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Magazine Articles

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Photography Workshops, Published, Women May 27, 2010March 24, 2025No Comments

I just finished writing a magazine article for the US magazine, Professional Photographer on fashion posing, and am also writing an article for a Chinese magazine on weddings!

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.

Cape Cod & the Lighthouse

by BryCox (Admin)Art Images, Bry Cox Photography Blog, Photography Workshops, Thoughts May 22, 2010March 24, 20252 Comments

I just finished a job in Hyannis, MA on Cape Cod, and afterward decided to take a bit of time to myself to photograph a nearby lighthouse. I don’t know what it is exactly that is so attractive about lighthouses, but I love to photograph them. It is always so serene to be in these places.

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!

My Sister’s Wedding at the Salt Lake Temple & JSMB

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Wedding Day, Albums May 20, 2010March 24, 2025No Comments

My sister’s wedding album is all designed and is now off being bound right now. I should get it back to present to her very soon, but in the meantime, here’s some previews.

This is one of the two-page spreads from the album. I design so that the images go across the middle of the page, which gives me some fantastic use of space.

I love the mood in these images. Having the temple in the background and the couple silhouetted in the window is just so beautiful!

And this two-page spread is serene and romantic. Images of each of them alone, lit by the setting sun, then a couple portrait of the two of them in the same place, leaning up against the Salt Lake Temple, and then on the opposite page a distant image of them farther away from the temple as juxtaposition.

I like circles, especially when it has to to with temple weddings, because in ancient Hebrew, the circle is a symbol for light and eternity — which is true in our modern culture as well. Framing these two on the left page with circles is a fun way to tie in some powerful symbolism into their heirloom album in a really artistic way.

If you’d to preview the entire wedding and design, check out this slideshow! (click here). It will open in a new window and will begin playing as soon as it loads, which may take a moment depending on your internet connection.

I’m so excited for my sister to get her finished book. It was a spectacular and emotional wedding, not to mention that its a real honor to be able to photograph someone in my family and to be apart of the wedding in such a unique way — a way that provides them with a beautiful and artistic heirloom for the rest of their lives.

Happy Mother’s Day

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Family, Thoughts May 9, 2010March 24, 2025No Comments

Today is Mother’s Day! I just got back from speaking in Texas, and have a lot of wonderful photo shoots to post and talk about — some fantastic and glamourous images I created here at my studio before I left, as well as work I did in Texas.

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!

Master Photographer of the Year Award

by BryCox (Admin)Art Images, Awards, Bry Cox Photography Blog April 30, 2010March 24, 2025One Comment

This week I won EIGHT AWARDS, including ‘Master Photographer of the Year!‘ I also won TWO Kodak Gallery Awards, a Judges Choice Award, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd Place, and the Court of Honor!

Each year photographers are allowed to enter four images, and here were my four entries:

It was an exciting night, but I was actually out of town during the entire awards ceremony, speaking in Georgia at their annual professional photographers convention. However, I was keeping tabs on the Utah convention by phone, trying to see how I did. When the news came in, it was even better than I had expected. I not only won the big award of the night (Master Photographer of the Year), but a number of other great awards as well!

The level of competition is very difficult in the Masters, as I compete against the absolute best of the best. I am always trying to raise the level of quality that I offer my clients each year, and to do a better and better job in every way possible. As expectations and competition in the industry continues to rise, I hope that clients see these awards as a sign that my quality and commitment to great portraiture also rises each year.

Now these images will go on to regionals and then nationals. I’ll keep you all posted on how they do.

Adding a Lost Son

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Children, Babies, Maternity, Family April 21, 2010March 24, 2025One Comment

I just finished a project for a family who lost their young boy. Sadly, he passed away, and the family wanted me to create a new family portrait, and digitally add in their boy. They brought me this photograph that was taken by a team photographer. They got written permission from that photographer for me to use it, and I matched the lighting angle, style, and color balance, in creating a new portrait of the family.

I then carefully cut the young boy out of this photo and added him into the family’s new portrait.

Though it’s hard to see on the web, I painted in a lot of detail work like shadowing and other small details that only the mind sees on a subconscious level — these little details make it look as though the boy was photographed with the rest of the group.

Because the last portrait of their son was in a team jersey, the entire family bought matching jerseys. It was the perfect touch for both an emotional connection as well as making the image work aesthetically.

I then converted this to a custom black and white image, and finished it as a stretched canvas gallery wrap.

I also photographed the extended family and added him to this as well, matching the lighting on this group just as before.

And this last image was one of my favorites, a family line of the entire extended family as a long portrait, with each individual family grouped together. This was finished this as a long 40 inch b&w portrait for the grandma’s home.

It was a real joy to deliver these images and not only see how great they looked on the wall, but to see how much the family loved them. All of the extra time that I spent in the small details really paid off. The work was impeccable and I know that these images will be cherished for generations.

I talk a lot about portraits being heirlooms, but this job really brought that home again to me. It’s amazing how much a portrait is worth to us all, especially when someone passes away. It was a real honor for me to do this artistic work for this family. It makes me feel blessed to have the talents and business that I have so that I can do this for people and do it in a fantastic way too.

If you’d like to see more family groups, feel free to check out my website at BryCox.com.

