Art Images

BlackRapid Motorcycle Tour of Utah (Part 2)

During the summer, I helped lead a motorcycle trip through Utah for BlackRapid. I posted a while back about our first day (Part 1), and wanted to share more of the images created along the way.

Continuing from where I left off in Moab, the next morning we took some long day rides around the area. First we drove down the windy Colorado River, stopping along the way to photograph various rock formations. I love this group portrait with the red rocks behind us.

Sometimes along the curvy roads, I’d grab some photographs with my free hand. I love the terrain of Utah, and the ride was amazing. The mix of deep blue skies from the 100º degree weather, mountainous terrain, and windy roads made for some unforgettable moments.

We stopped at the Sorrel River Ranch to rest and get some drinks in the shade. Frank Masi got this image of me in the parking lot there.

I saw Frank walking around and creating images, and at one point he was perfectly framed in this window overlooking the Colorado River.

After some time relaxing in the shade, we went back into the sun to make the ride up to Dead Horse Point.

There’s some amazing curves and turns on the ride to Dead Horse.

At the Dead Horse overlook, we setup our bikes for various photographs. Here’s Ron Henry and Frank Masi.

This wide panorama of the overlook does not do the area justice. The image is amazing up close, but the scene is overwhelming in person. It’s awesome to look over and see how big, vast, and inspiring this area is.

Frank stood up on his bike to get an even higher view of the overlook.

With my small packable tripod, I was able to get this group portrait of all of us at the overlook.

Here’s Mike Ridinger and his son, Cade with their bike at the overlook.

I got this image of Angel’s bike and I’m glad I did. This beautiful bike was later stolen from his home in Arizona.

Here’s my blue bike in the same location both alone and one with me on it.

Exploring more through the Dead Horse area, we checked out some other overlooks.

I almost died on this cliff. 😉

After a long day of riding, we headed back to Moab for some dinner and air conditioning.

I have much more to share, and will continue later in Part 3. In the meantime, if you’d like to see any of the iPhone images created along the tour on Instagram, just search the hashtag #BlackRapidMoto2020

And until next time, America.

BlackRapid Motorcycle Tour of Utah (part 1)

We recently had the BlackRapid Motorcycle Tour of Utah, and it started here at my home studio. Photographers from around the country came for a week of touring the backroads of Utah via motorcycles.

I do a lot of commercial work for BlackRapid, and have long loved the brand, and the camera straps the company makes. If you’re a photographer, make sure you check them out. They’re by far the most comfortable and versatile strap I’ve used.

Ron Henry, the founder of the company put on the event and I’m happy he did. I had gotten used to the Covid life and could feel the change and a feeling of relaxation when I saw all these cool bikes lined up in my driveway.

We headed out and met in Salt Lake to gather the rest of the group and begin our ride south through the 90-100º heat towards Moab in southern Utah.

Though some photographers cancelled due to Covid and some couldn’t make it across boarders, the photographers that came were a great group of guys. The size was perfect, and we took this group shot before heading out. The photographers are from left to right:

On the long ride to Moab through the heat, I took a few photos with my iPhone during some of the long stretches of highway.

Though we posted iPhone images along the way to social media, my favorite way to create images is with an actual camera. But for things like this, I don’t like taking my high-end professional gear. Though I’d get the best possible photographic images if I did, instead I take a small and compact camera with manual controls. It takes up less space, I’m not worried about it getting broken or lost, and I know the images I’m creating with it are going to work out and give me the highest resolution and bit-depth possible for it’s small size.

If I want to make prints large or small, or even crop, edit, or zoom into an image, I’ve got the quality to do so.

Once in Moab Utah, we got our hotels secured, unpacked our bikes and then headed out to ride through Arches National Park for the latter part of the day.

The sun low in the sky, made for some dramatic light and shadows on these gorgeous red rock formations. We’d ride a ways, stop, chat, and take photos, …then ride some more, just soaking everything in.

A motorcycle is a great way to be in this environment. In a car you can’t look up or around, nor can you feel the air change you pass different vegetation or go from sun to shade. On a motorcycle you’re in it all and you feel it.

