Elle, Miss Draper 2020

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

I had the pleasure of creating the official portraits of Elle, Miss Draper 2020. She’s an accomplished young woman and was a joy to photograph. Her personality was sweet and gracious, and she’s an absolute beauty. We had so many beautiful images, it was hard to choose favorites.

As we began the shoot, I realized that I had photographed her many years ago as a cute little 8 year old girl here in the studio.

And she just happened to be wearing a white dress again, so I used my same white chair with her on our new photo shoot to continue the theme from when she was 8.

I love seeing these images back to back. It’s rewarding to create images like this for people, to capture particular times in their lives, and see the changes in them over time. As you can see, Elle was a natural in front of the camera. She was poised and very photogenic.

After getting a variety of beautiful images the we could use as official portraits, it was time to have some fun. I changed up the lighting and shot a series of personality images up close. I loved them all and created a gorgeous collage of the images.

 

It was an honor to create these images for Draper City and the Miss Draper girls. They just ended their terms, and passed the crowns down to the new Draper royalty. Soon we’ll be creating some official portraits of these new winners too.

Here’s 4 Miss Drapers: Mandi Brady, director of the Miss Draper pageant, Miss Draper 2020 and the new 2021 winner, and Mandi’s mom. Mandi’s mom has worked and helped Mandi quite a bit too.

If you’d like some beautiful portraits created, it’s a great time. We can beat the unusual summer heat outside by creating images in the studio (like Elle’s portraits), or we can do some outdoors right here in the studio gardens, or we can do a bit of both.

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

And until next time, America.

Salt Flats Photo Shoots – Teaching Lighting to Photographers (part 1)

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

This last weekend I taught a 2-day lighting class to on the Utah Salt Flats to photographers from Idaho. It was my Adaptive Lighting class and it’s the perfect place because the area is so unpredictable. And this time was no different because when we got there the entire area was covered in smoke from the California wildfires.

Instead of wishing we didn’t have smoke, my challenge to everyone was to adapt, problem solve, and create smokey images so amazing, that everyone from now on will want photographs in the smoke. And as you can see from my first example, the smoke could be very beautiful. With some adaptive lighting and gear, my first demo was deepen the sky for a warm, surreal, and golden landscape.

We had an awesome turn out, as you can see in this video, and photographers and models alike were all having a great time. Definitely watch this short video. It’s in 4K, so try full screen if you have the internet bandwidth. It’ll be worth it.

No matter where you are, lighting always needs to be controlled for portraits – and that’s particularly true on the flats because there’s never shade. Many photographers rely on shade to make their portraits work, but learning to nail everything in the harsh environments of the Utah Salt Flats with studio lights and technical know-how means being able to create beautiful portrait anywhere. Out on the Salt Flats, the sunlight changes constantly from morning, to noon, afternoon, sunset, twilight, and even after dark. Being able to rock studio lights at this location is essential.

I am excited by the images I created there, and will post them soon. But first I wanted to share some behind the scenes from the event.

Here’s our entire group in the afternoon on Saturday. I captured this image with my drone, fired with my lower hand. And a special thanks to my friend Cory Waite for coming along as my friend and assistant, and for getting lots of great behind-the-scenes footage.

It was fun seeing all the lighting setups along the flats, and all the photographers and models having a great time.

Here are a few early favorites that I created during various demos.

Here’s a great image of Phil White working. He’s the photographer who put the event on and asked me to come speak for the Professional Photographers of Idaho. If you’re a photographer in Idaho, you should belong to this group.

On Saturday afternoon, we got special permission for our group to photograph at the historic Enola Gay Hangar, nearby in Wendover, Utah. I’m grateful to those who made that happen, and I’m excited to see what everyone creates in this unique spot. With all of our pretty models, lighting gear, and access to this great location, there were lots of ways to solve creative problems and create beautiful images. Here’s some of my early favorites from that location

At one point, photographer Katrina Hoffman was changing her camera settings while photographing a model who was Salsa dancing. I took advantage of the moment to cross through her shot – but Salsa danced through the space. Katrina was quick enough to get this photo of me carrying my lights, and Salsa dancing past her Salsa dancing model. HAHA!

