this, then contact me. I’d love to create something wonderful for you.

And until next time, America.

2,300 Mile Motorcycle Ride Through 5 States (Part 1)

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Photo-Moto RidesPosted on No Comments

This year’s BLACKRAPID Moto Ride took me through five states (Utah, Idaho, Washington, Montana, and Wyoming), and over 2,300 miles of adventure.

Each year my close photographer friends and I go on a multi-state ride, hugging the backgrounds and exploring various states. Ron Henry of BLACKRAPID puts on the event. Ron rode in from California, and we med at Mike Ridinger’s place in Lewiston Idaho.

I’m a couple-days ride away from Mike’s, so for the first few days, I rode alone to meet everyone. From Utah I drove up to Boise, then took the backroads through Banks, Cascade, New Meadows, Riggins, and Craigmont.

I love the solitude and feeling of complete relaxation that comes from long days of hugging curvy roads on a motorcycle. There’s no better way to take in everything around you, then on a motorcycle. You feel everything – the cold, the heat, the smokey fires, the smells of canyons and rivers, all of it.

One of my top highlights was stopping to meet a friend for lunch in Cascade. We ate at Thunder Mountain Burgers, and ate in the outdoor breeze.

Being photographers, we all photographs along the way. I carry a few different cameras, plus my iPhone. I particularly like to find and create abstract shapes that fit into squares. The various vignettes I find along my journey mean something to me, and remind me of the memories made in the area.

Through Cascade and upwards, it got smokey. There were forest fires all the way up, and smoke made the mountain sides look a lot different than usual.

The next day, Ron Henry (founder of BLACKRAPID) and I took a ride through some curvy roads in Washington. There’s a beautiful ride along a river, and I got some one-handed photographs of Ron steering through the curves.

You can see the smoke through the trees, even up in these Washington photographs.

I shoot these photos of Ron one handed with a camera slung over one shoulder, using the BLACKRAPID Cross Shot strap. Being right-handed, I typically carry a camera on my right side, but on a motorcycle I carry the camera on my left. That way I can steer and throttle the bike with my right hand and shoot with my left hand.

I don’t look through the viewfinder or screen at all. I carry a camera that I’m quite used to, and without looking I can reach down with my left hand, turn it on by feel, zoom the lens where I think it ought to be, aim it (without looking through the viewfinder), and snap photographs. Shooting while moving means I sometimes miss some, but the ones that turn out, look great.

We made sure to be in Lewiston for their yearly Hot August Nights event, where they shut down the main part of town and have old souped up cars drag the town all night. We got dinner, enjoyed a motorcycle club party downtown, and watched the cars go by.

The next day we headed out towards Montana.

I’ll post part 2, coming soon.

And until next time, America.

Family of 60 in the Fall Leaves

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, FamilyPosted on No Comments

I recently delivered this gorgeous family portrait of about 60 people, finished as a 60 inch canvas. It looks amazing, and I’m excited to share it. Here’s a video showing how beautiful it looks printed and finished, along with the other wall prints that were ordered.

It’s rare for families as they get bigger, to never have everyone in the same place at the same time. But if you can make it happen, it’s worth creating a family portrait. And with a family this large, I’m amazed we got everyone together. The result is a timeless heirloom portrait that will be enjoyed for decades to come.

Once a family books with me, we do a color consultation to give them ideas on what to wear. The more people, the better everyone needs to be on board with the color palette theme – and this family nailed it!!

This wooded area is here at my studio gardens. Here at Bry Cox Studios, we can shoot indoors or step outside into the gardens—always with professional studio lighting for that polished look.

This was the last portrait before all the leaves dropped. The weather, the grounds, everything came together wonderfully for this family portrait.

On the day of the shoot, we had about an hour where we’d have everyone together, and before the light got too dark in the background. It was the perfect looking day, though quite cold, as many hid inside in the studio until it was their turn.

