Salt Lake City Weekly Features Portraits by Bry Cox

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I was interviewed by Salt Lake City Weekly about the portraits I created for the Faces of Salt Lake County.

They quoted me as saying:

“Everybody comes in as a stranger,” Cox says. “I start with, ‘Tell me about yourself,’ and they share some aspect of themselves, and they light up. I like to have conversations with people as I’m photographing them. … These were stories of gratitude, and they love living here.”

Cox also notes that, as much as the interview subjects were able to tell their stories through their words, his goal is also to tell a story through the portraits. “You have all these unique people, unique stories, unique faces, and how do you present it so it feels like you know a person?” he says.

“I sculpt people with light to capture their emotion—powerful, split-second moments frozen in time to tell the story of an individual,” he adds. “In some people I see strength, others excitement, and in others apprehension. But overall, I experienced their gratitude for the opportunity to live here in Utah.”

Here’s a link to their story.

The printed version had a beautiful layout. Here’s the article below too, with my mentions and quotes highlighted.

I’m excited how the gallery show turned out. If you need a new portrait, give me a call, 801-728-3317. It’s a great time for family portraits before Christmas.

And until next time, America.

Fox 13 Showcases “Faces of Salt Lake County” Book and Gallery Show

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Fox 13’s show ‘The Place’ talked about the portraits, gallery show, and book of portraits I did for Salt Lake County, called “Faces of Salt Lake County.” They interviewed Chris Jones, Communications Director for the Salt Lake County Mayor’s office about our project. He does a great job explaining what this is all about. Here’s that interview.

Here’s a direct link to the story on Fox 13’s website.

This gallery show turned out beautifully, and soon I’ll post some images from that event.

And if you need a new portrait, give me a call, 801-728-3317. It’s a great time for fall family portraits before the leaves are gone.

And until next time, America.

Art Portraits “Faces of Salt Lake County” Gallery Show and Book

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

For a few months I worked on a series of portraits for Salt Lake County called, “Faces of Salt Lake County.” These images were showcased in a gallery show and accompanying art book.

The county had interviewed a number of people – mostly immigrants – and gathered their stories, then hired me to create the portraits. I did a number of sessions over a few months with custom lighting, setting up a portable studio at the county building. I individually photographed each person for about 5 minutes, custom lighting each one to quickly get powerful images that emphasized character and personality.

I custom printed 25 of the main portraits as 30 inch prints for the gallery show, and second set of smaller images as well. Plus the images were all printed in an art book along with the stories of each individual.

The images turned out wonderfully and I was excited to see all my hard work displayed at the gallery show in April, where we also unveiled the book. The gallery show was put on by Mayor Jenny Wilson’s Book and Media Club.

The portraits and art project was showcased by the TV news at the time, and I was interviewed by a local paper.

When the project first started, I scheduled three different photo days in Salt Lake over a series of weeks to make sure we could photograph everyone. I set up a portable studio which included a solid, neutral background and a series of studio lights and modifiers. As each person came, I looked for parts of their personality to bring out and highlight, and lit everyone with a unique artsy style using a tight, directional light to show character.

The results are fantastic. I can’t share how excited I am to have these images published in a book and on display for the gallery show.

I have more to post about this project, and will do so in the next article coming up. But in the meantime, it’s fall and the leaves in the canyon are perfect, and fading fast. If you’d like some beautiful family portraits in the fall leaves, now’s the time. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

Until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2024 – Part 3

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Continuing with the BLACKRAPID Moto Ride for 2024. [Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3]

The next morning we took a nice ride up to Aspen, Colorado to stop for lunch and walk around.

After a while we got back on our bikes and headed up a beautiful, long, winding road to Leadville, Colorado to stay the night. As we rode, we continually dodged rain storms.

Eventually as the storm caught up with us and we got drenched us as we entered Leadville.

In Leadville, we got hotels and dinner. The next morning we walked around the tiny Main Street taking photos, when we stopped and talked to this man with a very interesting face. We asked if we could photograph him, and Ron, Mike, and I all took a few quick images. As a portrait photographer, I am always interested in people and love doing street portraits.

I also love taking iPhone closeups of abstracts as we walk around. Here’s a series of some of my favorites.

From Leadville we continued on to Golden, Craig, Steamboat, and other towns in Colorado for a few more days, weaving our way back to Utah. We got drenched for the next few days, continually driving through the rain.

We try to take the longest, curviest roads on our ride. While coming through Utah, we went up and over Guardsman Pass which was stunning.