Stay tuned for more great images from this event. And if you’re a photographer looking for training, check out my training website with online courses and schedule for upcoming events. It’s all at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And if you’re a client and would like to create some amazing portraits, now’s a great time to book a fun new shoot. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.

Salt Flats Morning Shoot with Addie, the Bubble Trailer, and the Chop Stick Guys (part 3)

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

In parts one and two of this series, I talk about how my photographer friend from California, Suzette Allen and her husband are touring the United States in their Bubble Trailer to teach and train photographers. And I share the evening shoot we did when they came through Utah, and now I’m excited to share with you the fun early morning shoot we did the next morning here on the Utah Salt Flats.

The next morning, we got up for an early sunrise shoot. Suzette and her husband interviewed me as the sun was rising behind us. Here’s that video…

And here’s a selfie video showing the gorgeous sky.

But before the sun came up, we started shooting photographs and my beautiful friend Addie was our model. The early morning sky was deep blue with just a touch of pink on the horizon. Using my Profoto studio lights to both sculpt Addie and also capture the true colors in the distance, I started photographing with the blue sky as our background.




While we were doing our photoshoot, Suzette and the Chopstick Guys were off shooting video.

With just a few studio lights on location, we were able to create some beautiful images with vivid colors. I really loved this early morning light. As the sun started to peak over the horizon, the colors around us went from deep blue to soft pastels. These colors worked perfectly with Addie’s outfit.

As Suzette photographed Addie with her Bubble Trailer, the warm colors of the sun started to peak over the salty horizon and hit the clouds. The golden clouds and warm light was a magical time.

The rising sun brought a cool desert wind which I found exhilarating and fun creatively. And as you can see, we all were having a lot of fun in this beautiful and creative environment. Here’s Suzette rockin’ her Lumix camera, with her husband Jon having fun behind.

When Suzette had her images, I photographed Addie again, but this time using the sun as my main light. The wind and golden warm light were gorgeous. I love all these gorgeous colors together, and Addie did such a great job on this shoot. And she was a lot of fun too. We were laughing a lot.


I had to keep stopping to soak in the view around me. And that made me want to create some long panoramas as well. I loved how the warmth of the rising sun on east side of the horizon mixed with the deep blues of the other end.

I also created some panoramas showing my Nissan Rogue and Profoto studio flashes on the salty desert floor, because it looked like a commercial ad. (Hey Nissan and/or Profoto, if you need commercial photography work, check out BryCoxPro.com.)

And of course with such a beautiful sunrise and mountain range, we had to do a quick selfie together, firing the camera with a remote in one hand.

And here we are having more fun, dancing in the wind and sunrise.

Then mixing in studio lights with the sunrise, I wanted to capture the golden sky behind Addie. I wanted to shoot into the sun, and for that I needed some serious lighting power. I love how these turned out!






With the cold wind finally making Addie cold, she went to warm up in the vehicle. And I took a moment to create a selfie showing my studio light and sunrise behind me.

Fall has now hit us here in Utah. It’s time to create some beautiful location photographs of your family and kids. If you’d like something in the fall leaves or on an exotic location like the Salt Flats, and you want that some awesome lighting that makes you pop in that location, give me a call at 801-728-3317. Let’s create some iconic and legacy portraits for the walls of your home.

Also, if you’re a photographer looking to up your game and get more training to really understand lighting better, check out my online and in-person courses at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

Salt Flats Evening Shoot with Pamela, the Bubble Trailer, and the Chop Stick Guys (part 2)

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

In my previous entry I shared the first part of this shoot at the Utah Salt Flats. And continuing on, the sun was going down quickly and we were losing our light. As Suzette Allen and her husband prepped the Bubble Trailer and lighting for their next series of photographs, my model Pamela did a change of clothes while I set up a multiple-light look for a clean, commercial, studio look that would work with and accentuate the deep blue of twilight as things got darker.