As Robert Pirsig says in his great book, Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance:

“In a car you’re always in a compartment, and because you’re used to it you don’t realize that through that car window everything you see is just more TV. You’re a passive observer and it is all moving by you boringly in a frame.

On a cycle the frame is gone. You’re completely in contact with it all. You’re in the scene, not just watching it anymore, and the sense of presence is overwhelming.”

At one point we stopped to watch the sun go down behind a formation, but the setting sun created some beautiful light on us and the formation behind us.

The great thing about traveling with photographers is that we all are on the same artistic journey – we all want to stop and take photograph along the way. When we travel with other groups, we feel pulled to go in different directions or stop and take photos and enjoy some particular scenery, but no one else wants to. It means leaving the group, which is hard to do.

Here, if someone wanted to pull over to photograph something, we’d all pull over and just enjoy the moment and look to see what that particular photographer was seeing.

As the sun set below the horizon, we rode the curvy roads out of the park, through the dark and warm summer air, back to the small town of Moab for dinner. It was a great first day on the moto tour of Utah, and there’s much more I have to share coming up in part 2. The next day we did some awesome day rides and took some great photographs. That will all be coming soon in the next part of this series.

But in the meantime, if you’re on Instagram get a peak of our iPhone images by following the hashtag, #BlackRapidMoto2020.

And until next time, America.

Chasing the Total Elipse

The total eclipse was absolutely breathtaking and inspiring. Words really can’t describe the feeling and overwhelming awe of being there, feeling the air on your skin dramatically change, watching the sky all around you go dark, and then suddenly seeing the sun’s white rays burst out from behind the moon in the darkness in an angelic way… it was beautiful!

I’m glad I made the last minute decision to drive the 3 hour route north to see the eclipse in totality. Here at my place in Utah it was going to be 91% which sounded pretty good to me. I debated if that extra 9% would really make much difference. It did.

The local news made a big deal about all the traffic and congestion that would be heading north into Idaho, and their daily talk of armageddon (gas stations dry and store shelves bare) made me want to avoid the crowds and just watch the eclipse near my home.

But the night before, some friends called me to join them on their drive up. They said there wasn’t any traffic and that they had a spot for me in their camp. So excited about the adventure, I loaded up my motorcycle with my bare essentials and some items of preparedness and headed out at 1:00 am to drive through the night. As I got further north, the temperatures dropped to the 50’s, which when going 80 mpg makes it feel like 25º. Freezing. I arrived shortly after 4:00 am, found my friends sleeping under the stars in a farm plot turned makeshift RV park, and I got out my sleeping bag for a few hours of warmth and sleep.

The rising sun in our eyes woke us up and we all greeted each other, made some food, and began setting up to watch the eclipse. I had a sheet of solar film from my friends at Pictureline in Salt Lake, and it was awesome. I had enough film material to cover my camera lens, my binoculars (which were an amazing way to watch), with left over pieces to give to a few close friends for their cameras.

Here a drone shot of us hanging out at camp, watching the eclipse.

As the eclipse progressed, I created a series of photographs that I later combined into this one-piece collage. Since the moment of totality was such a wondrous experience, that image needed to be much larger. And as much as I like this collage, it is just a reminder of the experience. It doesn’t do the real thing justice.

Here are all of the images I did during that procession.

I only took a minimal setup because I was on a motorcycle and hoped to enjoy the event too, not wanting to get bogged down in technology during the wondrous moment. I’m happy with my results, but we met many people at the camp who’d planned for months and years, even coming from out of state for this event. This California man shown below spent years building this elaborate setup, which included multiple computers and analyzers to track the sun and adjust for micro movements. And with all that equipment, he forgot to remove his solar filter to get a photograph of totality because he was so engrossed and blown away by the experience as it was happening. Only afterwards did he realize he forgot to photograph it.

I flew my drone around the area during some down time, and shot the nearby country side and the snake river running right past us.

Then to avoid the horrible traffic being funneled down the only road south to Utah, we instead went bridge diving with some other friends we met up with.

Here’s a video clip of us jumping, shot by flying my drone out above the water.

