President Nelson Invites Families to Hang Portraits on Their Walls

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

We’ve been asked by church leaders to hang family portraits on our walls, and I agree. I have long believed in the strong but subtle messages that come from viewing portraits on our walls daily, particularly when those images show families and relationships happy and together.

In this video I share my thoughts on family wall portraits vs TV size and placement (and the messages both send), and also how self-esteem is different from self-worth.

I’d love to create something amazing for your family. Give me a call at 801-728-3317. It’s the perfect time of year to photograph your family, and get a beautiful piece finished for Christmas.

Recently, President Nelson of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints asked church members to decorate their homes with portraits of their families and loved ones. Here’s the quote:

I invite the members of the Church to place on the walls of their homes pictures of their family, pictures of their grandparents, pictures as a couple, pictures of their children, and pictures of the temple. These all symbolize God’s eternal plan. It’s all about the family.

And here’s a link to the story:
http://www.ldsliving.com/President-Nelson-Invites-Latter-day-Saints-to-Hang-5-Things-on-the-Walls-of-Their-Homes/s/88680

Model Portraits from Teaching at ‘Texas School’ Photographic Workshop – Part 2

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Once a year I speak at this big event for photographers called Texas School. It’s at the end of April and photographers from all over the US and abroad fly in to train and learn for an entire week. It’s always one of my favorite events, and part of my teaching style is to give photographers personal challenges using custom lighting while shooting models to see how they do.

And at the end of the week, we have a shootout where photographers from all classes can see quick demos from various instructors. For those demos, I was given a cool Ferrari as a backdrop, and a bunch of models that would come through every few minutes. I photographed the models very quickly shooting about 10-15 photos per model in just a few minutes using some quick lighting techniques.

It’s perfect for showing a crowd of photographers the essentials for shooting a variety of poses, using lighting to sculpt and define faces and bodies, as well as metering, white balance, and getting clients to relax in front of the camera. Behind me, you can see groups of photographers like this, shooting their own photos.

And despite crowds of people moving through my background, here are some of my favorite images I created that evening.

I love the creative challenge of working quickly with various problems to solve – like onlookers, other people walking through the background, the best angles and lighting for a model’s face and body shapes, quick posing, color, exposure, and more.

Here’s me shooting, as a behind-the-scenes image in black & white.

If you’d like some great and creative images, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something for you that you love.

And to see more images created during this event, including in studio, see Part 1.

Finally, if you’re a photographer and would like to attend a full weeklong workshop with me, or would like some online instruction, check out my training website for online videos and upcoming schedule at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.

Cool Video Promo for My Dad, JD Cox Music

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I love how this video for my dad turned out. He’s a life-long musician and gigs regularly around Utah playing the saxophones, mainly the soprano, alto, and tenor. I do his website for him, and we wanted something for the site that showed who he is.

So I went and filmed him performing at an all-ages dance, then had him come in and talk about it in the studio. I cut that all together, and here’s the result. See what you think.

I think it’s a great promo video and shows his talent and personality. His website is JDCoxMusic.com, so if you’d like a live saxophone for your wedding or upcoming party, give him a call.

And if you need a great video for your website, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something wonderful for you and your business.

And until next time, America.

Early Favorite Sneak Peek Photos from Jannette’s Wedding at Log Haven

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I recently photographed a beautiful wedding at Log Haven up Millcreek canyon, just above Salt Lake City, Utah. The location was the perfect spot to create these gorgeous images, and I’m excited to share some early favorites with you. I’ve almost got Jannette’s wedding album finished, but until then, I wanted to share some early sneak peek favorites from her wedding because these are absolutely stunning!

Before the ceremony where the groom saw the bride, we did some portraits of just the bride and her bridal party. Here’s one of my favorites of her, standing beautifully with the waterfall behind her.

Many photographers talk about “natural light,” but that approach gives people dark eyes, muddy skin, and a washed out background. Compare that to these stunning images of this bride using my custom lighting style that sculpts her and makes her skin and eyes pop, while at the same time making the background into this deep, luscious green – even though she’s standing in broad daylight. I love these!

And children make weddings extra fun for me. These two little kids were the flower girl and ring bearer. Here they’re showing me their pedal and ring boxes before the ceremony starts.

I’ll share Jannette’s final album design when it’s finished being printed so that you can see the ceremony. But right now I want to share some of these alone portraits with the bride and groom. After the ceremony I took them around for a few minutes to get these beautiful images.

After dinner, people danced under the deep blue of the mountain sky.

One of my favorite images from the night, this little boy was sad because no one was dancing with him. He went off and sat sadly on some steps. I followed him, talked to him about why he was sad, and then got this cute photograph of him, head in his hand.

But very quickly a group of kids came and got him and brought him back to the dance party to dance with him.