These turned out to be a fun and wonderful series of images. I love the motion between the images and feel they’re best shared in sets of three to show action.

For these next couple of horizontal portraits, I let one of my lights show in the image. I loved the lighting angle, and I wanted to show the open vastness around us. Pulling back with the camera allows that long, empty, and open horizon to show. And the light I think it adds interest, telling the viewer that the lighting is controlled and specific.

I often see photographs posted from the Salt Flats by other photographers and the results are dull, muddy faces, washed out backgrounds, noisy grainy images, blurry faces, and shadows in the wrong places on the face. Why? Because most photographers don’t understand exactly how to custom light, where a light should be, and how lighting needs to continually move and be adjusted based on sculpting someone as they move. It requires knowledge and lots of mental work. But the results of doing so are powerful images like these – amazing portraits created in a normally impossible setting – long after the sun has gone down.

Pamela was so much fun. She had a lot of personality and I loved her choices in clothing. These photos with her hat made for a great set of images. I’ve had a hard time picking my top favorites.

Time was really flying and we were having a blast and didn’t want to stop shooting. So after Suzette had finished her shoot with the trailer (which can be seen here on her blog), it was completely dark. While her and the Chopstick Guys were packing up their gear and loading their vehicles, Pamela and I decided to shoot a bit longer. She had this awesome flowy outfit, and the evening desert wind was really howling.

So with a couple studio flashes on stands manually controlled, I used the wind to our favor and did one last series of images. I really like the dark blackness that surrounds us in these images. With blackness behind and the light illuminating the white salt floor, falling off, fading into the distance, it makes it feel like we’re shooting on a stage. And Pamela’s movements and expressions really make these images sing.

What an amazing shoot, and this is just Part 2. There’s Part 3 coming because the next morning we did a very early sunrise shoot with another beautiful friend of mine who came out to model for us.

Those portraits have a completely different look and feel because the sun was direct and coming in from a different angle, plus the color temperature was different too. As the sun rose, the color around us went from deep blue, to pink, to a warm golden color. The entire location glowed with the sunlight. Those images are incredible and I’m excited to share those soon.

In the meantime, if you’d like a cool photo shoot at an exotic location like the Salt Flats, give me a call at 801-728-3317. With my style of custom lighting, it can work wonderfully well for families, kids, even high school seniors.

Also, if you’re a photographer looking to up your game and get more training, check out my online and in-person courses at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

Salt Flats Evening Shoot with Pamela, the Bubble Trailer, and the Chop Stick Guys (part 1)

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

This week my photographer friend from California, Suzette Allen kicked off her big nationwide tour in her Bubble Trailer. She’s a photographic trainer and we’ve known each other for years because we often speak at the events. She’s taking the next few months to tour the country in her trailer, visiting some of her favorite camera shops and photographer friends. Her first big stop was here in Utah. I drove out to meet her on the Salt Flats, along with the Chop Stick Guys, and I brought my beautiful friend Pamela to be our model.

While everyone was gearing up, I did a quick light-painting of Suzette’s beautiful Bubble Trailer.

The Salt Flats is a wide open area with no shade. The sun moves quickly and the light shifts dramatically. Sadly many photographers go there and rely on haphazard or natural light while using auto camera settings there. It’s all they know. They just end up with muddy faces and often washing out the background too. Instead, to really rock the location and the lighting there, all the details need to be controlled. These are the details that I teach and share with photographers in my training courses.

When you control the lighting and the technical details, you capture the deep tones of the background while sculpting the model with light, making her shine. From there you can be fully creative and let go, especially if you have a great location and model. And Pamela was a terrific model! She absolutely killed it! We had a lot of fun and have so many beautiful images to choose from. Here are some of my early favorites.

This outfit offered a pop of color on the cool tones of the background. The sun was setting, but the heavy clouds and distant storms were blocking a lot of the sky. So with some custom lighting, we get these deep colors in the sky and Pam and her outfit just pop.

She has a lot of personality and it really shows in these photographs. I really love all the images we created.