As it got later, I thought the traffic would be clear enough to go. Plus I wanted to avoid another cold night’s ride home. I packed my bike and headed out an hour and a half ahead of my friends. …and I hit horrible traffic. It took me 7 hours to drive the normal 3 hour route. There were no alternate roads, no turnoffs. Just one long 200 mile road in gridlock. I even got a ticket for what I consider normal motorcycle driving (i.e. passing gridlocked cars).

Nevertheless, I am so happy that I made the drive north to see the eclipse in totality. It was worth the photographs, but more importantly it was worth the experience. The difference in the last few moments (95%) when it just felt dim outside and the sun was still pretty bright without the solar glasses, versus that moment of totality when the sun burst out in a bright angelic way from behind the moon was spectacular. It lasted only a few moments, but it was an incredible experiment that is hard to describe with words.

I’m grateful I’m a photographer and lived close enough to be able to experience such a wonderful moment with dear friends.

And until next time, America.

Gorgeous Drone Video & Photos of the Spiral Jetty, Great Salt Lake, Utah

I’ve got so many great photos and shoots to share here on my blog. I photograph people of course, focusing on custom portraits that capture emotion and are extremely well lit. But sometimes I also like to photograph abstract shapes and the natural beauty of the world.

I live near the edge of the Great Salt Lake which gives me a variety of beautiful terrain in all directions. My studio location is in a forest of tall green trees, but a few miles away I’ve got salt flats, open desert space, waterfowl and wetland areas, and large open fields and marsh areas too. Twenty minutes away to the east and I’ve got tall mountains and rugged canyons. Heading south there’s all the gorgeous red rock often used in movie locations. And heading north (as we did with friends here) we can explore the north end of the lake, which is a mix of alkaline flats and shallow shores of the Great Salt Lake.

So at the beginning of Memorial Day weekend, a small group of friends of mine all went out to the Spiral Jetty. Some wanted to float in the extra high salinity of the northern end where the water is so dense, you can’t sink. Others wanted a fun excuse to enjoy the desert and great weather. I personally loved the idea of getting away from civilization, enjoying the beautiful air and open country, and I really wanted to fly over the area with my drone to photograph the colors and shapes from above.

Play this video above in full screen and in HD to see the gorgeous clarity. I especially love the moving water ripples, and the moving cloud shadows over top of all the wonderful and abstract shapes and colors. I also like the mix of very high shots (300-400 feet up) with video from very low, flying right over the water and photographing the reflections of the sky and clouds. And the music really makes this work, thanks to MusicByElise.com.

And here are some of my favorite photographs. If you look closely in this first one, you can see me standing at the very top of the spiral. I’ve got a colored landing pad (to protect the drone’s tiny parts from flying dust). You can see that pad as a small speck of color in the otherwise blue/gray dirt and rocks.

Here’s a photograph of some of my friends, out wading in the water. All of the alkaline and salt deposits create beautiful and abstract shapes that are best seen from above. I especially love the blue shapes in the bottom left corner juxtaposed with the warm colors, with a hint of blue sun reflecting in the top right corner.

More abstract colors and shapes.

Here is flying really low over the water. I love seeing the mix of mud and reflections in the water, along with the mountains in the distance.

Here are a couple long shots showing the distant mountain ranges that surround the Great Salt Lake, along with the mix of sand, water, and colors.

And closing the shoot with a drone-selfie before packing up our gear and heading to a favorite steak restaurant in the area.

It was a great day with friends to enjoy the open space of Utah in the warm spring weather.

If you need some drone photography or video for your business, give me a call, 801-728-3317. There are some legal requirements for shooting drone photos and video commercially, which people may not understand. However my dad is a long-time private pilot with the FAA, so with him on site for the shoot, we are good to go and can get some fantastic footage for you. Unique and artistic perspectives are always needed to stand out. And my artistic background in lighting and composition, mixed with the unique perspectives of a commercially flown drone means I can give you that and more.

And until next time, America.

The Unique and Amazing Individual, James Christensen

A good friend, James Christensen, has passed.  I extend heartfelt condolences to his wife and family and thank them for the great times my friends and I have had with them at their home. Well alll miss James dearly.