Eventually we said our goodbyes as we each made our ways back home to our four different states. Thanks guys for another successful motorcycle/photo adventure.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2024 – Part 2

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Continuing with the BLACKRAPID Moto Ride for 2024. [Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3]

After leaving Durango, we took some winding mountain roads and ended up in a town called Silverton where we got some “old timey” cowboy photos.

But before arriving in town, we took a long and beautiful ride through some beautiful mountain roads. We stopped along at various overlooks to soak in the view and snap photos.

The windy road into Silverton makes for some beautiful mountain views.

The town of Silverton is an adorable old mining town with a lot of fun places to explore and photograph.

There’s an old train people can ride from Durango to Silverton. We saw it leave Durango as we were exploring the town in the morning, and it arrived shortly after we arrived in Silverton.

As we explored and photographed Silverton, we came across this old west photo studio. Being photographers, Ron suggested we all get suited up for a photo.

While getting ready, I used my iPhone to get this quick photo of Ron on the old west backdrop using an open door as a directional light source.

After a late lunch and nice rest, we loaded up and headed out towards the town of Montrose for the night. We continued to hit rain storms and dodge ominous clouds in the distance.

We hit rain at Ouray, so we continued on. When we passed that storm, we could see in the distance another rain storm in our distance so we pulled over at this awesome view to prep with rain gear.

From that point on, we had a rainy ride. I was able to snap a few of these images as we rode. As I mentioned in the last post, I shoot these photos one handed with a camera slung over one shoulder, using the BLACKRAPID Cross Shot strap. On a motorcycle I carry the camera on my left side so I can still steer and throttle the bike with my right hand. And I don’t look through the viewfinder. Instead, 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 (again without looking through the viewfinder), and then snap a few photographs. Some of these photos of the guys behind me, are shot holding my camera over my shoulder.

Aside from the wet roads, you can see the heavy ran drops in some of these photos.

In the next post, I’ll share more from our adventure.

Until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2024 – Part 1

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The BLACKRAPID Moto Ride for 2024. [Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3]

We just finished this year’s BLACKRAPID Moto Ride for 2024. Each year my photographer friends and I go on a multi-state ride, and this year we rode the backroads of Utah and Colorado. Ron Henry of BLACKRAPID puts on the event, and he rode in from Washington state, meeting up with Mike Ridinger from Lewiston Idaho. We met here at my place and rode down through Moab to Durango to meet our friend Angel Cordova from Phoenix, Arizona.

The weather started off really hot. When the outside temperature is in the 90’s, the wind chill reverses and it’s actually hotter when you’re moving. For the first part of the ride, the temperature was near 100º, so it was a HOT but a beautiful ride as we rode towards Moab, Utah.

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

Now I don’t look through the viewfinder or screen at all. I carry a small camera that I’m quite used to. So 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 (again without looking through the viewfinder), and then snap a few photographs – hoping I got the shot. Later, I go through my images and see if I got what I wanted. I definitely miss some, but the ones that turn out look great. I’m always happy with the results.

Once we hit the red rocks approaching the town of Moab, there was a distinct change in weather. It was as if there was a “wall of hot.” I love how the red rocks contrast against the blue sky.

Once in Moab, the three of us stopped for a photo with the mural in town, gassed up, and ate some Mexican food for a late lunch. It was a chance to get some A/C for a bit and cool off.

Angel was meeting us in Durango, Colorado, so we continued on through Moab and headed towards our meeting spot. Along the way we kept our eye on many storms to the right and left of us. Taking small roads is always the goal. Avoid freeways, and choose the smallest, windiest roads that go through the old small towns. It makes for a more fulfilling adventure.

This storm on the left was a beautiful one, and got pretty close to us.

Once in Durango, we found Angel and got hotels for the night to rest from about 8 hours of riding.

The next morning, we headed out towards Silverton and then Montrose. Again, taking the small, curvy roads through mountains makes for a beautiful experience.

In the next post, I’ll share more from our adventure.

Until next time, America.

 

Art Portraits “Faces of Salt Lake County” Gallery Show and Book Unveiling Friday April 19, 2024

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

For the last few months I’ve been working on a beautiful art project for Salt Lake County called, “Faces of Salt Lake County.” It’s a series of artsy black and white headshots of immigrants and various faces. SL County interviewed a number of people and gathered their stories. Then I was brought in to do the portraits. I set up a portable studio and photographed each individual with an emphasis on character and personality.

The images turned out wonderfully. And on Friday the 19th of April, Salt Lake County is putting on an event – a gallery show and unveiling of the book we created using these portraits.

The gallery show is put on by Mayor Jenny Wilson’s Book and Media Club. The entire project was organized by the Mayor’s office too. They interviewed various people, compiled their stories, and hired me to photograph each of them. All of that was then compiled into this art book.

