I’m excited to share some of the digital composites that I’ve created for Black Rapid, a company that makes my favorite camera strap. And they’ve recently come out with a lanyard specifically for mobile phones that work with most phone cases. No need to buy a special case, you can keep your current case but add this lanyard for protection during various activities. It’s perfect for hiking, backpacking, biking, skiing, snowboarding, motorcycling, concerts, or any activity where you might drop and lose your phone.

To emphasize and show the story of how it works, I created some ad pieces showing the phone tethered to someone having a great time doing an activity where they might otherwise lose their phone.

This particular shoot is of a snowboarder using beautiful friend of mine as the model. She was perfect. Her expressions and movements were right on the money, and she’s fun to light. We got a lot of great images that I’m excited to share with you. I photographed her in the studio, and I captured the outdoor location exposures separately using my own Utah mountains nearby. I then blended it all together using some very time-consuming digital compositing techniques. But the results worth the investment. The finished images are eye-catching and stunning.

From this first ad piece, I also created a separate animation video called, “Adventure is Calling.” It starts with a phone call from “Adventure.” The camera zooms out as the phone buzzes to show it tethered safely to the snowboarder in action. The video ends with the company slogan and logo, along with a stop motion video that I shot here in studio showing how the lanyard works your favorite phone case.

It’s designed to be a short but effective ad, and it’s a square video for use on Instagram and other social media channels.

I have a friend who works at a local ski resort, and he says they pick up lost phones all year. By spring they have a box full of lost phones. People continually lose their phones on the mountain and can’t find them, especially when they’re on the ski lift. They want to check their messages or take a quick picture, and perhaps with the gloves and poles in their way or their cold hands, their phone just slips out of their grip and is lost. That’s why I’m excited for this cool product and to be a part of the advertising campaign. I myself have been testing early prototype versions of the lanyard and have taken it skiing, on airline flights, on my motorcycle, and have tested it in various other activities. I’ve really liked it.

And when I create some ad pieces for a company, I like to offer a variety when possible, even from one shoot. So here are some of the other options I created for Black Rapid for their various uses. Here, I’ve got our model jumping in the air with perfect expression and lighting.

And here she is stopping for a moment to check social media and messages.

As a fun image, we also did this of her taking a selfie while sailing down the mountain.

And here we’re showing that the lanyard it just the right length to do a selfie without having to take it off. And yes, that’s me. I jumped in on this shot.

The key to portrait photography and even commercial product photography is lighting – and that’s my specialty. I actually do quite a bit of commercial photography, though some of my clients don’t know that. Companies need their products to stand out, and having great lighting and production can make your brand and your product look like a million bucks online and in ad campaigns.

Online customers search and compare products, and a business must visually tell the story though photographs of why their company is unique, and why their products are the best option for customers. Buyers make most of their buying decisions from the photographs of a product.\

Think about when you go on Amazon to buy something, you subconsciously compare and get your main questions answered by the photos of the product. You can also read the description for additional help, but beautiful and high-end photos that answer your questions are associated with high-end brands and make you trust the company and therefore buy the product. Superb lighting and storytelling is key.

I even have special mannequins for doing really clean body or floating-clothing shots like these, and I can white out areas to draw attention to your product and how it’s used.

I can also incorporate video work too to be used on your website or on social media. I’m in this video showing the new iPhone / mobile phone Wander Lanyard.

Check out more of my commercial photography work on my commercial site, BryCoxPRO.com.

And until next time, America.