He was a great man to look up to, and I identified with him particularly because he was deeply religious while also keeping a young, humorous, slightly rebellious streak. He gave so much of himself and his time and talent to the LDS Church in a variety of callings, and the enormous murals that he painted in temples will forever inspire, as does all of his art.

His love of symbolism in scripture and art, and his ability to see what others might miss, and to add these details to his own pieces provide an almost magical insight. He hosted various barbecues and kung-fu film nights — he had the ability to connect with all of our friends despite age differences.

And as you can see in this portrait below, he raised a wonderful family that I’m honored to have photographed for Sari’s wedding.

And my friends and clients will remember the many Christmas CDs that we produced over the years bearing his artwork. These were a joint project. James Conlee produced them, James Christensen provided the cover art, while I handled the graphic design and printing.

I would sometimes have to adapt his painting to a square design or to allow text to flow over top. That meant digitally changing his art, sometimes extending things or cropping areas, all of which I was always very cautious about doing. But when it was needed, I made sure every change was true to the original feel of his painting so it’d be un-dectable. And then I waited for his opinion. He was always very kind and would say, “Well done, Bry. I like how you did this, and how you did that.”

Here’s a few covers from over the years.


The most dramatic change was with this painting below where I removed everyone but the one angel in the middle, and then recreated stars and sky in their place. All these alterations were discussed beforehand. He was great about them. Here’s his original painting.

And here was the final CD cover. I feel lucky and blessed to have known him, to have his artwork on my walls, and my heart goes out to his family and loved ones. I can’t imagine the loss they feel. But I also have no doubt that he was welcomed with open arms into the highest levels of the next life.

For anyone looking for more info, here are a few links. First, his Official site at Greenwichworkshop.com. Next a video produced by Deseret Book. Despite the awful production value of this video, it is really nice to hear him talk again, and to remember how he discussed his work, to see his thought processes, and to hear the familiar cadence of his voice.

And finally, a news article about his passing.

Bry Cox in Glacier National Park at Fall, September 2016

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I recently returned from a trip to Montana and Glacier National Park with a couple friends. Driving the ‘Road to the Sun’ road, there were too many things for me to want to stop and photograph, so the compromise (if you can call it that because I think it was the best idea ever) was for me to stand up out of the sunroof and photograph as we drove. It was a frigid and cold day, and I loved the cold air blowing against me, the unobstructed 360º view, and the ability to absorb everything and shoot photos.

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And I found it really fun and a creative challenge to shoot motion blur images as we drove. It’s a technique a good friend, Julieanne Kost showed me once while we were riding on a train. She’s absolutely perfected it, and her images are emotional and phenomenal. Here’s a link to her work, JKost.net, and a link to her recent book, Passenger Seat.

And I have more of these images on my Spark page (linked above), but here are a few of my favorites.
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The fog was beautiful at the top of the mountain, perfect for our hike, a 9 mile loop along the Highline trail.
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Normally on this trail you can look down the cliff and see the ‘Road to the Sun’ about 100 feet beneath you. As we started though, we looked down into just fog. It was quite beautiful.

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And the higher and further we got in, the more the fog changed. I shot quite a few panoramas.
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In this image below, you can see the trail close on the left as it hugs the mountain side, and also the road beneath us on the right of the photo.
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On our hike back, you can see the trail cutting along the mountain behind me, and the road down beneath that at the bottom.
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It was an inspiring and awesome adventure. The colder weather made for a great hike and even more gorgeous scenery. The fall leaves were out, and the park’s busy season was over so we had the mountain and our trail practically to ourselves. To see even more photos in a very cool responsive presentation, click the window at the top or click this link.

And if you would like some beautiful fall portraits of either you, your family, or your high school senior, now is the time to get it booked. Here in Utah, the fall colors have hit and we have a very limited time to catch these beautiful colors up the canyons. Lighting is the key to making you look your best, and that’s what I do. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.

Bry Cox’s Commercial Shoot of Death Valley

I feel honored to have been asked by a large corporation to create some artistic views of Death Valley. I shot for an entire day, starting early before sunrise and going until past dark shooting a variety of locations and places. I was accompanied by the company’s rep who took me to places I never would have been able to go without his unrestricted access to various areas off limits to everyone else.