With the golden fall sunlight filtering through the leaves, my multiple studio lights popping, all the energetic grandkids, and all my silly antics to keep kids laughing, we moved efficiently: biggest groups first while everyone was fresh, then quickly broke into the smaller family units and generational portraits.

While everyone was together and looking sharp, I always try to capture individual family units too — it creates options for everyone and makes a beautiful wall collage for the grandparents.

We also created portraits of the original kids, another one with spouses, and one with grandparents and all their grandkids. These images were finished as 30″ wall prints and look amazing in the client’s home.

Even at the end, the kids are still smiling and looking great, and we have a beautiful portrait that is tack sharp of all their cute little faces.

Finally, here we are delivering the final portraits and hanging them in the client’s home. They looked so good on the walls.

If you need a family portrait, contact me and let’s plan something amazing for your home. I’m an Utah family photographer, and I specialize in large family portraits that are perfectly lit, perfectly composed, and perfectly printed. If that’s what you’re looking for, let me know.

And until next time, America.

Spencer & Sarah’s Mountain Wedding Album Design

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Wedding Day, AlbumsPosted on No Comments

I love showing off my finished wedding albums. I want prospective brides to see everything – the entire day. Most photographers don’t control their lighting, so they only share one or two “lucky” photos that luckily worked out.

But weddings span a big chunk of a day in which the light is always changing (morning, afternoon, evening, inside, outside, bright sun, overcast, sunset, darkness). New brides comparing photographers should see how great an entire wedding album looks, start to finish. And because I control lighting with studio gear on location, brides look amazing the entire time, no matter what.

This wedding is a perfect example. As weddings often do, a series of circumstances caused the events to run late. I had almost no time to photograph the bride and groom alone (but I still got a good variety of amazing photos), the ceremony was after dusk (and it all looks gorgeous), and the family portraits were created in the pitch dark (yet they look stunning, beautiful, and everyone is tack sharp).

No matter what, everything looks amazing on every page of this wedding album, beginning to end. See every page in this video, and at the end is the album slideshow set to music.

Every one of my wedding collections includes a finished album too. I love physical products and love to deliver albums and wall canvases to my clients. I don’t say, “Here’s a disk, go figure it out online somewhere.” Instead, I personally lay out each page from scratch, and custom retouch and crop each image so the entire album look wonderful.

Notice how the layers of each portrait (subject, foreground, background, sky) are vivid, colorful, and work together. Nothing is blown out or muddy. It’s all gorgeous. And notice how the bride and groom look relaxed, have great body language, and have genuine expressions. Any photograph throughout the album can be blown up for wall art. Every image is crystal clear and full of color and emotion.

Even late into the night, with no “natural light” in the mountain canyon, I still have amazing photographs to end the album with, to finish telling the story.

If you’re getting married, contact me and let’s create something amazing for you.

And until next time, America.

Colton, Little Red-Haired Toddler

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Children, Babies, MaternityPosted on No Comments

It was so fun having this little red-haired toddler in the studio. Colton is adorable and full of personality, so he really glowed in his photographs. I had a hard time picking my favorites, because he had so many fun expressions and cute images to choose from.

We did a series of studio portraits for him, both high-key and low-key. He’s a wiggly little boy, so I opted for some big, soft studio lighting. And knowing we’d want a wall trio, I looked for a series of three that told a story – similar enough that they’d look great together, but different enough in expressions that your eye keeps going through all the images, again and again.

Here are those three images separately, so you can see his blue eyes and expressions even better. Each of these would work well too as small individual prints too.

For his high-key images, I used a little white chair on a white studio background. He did a good job of sitting still and making faces at me. And I love his little chubby feet in this series.

Colton has such big, blue eyes, and they’re full of expression. He looked so cute and inquisitive in this one. I’m obviously being silly and playing with him, and he’s watching me with interest, trying to figure out what I’m doing.