Over the course of a few months, I regularly set up a studio on location to photograph various individuals. I looked for parts of their personality to bring out and highlight, and lit everyone with a unique artsy style using directional light to show character. The results are fantastic. I can’t share how excited I am to have these images published in a book and on display for this gallery show.

There’s about 25 portraits that will be on display, and the Thomas S. Monson ballroom where they’ll be shown is a gorgeous room.

If you’d like a fun date night on Friday, April 19th, come out to this event.

And if you need some new portraits, perhaps an updated business headshot, give me a call at 801-728-3317.

Until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 4

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. This is the last and 4th part in this series documenting this year’s ride. (See Part 1 and Part 2 and Part 3.)

As everyone headed out from the Santa Barbara docs in their various directions, Mike Ridinger, his son Cade, and myself made a route home that would take us on backroads through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats.

Cade as the passenger on Mike’s bike would check routes and give us options as we rode. It allowed us to avoid all the LA traffic and large freeways clogged with cars, and instead take the most beautiful scenic side routes in California.

We slowly weaved our way northeast, spending hours curving through farm land and orchards. It was a completely different view of California than I’ve seen previously. It was a sea of orchards and farms, interspersed with little towns perfect for gas stops.

In one town, there was this building on the left with a series of colors. I stopped to photograph it while changing up clothing. We seemed to go through warm areas, then cold, then rain, then back to warm all along this route. We’d go up mountains and hills, down, and the weather would constantly change.

At one point we stopped along a roadside to change up our clothing and gear. Mike got this photo of me and Cade chatting and looking at the sunset.

It’s amazing how open and wide the country is when you get off the main roads. While stopped, I took a photo of my bike on the side of the road.

As we looked off at the sunset behind us, we were amazed by the colors and the layers of mountain peaks in the distance.

As we continued on into the twilight, we found a town with a suitable hotel and got some dinner for the night.

The next day we got up, packed our bikes, and headed for Death Valley. It started out as a hot morning, and as we rode through this area, we had no internet. But Mike’s thermometer consistently showed we were in the 100º-115º range depending on our elevation. At this temperature, the “wind-chill” that happens when you ride is actually makes the temperature feel even hotter. At a certain temperature point, the wind blowing past you as you ride isn’t cooler, but hotter.

Being this hot, this was a great place to stop to eat, cool down and gas up. I liked this old truck with the sign saying, “Last Gas for 45 minutes.” Gas out here is far and few between – as we find out later. But first, we absolutely enjoyed our time and Death Valley. My phone kept shutting down from the heat, even if I put it in my pocket out of the sun. At one point, we visited a gift shop, and I put my phone in the ice cream freezer to get it to start working again.

From Death Valley we headed to a town called Tonopah to fill up – it’s the last gas station for 170 miles on the way to Ely, Nevada. Mike’s gas tank is bigger than mine, but I had some spare gas on me too, just in case. My tank, with normal riding can go about 120-140 miles before I run out of gas and have to switch to my reserve tank, where I’ll get another 30 miles. It was cutting it close on making it the 170, but we were too far away from anything for another route, plus I did have extra gas on board.

So we gassed up and headed out to Ely. Along the way we’d talk and re-calculate, wondering how close to town I’d get. Eventually, my main tank gave out and I switched to reserve. Eventually, that gave out and I poured the rest of my gas I had with me in my tank and we continued on. When that puttered out, we were about 9 miles from town. Mike and Cade went ahead into town to get me gas, while I pulled over and watched the night and the empty road. Before long, they were back with extra gas for me and we went on into town, got a hotel, and talked about our day’s adventures over dinner.

The next day we headed to Wendover, Utah, dodging storm clouds and getting hit at one point with the edge of a wild rain storm. I shot this image at a Mexican restaurant were we cooled down and got some lunch.

With a new tank of gas, we went out to the Bonneville Salt Flats of Utah.

We took some time to enjoy the flats and photograph our bikes on the stark, white salt. My blue bike really popped with the color scheme of the flats – blue sky and white clouds and salt.

Mike brought a small studio flash and we had some fun playing with lighting on the Salt Flats.

From here we headed home to my place in Utah, a few more hours to the east to relax, eat, and decompress. The next day Mike and Cade packed up and headed home to Lewiston, Idaho. It was the end of a great adventure. Over 2100 miles and friendship and adventure.

And on a portrait note, kids are back in school and fall weather is coming. It’s the perfect time to update family and kids’ portraits before the pretty green dies off. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 3

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. This is part 3 of this year’s ride. (See Part 1 and Part 2.)