I created more images than I expected during this full day of commercial landscape shooting, and even shot a number of bonus images – color infrared – which looked amazing and refreshingly interesting, especially in the middle of the day.

We started the morning around 5:30 am creating panoramas before sunrise.

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I found out that this was the spot where U2 shot their famous “Joshua Tree” album cover. After getting a number of images, the sun began to rise quite quickly behind us. I really like this image with the tops of the mountains in the distance being lit by the rising sun, and the various layers of color it created.

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And here is that area in full morning sun.

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In some areas there are some beautiful stretches of cracked earth. I liked these as abstract closeups.

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A lot of the areas required some vigorous hiking. At the end of the day I had logged a number of miles plus some big elevation changes on my watch – much more than expected. And these scenes we passed even as we hiked, were breathtakingly beautiful.

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Here, from one of my favorite lookouts, you could see a number of various rock formations which created bands of color and variety.

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This was also during the “super bloom” due to an earlier flood which caused a number of flowers to bloom, something very unusual for this area of the country.

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And in the more “civilized” areas of Death Valley, there’s some cool structures like this “Twenty-mule team” train, all part of the history of the Twenty-Mule Team Borax cleaner. I learned quite a bit about the history of the area as we drove around and hiked through the desert. It is all so much more interesting to me now, knowing some of the history of the place.

This particular train is surrounded by a fence to keep people from climbing on it, so some creative angles were necessary.

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And shooting it in color infrared also gave me some very unique ways of showcasing this local feature.

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Before shooting the Furnace Creek Resort up close, I wanted to get a long, distance shot of it to show how secluded it is, how tucked away in the middle of the desert it really is.

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Here it is up close. It was built on the site of a natural hot spring, and was famous for being the Hollywood hotspot getaway for celebrities. It’s an oasis in the middle of the hot desert.
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They have a beautiful pool, and here is the same angle but shot in color infrared.
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As the day neared an end, we re-hit some of our favorite spots to shoot them in completely different light. I love these vast landscapes, and the vibrant colors created by the evening sun.
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And here are a few more color infrared images from mid-day.

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And a few color infrared images created at sunset from a few of our favorite spots.

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This image below is one of my favorite color infrared images from the entire trip. It shows the sun setting in the distance, but the variety of colors created by infrared makes this such an interesting image to me.

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It was a very long day of shooting, but I like to make sure that people get more for their money than they expect. And I was surprised how many locations we were able to shoot and how many images I shot during this full day. It was far more than I expected which was a big bonus to the company. With so many beautiful images, I’m only sharing a small percentage here, and it was hard picking images to showcase. But I am grateful for the experience to shoot this job because I love the outdoors and I love creative photographic challenges, and making beautiful landscapes and images that people will appreciate for many years to come.

If your company needs some great photographs, give me a call. 801-728-3317. I’d love to chat with you about your photographic needs to see how I can help you out.

And until next time America.

He Is Risen, Sun over Death Valley in Color Infrared for Easter 2016

Being Easter, I wanted to post something and it hit me today what to share. I have been working on this image and many others as part of a big commercial project I did in Death Valley. This image was shot in color infrared, a light spectrum invisible to the human eye. The bright colors are real, they are just not the colors or type of light we see.

So aside from the candy Easter colors, I like this for Easter because the sun is dramatically shining over Death Valley from the horizon as if rising. It says symbolically, “The Son brings light and life to Death.”

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And for a little more Easter spirit, I want to share a video with my little 4-year old nephew narrating it. He was an early reader and last year when my family showed him an Easter video he started reading the captions. My sister and brother-in-law stopped and recorded him and combined his voice with a new version of the video. They did it again this year, and this is it.

And here is last year’s video. More backstory on this in last year’s post.

Plus, here are some photos I did of him in my Utah studio to go with his cute voice.

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Happy Easter, everyone. And until next time, America.