As the sun got lower, the wind really began to pick up. We used the wind to our advantage, and I love the movement that it created in her hair and outfit.

As it got darker, we did a change of outfits for more variety, and our model wore this flowy red dress. It was perfect for the wind and looked great with the trailer later. Her and I shot a lot of movement in this dress which I may post later, but here’s some of my favorite stand-out images in this dress.

Suzette is building a series of images of her trailer in different locations, and prepared a bunch of balloons for our model. Because she was switching back and forth between shooting video and photos, she was using continuous lighting. I saw some of her previews on her camera and I loved what I saw. Here are some behind the scene images of her working.

I really love the rain clouds as our backdrop to these photographs, and Pam really did a great job.

This is just Part 1. I’ll post more later because I continued to shoot Pam into the night with a couple more changes of clothes, even after sunset when it was pitch black. Plus the next morning we all got up extra early to shoot one more time on the Salt Flats at sunrise. I brought a different model for sunrise, and have lots of great images to share from that too. From both shoots, all the portraits are amazing, and I’m exited to share them with you.

If you’d like a cool photo shoot at an exotic location like the Salt Flats, give me a call at 801-728-3317. With the right lighting, it can work well for families, kids, even high school seniors.

And if you’re a photographer looking to up your game and get more training, check out my online and in-person courses at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.

Studio Shoot with Jacq

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

I had a great time photographing the fun and beautiful Jacqueline in this studio photo shoot. These images are so beautiful that I have to share with you some of my favorites.

We shot a couple outfits, and this first image is one of my favorites from the whole shoot. I love her look, expression, and the overall feel of this photograph.

With a different style of lighting and a new background, we got this stunning headshot of Jacq.

And then photographing her in this retro blue outfit on the fashion gray background gave us lots of great options, all completely different with a unique set of expressions and looks, with full length and mid-length.







I really love what we got from this shoot and hope that Jacq loves these as much as I do. My indoor studio located here in Davis County, Utah is a great option for fashion shoots, commercial shoots, avoiding bad weather outside, or anytime you want even more custom lighting options.

If you’d like some beautiful new images, give me a call at 801-728-3317. It’s a great time to come in and update your portfolio.

And until next time, America.

New Headshots and Fitness Portraits for Addie

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

Winter is a great time to update headshots for your business. And I just had the pleasure of photographing Addie for some new headshots and fitness images that she needed for work. Addie travels the globe running marathons (like Boston, London, Germany to name a few), and when she’s in Utah, she trains runners for Life Time Fitness.

We needed to create some beautiful headshots with a commercial white background, and also some fitness images that could be used for banners or social media. So we started here in my studio and got a lot of great headshots. Here are some of my favorites.


Then I had some fun shooting some black and whites with selective focus, like this image.

Then before going outside, we shot a few full body images in the studio. I think these look great.

For the outdoor images, we used a long empty road near my place and set up some lighting to give us a deep blue sky and to overpower the direct sun so we could shoot the directions we wanted.


If you’d like to follow Addie or run in her Run Club, she’s on Instagram as @addielillian. And you should also check out her health-food blog where she cooks new things, beautifully photographs the meal, and posts the recipe. It’s called Addie’s Pantry.

And if you or your business need some new headshots, give me a call, 801-728-3317. I also have a separate website for just headshots and commercial images at BryCoxPro.com.

And until next time, America.

Fundraiser Portraits With a ‘Vanity Fair Backstage’ Look

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

This weekend I photographed custom portraits at a fundraiser to help raise money for our friend who is re-learning to walk after Lyme disease. The crowd was mostly friends and people I knew, and knowing that everyone would be dressed up, I thought I’d mix that dressiness with the cool tile of the location for a magazine styled shoot.

Along with offering some silent auction photo shoots that raised $600, I also did quick photo shoots of my friends there. I utilized one studio light with a small modifier to create custom but very directional lighting for lots of moody shadows and aimed just right for no retouching. I then posed individuals in unique ways as if it were a “backstage at the Oscars Vanity Fair” type photo shoot. I also created a film look that warmed the highlights to a nice golden tone that was applied to the images on my laptop as I shot.