And here’s one of my favorites from the end of the night, showing the dancing and reception party.

I can’t wait for you to see Jannette’s entire wedding album. Every page is amazing.

If you’re getting married, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something amazing for you for your wedding.

And until next time, America.

Cute Little 2-Year-Old Twins

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I had the joy of photographing these cute little 2-year old twins for their birthday portraits. They were so fun and expressive, that they had me laughing the entire time.

Before shooting outside, we started off in the studio on a clean white, to show off their fun, colorful, number-2 shirts. I have things that I do to get little kids to relax and open up with me, giving me great expressions. Right from the beginning, this little boy opened up and saw me as his buddy. But the little girl was a bit more apprehensive. She brought her favorite monkey, and held on to him for the first part of the shoot and started off with some cute scowls.

Before long though, they were both doing great and we got some wonderful smiles from both of them.

One of the games I play is to “get their toes.” In this photo, she’s poking her feet out to show me her toes because she wants me to get them again. It’s a good sign and shows she’s happy, open, and having a good time.

Then a change of clothes and a wonderful, somber expression from both of them. I love these outfits, and love how each one is standing. Their body language is perfect.

But then their moods swapped. She was happy and open, but he started to crash and cry. For comfort, he’s holding a toy car in one hand, and food in the other. And this little girl is calm with her monkey.

And then back to some fun expressions out of both of them again.

But when he started to lose it again, calling his aunt on the phone helped him settle down. And I love her expression, watching her brother.

Sitting down in the chair, she comforts him with an arm around him.

Using these favorites from the studio white, I designed up this 9-up portrait collage, ready for the wall in their home. It’ll be finished and framed, setting these images off.

Then stepping outside into my studio gardens for a change of scenery, we got this wonderful little kiss! They’re each turned perfectly so you can see both of them, neither one covering up the other. And I love their bare feet.

We also did some individual portraits of each of them. Here, she poses against a tree with her head cocked as the wind blows her dress.

And he stands in a nice, squared-off masculine pose, watching what I’m doing, a little worried and ready to be done.

These three images worked really well in this wall trio design.

Little kids grow so fast, and memories seem to be as fleeting as time. I love being able to create wonderful heirloom portraits like these, and I hope their family loves these, and that these adorable children will love them too when their older and can look back on their 2nd birthday together.

I love how these turned out and had a wonderful time with these two beautiful kids.

Summer is leaving us and the window for outdoor portraits is closing. Now is a great time to bring your family or children in for some family portraits. Right here I can do indoor studio and outdoor portraits in the same place, or I can travel to special locations too. Give me a call at 801-728-3317, and let’s create something beautiful for you and your home.

And until next time, America.

James & Stephanie’s Engagement Portraits

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

My friend James Conlee is engaged and his wedding is coming up. If you know me or follow my blog, you know that James is a long-time friend plus I’ve designed a lot of music CD covers for him over the years.

Well I’m excited for his wedding and it was great to meet his new bride-to-be, Stephanie. They look great together and we had a wonderful shoot here at the studio, mixing indoor studio contemporary black & white with some fun outdoor images here in my studio gardens. This first portrait was one of their favorites and became their main image on their invitations.

And this trio is wonderful, showing them as individuals, and then hugging tightly in the middle.

Stepping outside the studio to the gardens we get even more variety. Right now is the perfect time for outdoor portraits because my place is just lush with layers of green. Here’s a painting of them walking, looking at each other. 

I love wedding and engagement shoots. There’s a real art to lighting, positioning, and getting true expressions. But in the end, all of that should come together for a great portrait that shows the closeness and romance that they feel. There should be true emotion and authenticity so that you feel what they’re feeling. And I love these images because I see that, and it makes me excited for James and Stephanie’s upcoming wedding.

If you’re getting married, give me a call, 801-728-3317. And let’s create some wonderful portraits for you. It’s the perfect time of year and I love photographing couples in love.

And until next time, America.

Fundraiser Portraits With a ‘Vanity Fair Backstage’ Look

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

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.

Model Portraits from Teaching at ‘Texas School’ Photographic Workshop – Part 1

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Once a year I speak at this big event for photographers called Texas School. It’s where photographers from all over the US and abroad fly in to Texas to train and learn for an entire week. It’s always one of my favorite events, and part of my teaching style is to give photographers personal challenges using custom lighting while shooting models to see how they do.

And while I’m teaching and demoing or showing various methods and procedures, I often need to photograph the models myself for a few minutes. Here are some of those images, starting with a portable studio setup and this gal in her red dress. I really like these three images individually, but also think that together they would make a great trio design too. The deep blue background really makes her eyes and dress pop.

This next young lady was a twin, and I did some images of both sisters individually and some together. But here are two of her alone, shooting with a high school senior style.

And here are these two twin sisters together, showing how much they look alike.