As colder weather approaches, people are needing portraits for upcoming Christmas gifts. But kids don’t have great expressions when it’s cold so avoiding the frigid weather and stepping into my studio means we’ll have lots of wonderful and emotional images to choose from. And for Christmas gifts, we can make up small prints, cards and even ornaments – all perfectly printed.

If you need some new portraits of your kids, contact me and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

Vacation Portraits of Extended Families

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, FamilyPosted on No Comments

I love photographing families and creating wall portraits that will last a lifetime. Extended families are even harder to get together at one time. As kids grow, get married, and have kids of their own, multiple schedules come into play. This means getting everyone together at one time is a challenge. Taking advantage of these short-lived opportunities are golden. Oftentimes, the one opportunity when everyone is together is family vacation.

This beautiful family hired me to photograph them at their vacation home for this very reason. Living across different states and even another country, it’s almost impossible to get everyone in the same place at one time. Yet they value family portraits and wanted something beautiful while everyone was together.

I travel all over often flying to other states for shoots, and am happy to come to you. I bring my studio lighting with me, so that even outside (in this case at their vacation home), everything looks amazing without excuse. It doesn’t matter what the weather is like, or where the sun is in the sky, I can create perfect lighting on everyone’s faces.

I also pose everyone in a comfortable way, so there’s a natural flow to the photograph and no one feels “posed” – but yet everyone looks great.

This family did such a great job too with outfits and colors. Everything and everyone looked so great together. And these kids were so adorable! All their cute little personalities, smiles, and laughter made for a wonderfully fun shoot.

Using a different spot on their property, I set up and did smaller family groups of every family. While everyone is together, it’s great to get each of these groups captured with all the colors and tones matching. That way everyone can order what they want. Individual families can order the size that’s appropriate for their own home of their family. Maybe they get smaller sizes of the other groups. And grandparents can create a wall collage prints, all matching in style, lighting, and tones.

And if possible, I like to end with a portrait of all the grandkids together. This is usually a bit hard as kids run out of energy quickly and having them all together in one portrait can be a bit of chaos – but I also love it. And what I get, even if all the kids aren’t absolutely “perfect,” shows so much personality and soul.

I really love creating heirloom family portraits, and would love to create something beautiful for your home. It’s that time of year when fall weather is here. That means we’ve got a limited time to do some outdoor portraits. Soon the autumn colors in the canyons will be gone, and my last greet spots will start turning and going too.

If it’s too dark or too cold, we can always shoot inside in the studio. But if you need a new family portrait, contact me, and let’s create something amazing for you.

And until next time, America.

Featured on KSL-TV: Bry Cox Creating Portraits of Foster Kids

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Children, Babies, Maternity, PublishedPosted on No Comments

For many years I’ve been photographing foster kids for Raise the Future. The images are used to help the kids get adopted because a great portrait done right (with perfect lighting and expression) portrays a child in their best light. This helps prospective parents really see into the heart of a child before they meet him or her.

These images are also used in the Heart Gallery – an event where larger wall portraits are unveiled at the Utah State Capitol to each of the children. The children are also given a smaller size to keep at home until they’re adopted – at which point the family is gifted the larger wall portrait.

This year I photographed a number of kids for Raise the Future, and KSL-TV was there to do a story about it. We set up a photography day at Red Butte Gardens, had catered food and a lot of fun. And we created some amazing photographs.

Here’s a portion of the KSL-TV article:

A Portrait of the True Self

Certified Master Photographer Bry Cox has donated his time and talent to capturing these portraits for nearly a decade. His goal goes beyond capturing a smile.

“I want a real smile. I want that glisten in their eye,” Cox said. “I find out what makes them tick — what they love, what excites them — and then I photograph that.”

Raise the Future creates a memorable experience for the kids, with makeup artists and hair stylists ensuring they feel seen and celebrated. For many, the portraits taken during this event may be the only professional photos they’ve ever had.