I had a long line all night and photographed a few hundred people, averaging 2-3 shots per person. I then picked my favorite of each person right there off my laptop. After the event, I posted the portraits on Facebook and the results have been blowing up my facebook feed, so I thought I’d share them on my blog today so you all could seem them too. Here are just some favorites.

Yes, there’s even one of me. I shot it with a remote in my hand before people arrived. I wanted to double check the lighting and look of the tile and tones before we started. I really love the variety of poses and looks with everyone. I think the shoot went great.

With so many people, this is just a few. But all of the images are up on my Facebook page, and you can see them all if you follow me there.

If you work with a Utah charity and would like to talk about package donations to raise money, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to talk more about what you’re doing and how I could donate some packages for auction, or otherwise be involved in raising money.

And until next time, America.

Impromptu Photo Shoot of Gabrielle

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

Gabrielle is a writer for the company Fstoppers, and I met her while I was speaking at the big national photography convention ImagingUSA. This year the convention was just held in Nashville, and it’s unusual for it to snow there. But right after I finished speaking, we were hit with a gorgeous snow storm. And having met Gabi with her fun style and her purple hair, she seemed perfect for an impromptu photo shoot out in the cold snowy night.

Because I was there to speak and not take portraits, I didn’t have my typical professional load out of gear. But as I teach photographers at my workshops, great photography is about knowledge, not gear. We should be able to create great images with any gear, if we know what we’re doing. So using my small travel camera (that I refer to as my “toy camera”) along with a basic light and umbrella that I had with me, I was still able to control my lighting angles and create some great images. See what you think.

Though I had in mind color images in the snow, some of the images really popped as black and white. I really love how these look.

Also, the air was too frigid to work for too long outside. My fingers quickly stopped working and went numb as I tried to control the dials on my camera. So we went in and finished up our shoot using the indoor garden atrium of the Gaylord Opryland Hotel. The plants and leaves were the perfect backdrop for Gabi. 

And while in the atrium, we used one more backdrop – the walls of the indoor shops. It gave us the look of being off on location while actually being inside and warm. 

There’s a lot of personality in these images and I really love how they turned out. It would have been fun if Gabi and I had done a full shoot with various changes of outfits and location. Perhaps at another event sometime.

And if you’d like some fun and updated photographs whether they be for business or for fun, now is a great time to get them done. Here in Utah, snow outdoor locations are easier and warmer than in Nashville. Plus I have an indoor studio for other options as well. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.

Stormy Night on the Salt Flats with Nicole

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

The other night, I had a very fun shoot on the Utah Salt Flats with Nicole. It was windy and stormy which makes it all the more difficult photographically, but it’s also why I love it. I love the creative and technical challenges of storms, plus wind and rain are exciting to be out in, and I love the dramatic skies storms give me in my backgrounds when I utilize all my specialty lighting techniques. Add to that a great model like Nicole who was a great sport with all the howling wind in her hair, and we’ve got some spectacular images.

To give you an idea of our gorgeous night, here’s a long panorama showing the variety of colors we had. To the west (left side of the photo) we had deep warm colors, while to the north (right side of the photo) we had cool blues. And we have even more variety turning even further left or right.

Using the setting sun as my main light, I started out shooting for a deep blue background and warm foreground. Nicole was a joy to photograph and a complete natural. I loved her clothes, her natural expressions, and how she moved, and we got a ton of wonderful images. I really love these with that long, straight horizon in the distance too.

Then turning another direction, we used the sun setting in the storm clouds as our background.

And for a quick moment we even had this beautiful rainbow. 

As the sun dropped lower, the background got deeper and more vivid, and the wind got stronger.

We had to work fast as the sun was going, but I love the variety of colors, and looks we got. 

We did a clothing change for some visual color pop against the deepening blues of twilight.

I really love the wind in her hair in these.

With the sun completely gone, it was too dark to see through my camera or even focus. So we ended with this fun image of the wind just howling, and some directional lighting to really make her cheekbones and profile pop.