We had some fun with this next model, including doing some creative artwork on the backgrounds.

This next lady with the pretty eyes is a professional dancer as you may be able to tell from her natural posing. And she is also the sister of a model I photographed the year before. I thought her dress and colors were very pretty and turned out really nice on this deep blue background.

 

And finally for this model, we walked around the hotel to find locations and backdrops that would be interesting, lighting her with mobile equipment. Putting her against this green vegetation really made her red hair and dress stand out.

And we closed with some of her sitting on the hotel bar, mixing artificial light with room light to both make her stand out while also getting these bar lights to glow.

There’s a lot more I could show from this event, especially images that I shot on the run on location with some cool vehicles. I’ll pull some favorites and post some of them soon. But in the meantime, if you’re a photographer and would like to get more training on lighting and photography, check out my training site where I not only have online training videos, but a schedule where you can come to a live workshop. My training site is BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.

Early Sneak Peek of Rebecca’s Wedding at the Salt Lake Temple & JSMB

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Rebecca’s wedding was beautiful! These two are great together and the weather worked out wonderfully.

While I’m working on and designing her album, I wanted to share some of my early favorites as a sneak peek for you all to see. Here framed in the nook, we have her veil blowing in the wind. She had a beautiful, long veil, and it caught the wind many times throughout the day, adding a lot of fun to the photographs.

I love this portrait of the two of them – a nice, mid-length portrait of them leaning together, newly married.

We had a beautiful, sunny day. So with the right lighting, I was able to make them look beautiful while at the same time capturing this gorgeous and deep blue sky with clouds glowing from the sun. I love how the light of the sun comes through the clouds, down on them, creating a directional lens flare, all framed by the temple.

Here Rebecca is holding her veil for this wonderful kiss.

And some dancing in the wind to the delight of a full paparazzi crowd of Chinese tourists behind me. They cheered and clapped, and snapped a ton of photos during this dancing sequence.

I love these long tall lines mixed with the diagonals of her veil and dress.

Then just before the reception, these dark clouds started rolling in. I got low to look up to show these deep storm clouds. Then during the reception while we were all inside the JSMB, we got a rain storm for a bit.

And to end the night, we came back outside to capture this amazing sunset to end the day. I love warm colors surrounding them, all while being framed by the temple.

If you’re getting married, give me a call at 801-728-3317. Let’s talk more about your wedding and what you’d like. I’d love to create something awesome like this for you.

And until next time, America.

Happy 4th! Summer Family Promo

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I hope you’re having a wonderful Independence Day. It’s a wonderful holiday and a great time for family to spend time together.

I’m also having a promo for the next while on family portraits. See more details in this video…

Contact me at the studio at 801-728-3317 for more details and to schedule your time for an updated summer family portrait.

Happy Independence Day!

Ryan Shupe Live Concert at Sandy Amphitheater, June 2018

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Ryan Shupe just had his big outdoor summer concert here in Utah at the Sandy Amphitheater, and I was there again to photograph the event for him. His band, ‘Ryan Shupe & the RubberBand‘ puts on a great live show. The mix of great music, the cool night breeze, friends, laughter, and smell of popcorn and hotdogs from the concessions all come together for a wonderful night.

These images I shoot get used for his promotional materials, website, and even for album designs. The images I shot last year for him have been used entirely for his brand new album design, Live Volume II.

I hope you can feel the energy from the live show, just by viewing these images.

For one song, Ryan had me shoot some iPhone video for his Facebook live which included a wedding proposal at the end of the song. But during the song he has tons of children from the crowd come up and sing on stage with him.

Here’s the video. It starts with a few seconds of my face resetting the app, because the Facebook app crashed as soon as the song started.

And as the night gets later, the stage lights grow and you can see the energy on stage grow as they start rockin’ even more.

If you have a band or business or need some great commercial images to showcase what you do, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create some great images for you as well.

And until next time, America.

Sneak Peak of Brittney’s Wedding at the Salt Lake Temple & JSMB

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Brittney’s wedding at the Salt Lake Temple here in Utah was absolutely gorgeous. She had her reception at the JSMB (Joseph Smith Memorial Building), and those night images are also stunning. You have to see these early sneak peek of some of my favorites that are in her final wedding album design.

As you can see, these two are great together. The day was wonderful and emotional, and with some mobile custom lighting, the images have pop and impact. The colors and tones are deep and vivid, and the images are romantic and look wonderful.

This next image with Brittney’s hair blowing beautifully was our pick for the album cover image.

And I especially love this one of them dancing.

On the evening of the reception, we did some night portraits outside, and here are some of my favorites. 

The final album looks amazing, and I’ll share that entire design soon. But for now I wanted you all to see these. If you’re getting married or know someone who is, send them my information. Or you can give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something amazing for you and for your family history.

And until next time, America.