Waking up in Santa Barbara, we all hit the road looking for the curviest highways we could find. I took these images off-hand with an SLR camera slung on my shoulder, pointing backwards – using a BLACKRAPID sling (of course) to avoid dropping it on the pavement below. I love how these turned out. I love seeing the group hug the road on the curves, the gorgeous sky, and all the beautiful terrain we rode through.

Ron took us on a particular backroad that was mostly secluded. It was quite a pretty place to stop and take some photos.

I really like my pretty blue bike, and how the blue pops against different backgrounds. So at this stop I took a few angles of my ride. These kinds of images make great small prints for the house to look back on our adventures.

I always try to photographed the team now and then too. When the group would stop to talk for a minute, I’d swing my camera up and get these images.

At one point, I got out my drone for some group photos, but first took a test shot – a drone selfie (… a dronie perhaps?).

With the drone set up, I got some group shots with everyone standing by their bikes, and then looking down for the abstract angles on the bikes.

You can see Ron here looking up with his hands out.

We eventually hit a small town called Solvang. It’s a Danish inspired town with fun buildings and architecture. It’s a great place to stop, photograph, and perhaps stay a bit to enjoy the food and the ambiance. Everything about the town was quaint and lovely.

Our bikes looked especially good lined up in this cute town.



From there, we headed back to our hotels in Santa Barbara to eat, relax, and compare stories about the day. That night as we talked, we realized that various people needed to head in different directions, and this seemed to be the best place to split up.

So the next morning, before everyone took off, we went out to the Santa Barbara board walk. I got out my drone for an abstract shot looking down on us and our bikes. 



Ron was wearing his official BLACKRAPID Moto-Ride sweatshirt.

And of course one more shot with Ron before everyone headed out in their various directions.

And as different groups headed out, I got a shot of them each leaving, driving off down the boardwalk.


As Mike and I left, I got this image of him and Cade behind me. But before that, Mike, Cade, and I hung out a bit longer, figuring out a route home to Utah – avoiding freeways and focusing on curvy backroads. We found an outdoor breakfast place and ate as we planned and talked tings through. Then we headed out through some beautiful California country.

As we drove, Cade was our travel agent, checking routes, available gas stations and hotel options. Our route home through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats will be featured in the final Part 4 coming up.

In the meantime, it’s time to updated kids’ photos as well as your family portrait before the beautiful summer green dies off.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 2

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. This is part 2 of this year’s ride. (See Part 1 here.)

After waking up in California, we headed up the coast through various towns.

We picked up a new rider and photographer in California named Robyn Richardson. Being from the area, she led us on some curvy and beautiful roads as we moved through the state. We eventually stopped at a famous biker stop called the Rock Store on Mulholland Highway in the Santa Monica Mountains. The owner gave us a tour of his place, and we stayed for a bit to order food and eat outside.

From there we explored various roads and highways, hitting mist and fog, sunshine, and a bit of rain. Here’s some of the photographs I created as we rode.

There’s some famous biker stops along the way, and we stopped to see them all. Neptune’s Net is one, and it was set in a beautiful location.

Here’s a selfie of Ron Henry (founder of BLACKRAPID) and I.

From there we went up the road a bit to look off a cliff and hang out. I got out my small drone and created this fun group portrait overlooking the ocean.

We eventually landed in Santa Barbara, and got hotel rooms for the night, ate dinner and relaxed – talking about our adventures and planning out next day’s ride.

Coming up in Part 3, we explore the small roads and towns surrounding Santa Barbara. The creative side of my brain really loves to see the world as abstract squares, so I’m often running away from the group here and there to capture the square abstract in my mind. Here’s some of these from these two days in this area.

Coming up, I’ll share more images from our ride through California (part 3), then our ride home through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats (part 4).

In the meantime, it’s back to school week here in Utah. It’s time to updated kids’ photos as well as your family portrait before the beautiful summer green dies off.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Photo-Moto Ride 2023 – Part 1

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Once a year, some photographer friends of mine get together for a multi-state motorcycle ride. For the last few years, it’s been branded and put on by Ron Henry, the founder of BLACKRAPID. I do a lot of commercial work for BLACKRAPID and have long loved the brand. If you’re unfamiliar with the brand, they make the best camera straps in the industry and are the most comfortable and versatile strap I’ve used.

Ron has a place in California, so this year we did a ride down to his place and toured around California. It started with Mike Ridinger and his son Cade, driving from Lewiston Idaho down to my place in Utah. Then we took a couple days to ride out to California. Being photographers, we stop along the way to photograph anything that catches our eye.

From my place to Ron’s, then touring California and back, was over 2100 miles.