Fashion Work in Miami

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Photography Workshops, Senior/Grads, Women April 14, 2010March 24, 2025One Comment

I just got back from speaking and teaching at a photographic conference in Miami, Florida, where I was teaching the art of Fashion Portraiture. My approach was to show photographers how to make women look amazing using custom lighting and posing that is specific to each woman’s face shape and body. I also showed how to do this under varying lighting conditions: in the studio, out of the studio, with a windows, with reflectors, with portable lighting equipment, and even in direct sunlight on the beach.

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.

Little Brothers…

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Children, Babies, Maternity, Family April 10, 2010March 24, 2025No Comments

Here was a very fun photo shoot I did of two cute little boys…brothers! They were so cute and lively, and absolutely full of personality. Here’s one of the two of them together. I like this image, because it shows how much energy the older boy had and how chill the younger boy was. This was true of the entire shoot. So cute!

Here are some alone of the older brother who laughed and laughed at all my tricks.

And here are some of the younger brother who was just chill and content. He just wanted to study me and figure me out, and I think get away and go play as well.

I love their outfits and how their hair is nicely combed. Both boys have such beautiful blue eyes, which seems to be true of their whole family.

After going through the images, I took the favorites and designed up this nine-square composite and framed it in black.

I absolutely love photographing kids. They are so fun and their personalities are very transparent and cute. And I love how this particular piece turned out. There are so many looks and expressions, that it makes up a small story of these young brother’s lives at this point in life.

Design Work & Jenna’s Major Award

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Commercial & Headshots April 9, 2010March 24, 20255 Comments

For the last few weeks I’ve been doing some album design work for one of my favorite people, a friend who is finishing her interior design program at the LDS Business College. She has worked in the industry for years and has a real knack for putting colors and textures together. She is an incredible artist on paper as well, as you can see from these drawings of hers, what interior designers call ‘renderings’.

I photographed each of her drawings and pieces, and then created an album of all her designs. The album I was working on with her was a compilation of all of the work she had done throughout her school program. It was part of a big production and display that would be judged by outside designers in the industry.

I really can’t take too much credit as I was designing her album to her specifications and ideas. However, it turned out amazing! Here are some of the pages from the album design. It was a large 11×14 album, with horizontal pages. Every page looked spectacular and was printed so crisp and clear.

Yesterday was the big day…the day of judgement! Here is Jenna in front of her booth.

And it was no surprise that out of all the graduating students, Jenna won 1st Place!

And here she is being congratulated by her folks.

Congratulations, Jenna! That was an award well, well deserved!

If anyone would like to see more of her design work, you can visit her website, Design Sparrow.

Little Triplets!

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Children, Babies, Maternity April 4, 2010March 24, 20252 Comments

One of my favorite recent appointments was of these little adorable triplets! They were so fun, and so expressive. Not to mention, incredibly difficult! 🙂 Photographing little babies is a hard task, but three little babies was like spinning plates. I’d get one set up, have another under an arm, and look for the third to see him or her now escaping clear across the room!

How fun for these parents to have THREE little adorable babies to chase around and raise. They were so fun and did such a great job! The entire photo session, and not just the time I was creating images, was an adventure!

Here are some of my favorite images for the session. First the individual portraits…two of each baby…a boy, a girl, and a boy.

Here is one of the groupings of all three babies. Just looking at it makes me laugh! I should post some of the images where the grouping didn’t work out, where the kids were all over each other or crying, or escaping.

So with these individual portraits, I created this composite for their wall at home.

And one of my favorite’s of the little baby girl, giving her mom a big hug at the end! Look at her little smile!

These babies have the most beautiful eyes and faces. Lighting adults is hard enough, but lighting babies that squirm and wiggle and look all over the place is even harder…but lighting triplets, even when I’m focusing on just one (and trying to keep the other two babies close and out of trouble) is very, very hard.

Looking at these images, I am excited by the beautiful expressions and the exquisite light in their eyes. Each image makes me feel like I know these babies and their little spirits. I am excited to watch them grow and do more portraits of them over the years.

— Bry

Photographs of Lisa

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Commercial & Headshots, Women March 22, 2010March 24, 2025No Comments

One of my favorite photo shoots this week was of Lisa. We had a great time during the session, and I think her sweet personality really shows through in the images. She really sparkles in these images.

Here are some of my favorite images from the session.

This first image really shows off her beautiful long hair, as does this next image. I love this second image, though. It is just fun!

This next image is one of my signature images, and includes art and texture work.

And this last piece is a composite of my favorite jumping images. I wanted to show off her hair better, and so wanted to do a series of her jumping, with her hair flowing in the air. Jumping images really increase the difficulty of lighting someone custom, but that challenge, as well as the creative nature and entire challenge is just fun to me.

After getting so many fun images, I just did a large composite rather than a treo series.

These images were all so fun. If you would like some fun new images, just give me a call. I’d love to make it happen!

Portraits of KUTV Anchors

by BryCox (Admin)Bry Cox Photography Blog, Commercial & Headshots, Thoughts March 20, 2010March 24, 2025No Comments

I was recently asked to create the official portraits of my two favorite TV news anchors, KUTV’s Shauna Lake and Mark Koelbel.

Here are two of my favorite images.

BryCox - Mark Koelbel — 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.