Last Call for 8x10s, 11x14s, Ornaments, & Art Pieces for Christmas

Need some last minute gift ideas? There’s still time to get some 8x10s and 11x14s from your past shoot to give as gifts to grandparents and loved ones. A few other sizes can also be finished in time for Christmas, plus we can always do a gift certificate to let your loved one come in and get a new portrait created.

Call me soon at 801-728-3317 and I’ll get your order printed and shipped directly to you to save time.

And her are some other fun Christmas ideas, like these fun framed Christmas ornaments. Hang them on your tree for the holidays, then hang them on the wall afterwards. Images are coated, framed, ready to hang and shipped for $79.

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Printed right on wood, this unique art piece will look great in your home.

Art Piece: Pointing Heavenward, Salt Lake Temple on Maplewood. Available in 3 sizes from 8×12 up to 16×24. Shipped to you, ready to hang.
http://brycoxart.com/pointing-heavenward-salt-lake-temple/

Art Piece: Buddhist Temple Prayer Ribbons, printed as a coated metallic photo on a standout, 10×30″. Shipped to you, ready to hang.
http://brycoxart.com/buddhist-temple-prayer-ribbons/

Inner Mongolia art book now available. 9×7 horizontal design in full color.
http://brycoxart.com/art-book-inner-mongolia/

Call me if you have any questions or if you’d like to get something last minute for Christmas. 801-728-3317

Until next time, America.

Bry Cox at Photo Beijing China & Inner Mongolia (Part VII)

After the Mongolian Buddhist temple, we were taken to a Mongolian school for young children. The principle met us and showed us around, and everyone was wearing traditional robes much like the ones we were given in our ceremony.

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This was a reading class, and the kids all read together, out loud. They were very excited to have us there and seemed to be reading extra loud to impress us. I loved it.BryCox_MongolianSchool_02

There were classes teaching Mongolian dance, Mongolian guitar, and many others. This class was for learning Mongolian writing. I loved the robes, the hats, and the bright colors. This young man was in full concentration and didn’t look up at me at all.
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They had me try my hand at Mongolian writing. It was pretty hard, but I copied the squiggles on the chalk board, not knowing if what I was writing was amazing or completely illegible. So then my government friend wrote my name on the chalk board in Chinese for me to try, knowing it would be much easier. So here you can see I have a column of Mongolian and a couple columns of Chinese.

 

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This little girl was stunningly adorable. She caught my eye as she was coming up the stairs and I had to stop her. I pointed to my camera and she did a curtsy. I can’t explain why I immediately just loved her so much, but I really like the photo and feel I captured her inner beauty.BryCox_MongolianSchool_05

This is the teacher for the Mongolian guitar class. I liked his outfit and entire manner. I stopped him right in the hallway as he was leaving his class.BryCox_MongolianSchool_06

Outside in the cold winter wind, I saw this little boy in the cool red jacket. I liked his style and got a photo of him and his two friends.BryCox_MongolianSchool_07

There were boys outside practicing archery, and I had to get a picture of them.BryCox_MongolianSchool_08

This young man was gathering up the bows from class and taking them back inside the school. I liked his mixed clothing, and the fact that he was standing by the doorways. Often doorways in town were covered with these blankets to keep the heat in, while allowing people to come and go.BryCox_MongolianSchool_09

This little girl caught my eye and I thought she was adorable. I singled her out for her own portrait.BryCox_MongolianSchool_10

We also visited a market street in town, which was a walking street of shops, and I was able to finally buy a winter cap for my ears. We were leaving the next morning and so I only wore it for a few hours, but it was worth it. Along this market street, all of the shops were almost identical in size. I saw these two little baby kids playing, both in yellow with their mothers close by.BryCox_MongolianSchool_13BryCox_MongolianSchool_12And these ladies, all in pink and black working at their shop.
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Here, I started to photograph this dog in the image below, because it was framed nicely by the door behind it. As I did, this little child came up to the window and pressed her mouth and nose against the glass. I quickly shifted my focus and got the shot. I’m guessing that it’s a little girl, and you can see her mother working in the store behind her.BryCox_MongolianSchool_14Then as if on cue, her little friend came up to the other window too, both framed by windows, and the dog turned and looked. It was quite a thrilling moment that me and my photographer friend from Malta that I was walking with, talked about for a while afterwards.
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That evening we had our last big dinner. We were leaving early the next morning and I had heard about people doing “sword gymnastics” in town each morning. I told my government friend that I was going to get up early to find some people doing sword gymnastics that I could photograph. It meant leaving the hotel at 5:30 am, and I asked about where some places might be nearby. He insisted coming early and taking me which I thought was extra kind. I told him I didn’t want to impose and that I would be fine, but he insisted and drove me to a couple places.