The rule of riding is to avoid freeways and straight roads. We prefer the curvy, less used highways that take a bit longer and cut through small, older towns. These places are passed over by all the travelers on faster roads, in a hurry to “make good time” and get somewhere fast. We may ride fast, but our emphasis is on “good,” not “time.” We stop to take pictures, backtrack to hit a curvier, prettier road, or search out the highly-recommended small town burger stop.

Heading south through the backroads of Utah, we were constantly avoiding rain clouds. At one point we were in the clear area between three different rain storms surrounding us.

This way of traveling meant we rarely saw anyone on these pretty Utah backroads. The wide-open country was just ours.

By nightfall we had hit St. George, Utah, and needed to reluctantly use the freeway to get to Mesquite, Nevada to stay for the night.

The next morning we gassed up in Vegas, and then headed south-west through the desert heat on more backroads.

My attention is always caught by abandoned signs. These old roads used to be the main roads before freeways, so they’re littered with the remnants of old signs from motels and gas stations. When I look back on my photographs from the trip, I have tons of images of old abandoned signs. This one was particularly pretty.

When we arrived in Palm Desert, California, we met up with Ron and our friend Angel who rode in from Arizona. Then we all went to eat in the swanky town.

Coming up, I’ll share images from our ride through California (parts 2 and 3), then our ride home through Death Valley and the Utah Salt Flats (part 4).

In the meantime, the summer heat here in Utah is dropping. It’s the perfect time for family portraits outdoors in my studio gardens or even inside in the studio.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up.

And until next time, America.

Wedding Album for Megan & Tres

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

During Covid, the Governor’s mandates closed wedding venues and religious buildings, so weddings moved into people’s homes. Megan and Tres had a gorgeous wedding at the end of 2020, and I have wanted for some time to share their album design. I’ve now got it on my blog, and this video shows each page of the album.

I like sharing entire albums because people will often say, “My wedding photographer shot thousands of images, but only about 5 turned out. The rest are blurry or our faces are dark. You got to be really lucky to get a good image.”

My answer is, “No. I create amazing images all day without excuse, regardless of location, time of day, or weather.” That’s why I like to share entire weddings so you can see that every page and every portrait is stunning. There’s nothing lucky about this. I control lighting with studio gear on location, so that whether we’re outside, inside, or even in a storm, your portraits look amazing.

So even though this wedding was in a variety of difficult locations (like being in a home, outdoors in the freezing cold, and ends on a rainy, foggy day), you’ll see that every page is gorgeous.

This video goes through all the wonderful images and page designs. Each double page spread is designed as a mini story, sharing the important moments of the day. Each spread is designed to be magical and eye-catching, so that no matter where you happen to open the album, there will be impact.

These are not designed with quick drag-and-drop or speedy auto-design software. It’s laid out by hand, meticulously page by page to make sure that each image is presented in exactly the right way.

This wedding couple is so beautiful and great together. I love the story of this album. I can’t get enough of these two, and have been thinking of some sample prints to make up from this wedding. Just look at this opening page. I love this design, with the mountains and deep blue sky framing in the new couple. The bride’s dress is swooped out to match the lines of the mountain sides.

After getting ready, we battled the cold to create some portraits alone on a nearby walking path. The warm colors surrounding the couple in these is so inviting and beautiful.

We then mixed in some new family portraits with the little kids. And you’ll notice that faces are clear and skin tones are natural while at the same time skies and backgrounds are vivid. This clarity is unique and created with studio lighting on location – not haphazard, “natural light,” which leaves faces dull, skin blotchy, and skies white and blown out. The expressions on the kids are cute and natural, and everyone looks great.

With this control of light, we can create some epic portraits that are crystal clear of the bride and groom. The skies are vivid blue, mountains clear, and the bride and groom are not blurry. Their faces are clear and in focus, and their skin tones are perfect and natural.

The action sequences are fun but beautiful. I love this cake and the expressions on the couple in this series.

During covid, the LDS temples were closed. But later when they opened the couple was able to get an appointment to be sealed. This was months later at the Draper LDS Temple, and I came to finish the wedding album with some beautiful, foggy, temple portraits.

Without excuse, we’ll get some beautiful images. On this particular morning, it was a really cold, rainy, and foggy. But a little pop of light in the right places, and the couple really stands out and the sky shows it’s true color tones of being dark and gray. The rain and fog just add drama to these images, making this an unforgettable morning.

The spring flowers mixed with the tall lines of the temple, made for a gorgeous set of images. These are just some of the highlights. There’s a lot more from this album, and you can see it all in the video above.

If you’re getting married and would like beautiful images without excuse, no matter the time of day, location, or weather, give me a call – 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.