More than Just a Photo

“For a lot of these kids, it’s the best portrait they’ve ever had,” Cox said. “They cherish it. They look at it and they’re so excited to have an image of themselves that they love.”

Cox describes portraits as “a mirror — the best version of you.” His hope is that each child sees something inspiring in their image.

Here’s just a sample of some of the portraits I created that day. I’m excited how beautiful each of these images turned out. Each young person glows and shows personality. It’s incredibly fulfilling to create these portraits.

You can watch the video and read the entire story on KSL-TV’s website. And if you need some great new portraits, contact me and let’s create something amazing for you.

And until next time, America.

New York City, The B&H Bild Photography Expo for BLACKRAPID

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography BlogPosted on No Comments

I recently went to New York for the B&H Bild Expo. It’s a huge multi-day photography conference and tradeshow for photographers. I of course took a ton of photos. I’ll share more of those in another post, but here’s a couple abstract squares and the Statue of Liberty (to set the scene).

I went to New York on behalf of BLACKRAPID.com, one of my big commercial clients. I do all the studio photography and videos for BLACKRAPID, and long before I did work for them, I have loved and used their strap. If you catch me photographing a wedding or family somewhere, I’ll be wearing a BLACKRAPID camera sling.

The Bild Expo was advertised all over New York and in neighboring states. The turnout was huge! When we arrived, there were ads like this one around the city.

For this show, I designed the BLACKRAPID booth, photography and graphics, plus the postcards to hand out. I was then hired to go to NY and run the booth and talk to photographers. I was happy to do it because I personally use the products and can talk as a working photographer and honestly answer people’s questions. Looking around the show and comparing booths, I thought ours looked great!

B&H did an awesome job. On the first day, over 25,000 photographers were in attendance! There was a sea of photographers in all directions, on multiple floors.

My wife and I ran the booth, talking and answering questions constantly. We never had a moment to even sit down or eat. Before we knew it, the first day was over. The second day was much the same, crowds of people asking about the brand, and wanting to try on the slings.

Most everyone talked about comfort. If a photographer had already heard of the brand (many were wearing BR straps already), they talked about how comfortable they were and how they were able to shoot longer without pain because of it.

If someone had not heard of the brand, their most common question was about solving their neck pain. Typical straps cause aches and pain points, particularly in the neck.

I had straps to demo and try on, and it seemed that everyone who tried one on, could feel the difference. I even had some big, heavy cameras and lenses to hang on the strap, knowing they’d be heavier than most people carry daily.

There was a calmness to the mornings, as we set up and got ready, with the show floor empty. Then the doors would open and we were flooded with people for the day.

At nights, B&H had dinners and events including a catered boat tour of New York and New Jersey, and a rooftop party. Last time I was in NY, I didn’t get to see the Statue of Liberty. This time, B&H took us all out there on a boat tour.

I even ran into photographer Louis Medes, known for his street photography using an old Speed Graphics camera. I paid him to do a quick street portrait of me, and I took this of him with my iPhone.

I also took a ton of photos of buildings and textures, and other things that caught my eye. I’m still finding favorites in those, but I’ll share more of them in an upcoming post.

So, until next time, America.

Summer Mountain Wedding Portraits, Early Sneak Peek

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Wedding Day, AlbumsPosted on No Comments

On a hot summer day recently, I photographed a beautiful wedding up the canyon in a private mountain area. I’m currently designing the album for my clients, but had to share a couple of my early favorite portraits.

This first image is so stunning! I love the deep colors, the body language of the bride and groom, and the soft sweep of the bride’s dress. Of course I use studio lighting, even on location, so that’s why their skin tones and faces look great while the background has deep rich tones too.

In the canyon, the sun sets quickly, As it was going down, we used the lake for some gorgeous images, here with the bride’s veil flowing.

I really love this reflection from afar off. The rich colors, the beautiful couple leaning in to each other, and the soft lighting from the area mixed with studio lighting makes for a beautiful image. I’m thinking this may be a double-page ‘wow’ spread in the album.

