Engagements

James & Stephanie’s Engagement Portraits

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.

Carly’s Gorgeous Mountain Engagement Portraits at Tibble Fork

Carly and her fiancé are somewhat new to Utah, and love the beautiful mountain ranges that are so close to civilization. For her engagements, she wanted a canyon with a view, so we shot at Tibble Fork. I love this area because you can see the back side of Mount Timpanogas in the background which has an elevation near 12,000 feet. The air is so clear and fresh in these canyons, and we started our shoot as the sun was setting. For the first set of photographs, I used Mount Timp as our backdrop, framed by the diagonals of American Fork Canyon.

I created a trio design based on these first set of images because they looked so great together as a set.

And with some easy, short walks we were able to get a variety of mountainous backgrounds for Carly. Here we used the trees to frame them, creating a vivid green background.

Or showing the water as the sun was setting, framed in by vertical tree trunks.

And as the sun set, the cool canyon air mixed with the water and turned a gorgeous misty blue in the distance. That lone tree in the background made for a great balance point for this set of romantic images.

And notice that no matter the time of day or angle to the sun, this couple always looks gorgeous and their backgrounds look gorgeous. Utilizing master lighting techniques means that they have great skin tones, eyes that pop, and the background is vivid and real.

Sadly, other photographers may use great locations too, but because they use “natural light” (which is haphazard), their photos turn out with blotchy skin, dark eyes, and their backgrounds and faces are often washed out (a modern trick to save poorly shot images). This is sad because photography is the one thing we keep from our wedding for our entire lives.

Hopefully you can see the difference. I work to create true heirloom quality photographs that your kids will fight over once we’re all dead. And the secret starts with great lighting, mixed with great chemistry and body language, to create a shoot with tons of wonderful images to choose from.

Before we left, we did a casual clothes change to get more images with their cute dog. This was one of my favorites. They look great, the dog is perked up and happy, the lines and colors of the background are awesome, and the mist is peaking through the trees creating even more dimension so that it feels like you’re there in the canyon.

Finally, I took some of my favorites to create this 9-up collage. I love the variety and personality in this design.

And of course at sunset I couldn’t help but shoot one photo of Mount Timpanogas off in the distance, lit by the setting sun. I love the mix of warm and cool colors in this.

If you’re getting married, give me a call. Let’s talk about creating some gorgeous photographs for you, 801-728-3317. We can do engagements (like this shoot), bridals, the wedding day, or any combination.

And until next time, America.

New 60 Second Videos About Wedding Photography

I’ve been working on some very short, 60 second videos about wedding photography. Not too long ago, when someone was looking for a photographer for the big moments in their life, they would visit in person with a few photographers. I liked that and still prefer it.

However, now people like to just shop on their phones. I get. I do the same. But photography is completely different than anything else. It’s so custom, so personal, and it’s the only thing we keep from a wedding to enjoy our whole lives and pass on to our children. Great photography become family heirlooms. People fight over it when we’re dead, and we see people on the news running into burning homes to save their family portraits.

What I create for people is so different and unique, just looking at photos on a website does not do it justice. So I’ve been working on some little videos so that prospective brides can quickly and easily see my images, get to know me, my personality, and also understand what makes my approach completely different.

Here are a few of these new videos. More are in production. See what you think and let me know.

Is there a video you’d like to see? Since most of my clients are women, if you’re a woman and looking for photography, what would you like to see? Post below or send me a personal email.
Okay, and until next time, America.

Shasta’s Engagement & Family Portraits

We had such a fun time creating these engagement portraits of Shasta and her fiancé. We did a mix of outdoor and studio portraits and some of our favorites were high contrast black & whites from the studio.

© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox

I took some of the favorites and created this 9-up collage. It looked so beautiful when it was finished and framed.

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Shasta also has 3 adorable little kids and we took the opportunity to create a new updated family portrait.

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Her kids were so cute and fun, that we did some individual portraits of them as well. I spent most of the shoot laughing with them because they were so funny. I think you can see that in the photos. They each had so many great images and each showed different sides of their personality, that I ended up using a few images of each child to create this collage.

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I am excited for this marriage and hope these guys all have a wonderful new life together, and I can’t wait to photograph this awesome family again.

If you’d like some new family portraits, children’s portraits, or even some engagement portraits for your upcoming wedding, give me a call. It’s a great time to come in before the fall rush. 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.