 

The sun had not yet come up and I was pushing the limits of my camera’s ISO settings to get a decent exposure, plus the temperatures were incredibly cold, even with my hat and gloves purchased from street vendors the day before. But it was worth it and I was able to get some great images. BryCox_MongolianSchool_18 BryCox_MongolianSchool_19

There are so many images that I could post, but these last few postings cover some of my favorites. As you can see, I had a wonderful adventure and met some very great people. I’m very grateful for these opportunities I had and for the people that made it happen for me. And I hope all of you that have been following these posts have enjoyed these images too.

Until next time, America.

Bry Cox at Photo Beijing China & Inner Mongolia (Part VI)

Having a few hours to photograph the Mongolian temple alone was really nice and serene. Eventually as the sun rose, the sky turned blue and the place warmed slightly. The air become less frigid and more comfortable, and monks began to appear and prepare nearby, opening the Buddhist temple doors and getting in their robes.

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Once the main monks were ready, they rang the gong outside the front doors, signaling more monks to come and chant, and letting the local people know that the temple was open.
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As more monks arrived, each took their spot inside, kneeling and beginning their group chant. These two monks watched over as the younger monks read and chanted together.

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They normally don’t allow photography and because there were making a special exception, I moved quietly and slowly, not wanting to be a distraction. I picked my angles and shots carefully, shooting slowly and waiting for the right moments. I tip-toed to a few spots to create a variety of angles, mostly crouching behind pillars and objects for concealment and for a low camera angle that matched the height of the kneeling monks. I would sit crouched, absorbing everything in, and just wait for the right moment to shoot. Then I’d absorb some more, look around for another angle, then when I was ready, slowly move to the next spot.

The lighting was extra difficult, being very dark inside with the only light source being a very bright sun-lit door. In relation to the dark room, the door was incredibly bright, and would have created a big washed out area, so I had to pick my angels carefully to not show the door, but also use the light on an angle on the monks’ faces.
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BryCox_Mongolia2015_336Soon local guests started to arrive, dropping money and saying prayers. I felt I had the images I had hoped for, so I stepped outside the temple. The room was very small inside with very little room to move, and having guests arrive, I didn’t want to distract or be in anyone’s way.

Waiting outside, I photographed a few local people that visited the temple, like this man. I loved his clothing and layers, and his expression didn’t change a bit as I raised my camera to quickly photograph him.

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I found these two men very interesting, they way the stood, studying me, partly in shade, the colors of their coats, their faces – it was too interesting not to shoot.

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Out in the courtyard, this woman lit an incense rod and placed it in the alter.

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As the locals each finished and came out of the temple, they gathered by the doorway, watching me, some even photographing me with their phones. I liked the personality and balance in the way they all stood.

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It was time to leave and I had a walk ahead of me, back through the outer gates, down the steps, and through the terrain and many trails. This is the door to the outer gates at the top of the steps. It was too dark to photograph first thing in the morning, but as I was leaving the sunlight came in at the right angle, casting the right shadows to give this pop and dimension.

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Along my walk out, I kept seeing things I had to photograph, like this bench for meditation and tree covered in prayer ribbons.

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I took a different trail on the way out than I took on the way in, and it was nice getting a different view. For instance in my last post you’ll remember that I first arrived, walking underneath this large stone structure in the distance. At this point in the day, the sun was up, the clouds were out, and the sky was blue. It was a great way to end my trip to this beautiful place.

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Later I photographed a market street full of people and a Mongolian school for young children, all in traditional dress. I’ll share some of those images in my next post.

Until next time, America.