And one more to share from the very end of the night. In almost pitch black night, I created some final photos to end the album – again with studio lights. I love how they’re each looking at each other in this portrait.

There are so many beautiful images from this wedding. They had a stunning flower arch they were married under, all the details of the day looked beautiful, some amazing family portraits, candids too, and much more. When their album design is finished, I’ll share it with you.

But in the meantime, if you’re getting married, contact me and let’s create something wonderful for you that you’ll love for a lifetime!

And until next time, America.

A Wonderful Event Speaking at Plaza +ART, Taylorsville Utah

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Photography WorkshopsPosted on No Comments

Thank you to everyone who came out and attended the Plaza +Art event and helped make it wonderful. Thanks to the organizers Janean Toone and her team, Mayor Overson, and everyone involved in helping the event go so well. The turnout was great, the facility was spacious and beautiful, the food was great, and I met a lot of great people. I think it’s great and inspiring that the city of Taylorsville puts on events like this regularly.

Knowing there’d be a mix of artists at the event (painters, sculptors, photographers, musicians, and more), I decided to talk on creativity and share some tips for anyone who’s creative.

I also shared various portraits and told stories about how the images were made, and how I worked to make them better. I talked about balancing the two halves of the creative brain (organization and chaos), controlling what you can while also allowing some chaos for personality to shine through, and how to add light continually to truly capture a person’s inner personality in a portrait.

At the end of the evening, I donated some art prints from my Italy collection for the raffle. We had three winners and I had each winner pick their favorite set of three images each. I wanted each winner to have a set of three that would look great together on their walls. So we ended up giving away nine matted prints that evening.

Thanks again to everyone who came out and made the evening so great. (Photo with Mayor Kristie Overson.)

And until next time, America.

Bry Cox to Speak at Plaza +ART Event in Utah

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Photography WorkshopsPosted on No Comments

Taylorsville City is hosting a Plaza +Art event where I’ll be speaking on art and photography on May 20th, from 7:00-8:00 PM.

A good photographic portrait can captivate and draw you in, but many things need to come together to make that happen. The secret is light. Lighting sculpts a person, creating highlights and shadows in just the right places to bring out the best in someone. And to truly capture emotion, that person’s inner light needs to shine too.

Come for an evening of art and inspiration, and hear how Bry Cox uses techniques of a Certified Master Photographer to make all of his clients look as good as his many famous ones.

Meet artist and Master Photographer, Bry Cox at Plaza +ART’s next Evening of Art scheduled for Tuesday, May 20. All are invited, and the event is free. Cox will speak about his work, love of art, and show some of his art pieces.

Bry Cox’s Bio:

Bry Cox is a Gold Medalist out of 25,000 international photographers, and has owned a studio in Utah for over 25 years. He’s taught lighting and photography workshops throughout the United States and abroad. As a Certified photographer, he’s on the Adobe Software Evangelist team, and is a PPA Master/Craftsman 15 times over.

The name of his studio is “BryCox.com – Celebrity Style Imaging” because he photographs everyone the same way he photographs his VIP/celebrity clients – including families, children, weddings, and headshots.

Bry’s work has been featured in various magazines and on covers in the U.S. and abroad. His photographs are used by record companies, VIPs, filmmakers, TV anchors, and musicians including Capitol Records, CMT, Billboard Magazine, TV Guide, American Girl Magazine, American Photo Magazine, and Professional Photographer Magazine to name a few.

He has photographed prominent people such as LeAnne Rimes, Olivia Newton-John, Dennis Prager, Larry Elder, Natalie Cole, Kenny Loggins, Linda Ronstadt, David Archuleta, Steve Forbes, Mitt Romney, and four of the last five Utah Governors.

Italy Collection Raffle

There will also be a $1 raffle drawing for your choice of three of my Italy collection art prints. If you win, I’ll have a number to choose from at the event.