Lighting is always the key, and lighting is my specialty. I’m one of the most award winning and highest ranked Master Photographers in Utah. I know lighting and I know how to light you to make you look great, regardless of time of day or storms. If you need some great photos, give me a call, 801-728-3317. This warmer weather won’t last much longer and it’s a great time to get in and get something wonderful.

And until next time, America.

Windy Winter Mountain Shoot with Nicholette in Utah

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

The wind was bitter cold as we hiked up through the snow to a small overlook in our nearby Utah canyon. The climb was slippery and full of tall new powder that went well past my knees and nearly to my waist at one point. Once at the top, the wind was stronger and even more frigid so we worked fast, also because we needed to beat the setting sun. The entire shoot was maybe 20 minutes long before we headed back down the mountain, yet in that short amount of time we got some great photographs. Here are some of my favorites.

Utilizing some specialized lighting techniques, I punched up background with more blue tones to enhance the cold feeling, while simultaneously adding warm light to the model. It makes her stand out dramatically, while also creating a visual separation between her and the background. And with her beautifully dramatic features, I used a more sharp, commercial/fashion style of lighting too to really enhance her cheekbones and eye shape. I love how these all turned out.

For this one, I also created an animation with slow motion snow that falls around her. Notice that the snow falls around her, some in front, most in back.


I love the changing direction, the wind, and how great these all look. This time of night worked beautifully for this deep-blue look. And the final images are captivating.

If you’re in need of a great set of images, either for work or commercial use, or for your own personal needs – give me a call. 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something amazing for you, outdoors in the Utah snow or here in the studio. It’s a great time to create some wonderful photographs.

And until next time, America.

Cold & Colorful Outdoor Shoot with Nikola

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I had a very fun shoot with Nikola outside, despite the frigid 12º-15º temperatures. Nikola was especially great to shoot, and she was a great sport too – never complaining about the freezing cold. The cool, foggy air of downtown Salt Lake City made for some beautiful backdrops and I wanted to accent that with some creative lighting skills.

We battled the cold and took advantage of the beautiful foggy air, accenting it even more with some specialized lighting techniques to add a color shift and punch to the images. For instance in these first few images, I lit her in a way to make the skyline behind go a deeper blue. That contrast between cool and warm colors really makes her pop out, and it accentuates the cold feeling of the night.

These close ups are killer! I love her subtle expression, the look in her eye, and the color makes the image all the more interesting to me.

Here we have a mix of cool and warm colors again. It adds depth to the photograph, and makes the image feel more three-dimensional. Most photographers in comparison sadly use a very “flat” style of lighting. Their images are often muddy, dull, or blown out. The problem is that a photograph is already flat, and a flat picture on flat paper doesn’t have as much impact. I work hard to create dimension. I want to draw people into the images I create and make them stare and feel as if they could step into the photograph. That extra work I think gives images more of an emotional impact. I hope people can see the difference in what I offer.

These laughing images just show how much fun these photo shoots are. You can tell it’s cold, but you wouldn’t believe how cold by this genuine smile.

Finding some cover from the harsh wind, we stepped into this stoop for a few photographs. I really like the colors and textures and how they mix and blend well with her.


Shooting along this brick wall was great. I love the color harmony, and Nikola’s gorgeous hair ties in beautifully.

While speaking for Adobe at the national photography convention (ImagingUSA) this last week in San Antonio, I felt blessed to have a packed ballroom of about 1,000 people. I used these images in my demo on stage, and part of that demo was creating this trio below from scratch. I really liked the genuineness of her laughing images, so I combined them into a framed trio design to tell a story in three images. 

And finally, this serious image is just killer.

Thank you to Nikola for the fun shoot and her good-naturedness despite the freezing cold Utah weather. Often this time of year I’m shooting in the warm studio, but for this shoot I really wanted to create something different. And we got some incredible photographs by utilizing that cold air with some really creative lighting styles.

If you’re in need of some awesome photographs (even despite weather problems like frigid cold), give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something awesome for you.

And until next time, America.