Bry Cox at Photo Beijing China & Inner Mongolia (Part V) Buddhist Temple at Sunrise

Early the next morning, we were taken to a Mongolian Buddhist temple. We arrived before sunrise, even before the monks themselves were up. The entire place was empty, quiet, and incredibly cold, especially to me since I was only wearing a t-shirt and light sport coat. The only sound in this serene place were the numerous prayer ribbons flapping in the wind. BryCox_Mongolia2015_301BryCox_Mongolia2015_302

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There were trails that led off in all directions through the trees. Some led to this large stone structure held up by four pillars. All of the pillars were covered with prayer ribbons coming in from all directions, all flapping in the wind.
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Continuing on through some trails, I found this monk getting up and coming out of his yurt. He saw my camera and waved me off as if to say, “no pictures.” But the government official that was walking with me said some stern words to the monk, and then turned to me and said, “You may now photograph him.” The monk smiled and I was able to get this great portrait.

The government official had become a friend at this point. We had many interesting conversations while I was there, and he also knew that I loved to photograph people and faces, not just locations. I don’t know what he said to the monk, but I was very grateful to get the man’s portrait.

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The trails wound their way through the terrain and eventually led to these stairs, going up to the Buddhist temple. I loved that the place was empty, even void of local temple visitors because of the early hour. Having the place to myself to photograph was superb.

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Once getting up to the temple and seeing it was closed, I hiked on, looking for more vantage points and ways that I could photograph it from a distance. There were trails in various directions, that led up and down mountains and through small canyons. And some trails were laced with these prayer ribbons that seemed to go as far as you could see.

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A short hike up some steep rocks let to a great view of the temple and the sun rising behind in the mountains.

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I continued hiking higher and realized that I had very few pictures of myself on this trip. Most of the time after visiting a place, I come home to realize that I have lots of photographs of the things I’ve seen, and no images of me there. I took a moment to shoot a self-portrait using an outstretched arm and my Lumix point-and-shoot. After looking at the image on the back of the camera, I realized I had forgot to remove the shemagh I was wearing to keep my head and ears warm from the cold, winter wind.

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I had packed light and was unprepared for below freezing temperatures. I was only wearing my t-shirt and light sport coat because it was all I brought, knowing that on the past trips to Beijing, I was able to pick up good knock-off NorthFace jackets for $15 when needed. But on this trip I was nowhere near the silk markets of Beijing while in China, and when I got to Mongolia, it was far colder.

I did however buy some knit gloves in Mongolia that had the words, “MAN” printed on them, and I almost always travel with a shemagh for its versatility. It’s handy as a scarf, but can be a tourniquet or sling in an emergency. On this trip I wore it often as a face mask to filter the common cigarette smoke or dusty air, I used it as a sunshade on long drives, and here at the temple I wore it as a head wrap to keep my ears and head warm in the wind.

But forgetting that I had it on the photo, I pulled it down around my neck and asked my new photographer friend from Malta to take a few shots of me. He and I got along great and we found ourselves often hunting for very similar images. I liked his eye, and he also shot the same Nikon D800 that I had with me. So with my Nikon, he shot these two images of me.

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I was very grateful to get some photos of myself on this trip, and now that I’m home, I prefer the first image with the shemagh tied around my head. Though the scarf isn’t oriental, it does give the image a more exotic look.

Hiking up to the highest point on one mountain, there was a fence of prayer ribbons surrounding a very large rock on a cliff. I shot this panorama and it became one of my favorite images from the trip. I’ve already made up a small 30″ print of it for my home.

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Also, my briefcase from Saddleback Leather has become one of my favorite travel items. I use it as an airline carry-on for my iPad, laptop, headphones, and books, and then at my destination I change the contents and straps and it becomes my backpack and camera bag. I had the thought that perhaps if I photographed my cool looking bag in this exotic location, maybe the company would want to buy some images or give me some trade.  So with that in mind, I shot these two images as if for an ad for Saddleback. I haven’t yet contacted them or shown them these images yet, but I really like how they turned out.

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At this point, then the temple opened its doors and the monks began to come for their daily chant. I have a lot of images of them worshiping that I’ll share in my next entry. They are some of my favorite images of the trip.

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So until next time, America.