High School Senior Portraits

Alex’s High School Senior Portraits

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Warm weather is back again in Utah, and that means it’s time for high school senior portraits. Last year, even during the pandemic, I was photographing high school seniors. I think it’s especially important to capture these memories when schools are cancelling events, or cutting the year short. Lots of seniors didn’t get their prom dance, or graduation, or any of the other things they had looked forward to.

And though 2021 is looking much better than last year, hopefully fewer plans are cancelled. Nevertheless, it’s especially important to show high school seniors some extra love and attention. You’re only a senior once, and then life starts to change dramatically after kids graduate and go off to college or do other things in life. It’s important to capture this important time in life.

So last year I had a great time creating these images for Alex. When I photograph seniors, I like to create an over-the-top art piece to highlight who they are. I use my expertise in creating commercial ads for magazines to create something awesome for the senior.

It starts off with the question, “Who is your senior? And what does he/she love to do?” For Alex, he’s a daredevil and loves skydiving.

I created this piece for Alex by photographing him in the studio and then creating this composite for both a wall art piece and also his senior portrait album. I put him in one of my graduation robes, gave him some of my motorcycle goggles, and then posed him with a fan blowing his tassel and gown. The rest I created later as a digital composite. I really love how this turned out.

Of course with every senior portrait session, I create a variety of images that capture the senior’s personality in the studio, using a mix of backgrounds and changes of outfits. These are great for an album design and smaller prints.

These double-page spreads are just some of the layouts from Alex’s senior album. The facing pages are designed using images that work together and tell a story about the senior. I like mixing color and black & white, headshots with mid-lengths, casual clothes with dressy.

And Alex had a hat that he loves to wear, so we made sure we got it in a variety of his portraits.

Finishing up the session, we did some dressy images in a suit along with a graduation gown.

The various pieces Alex and his family ordered looked beautiful and it was great to create and deliver them to his family.

If you’re a senior, now is the time to get your portrait session booked. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s talk more about what makes you YOU! And let’s capture that in some beautiful portraits you’ll love for a lifetime.

And until next time, America.

Bella in San Jose, California

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Bella in San Jose, California. I was teaching an adaptive lighting class to photographers there, and she was my model.

We made the shoot extra hard by shooting outside at the worst time of day (noon), and also mixed in some indoor shooting using a small lighting kit. I wanted to show photographers that no matter the circumstances, we can always create great images because we should always control light. That means correctly sculpting people with that light, making them look amazing no matter what, and mixing our lighting with other lighting conditions like bright sunlight.

These images turned out wonderful. I wanted you all to see them.

Had we shot with no lighting at all and relied on haphazard results (what new photographers call “natural light”), she would have had dark eyes, muddy skin, and our background would be too bright and blown out. Instead, by teaching various techniques of light control, we got fantastic images where her skin glows, her eyes pop, and the background can be as bright or dark as we want.

I went for a darker background so that we’d have a blue sky and deep greens in the foliage behind the model. I want to control the viewer’s eye so that it immediately goes to the model.


Aside from shooting a variety of options outside, I also did some demos inside using just the lighting gear that I brought with me on the plane. And you’ll see that even indoors, we can continually get great results. Besides great expressions, you’ll notice the soft shadow on the cheek, soft skin, and eyes that pop.

Thank you to Bella for being our model, and thank you to all the photographers who both attended and also worked behind the scenes to make the workshop in San Jose, California possible.

If you’d like some great portraits, give me a call at 801-728-3317. Even though we’re under quarantine here in Utah, some photoshoots are still possible with the right precautions – particularly high school senior portraits. And others types of shoots can be booked out a bit further too.

And if you’re a photographer that would like some training, check out my training website, BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com

And until next time, America.

Ashleigh in Santa Ana, CA

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I recently had the pleasure of photographing Ashleigh in Santa Ana, California. She was my model for a photography workshop I was teaching there. I taught adaptive lighting techniques for portraiture, both in studio and on location.

I taught this event for 2 days at the California Center for Digital Arts, where I used their studio for the indoor photographs. For our outdoor location shoot, we stepped outside onto the street to use the sidewalk, alleyway, and nearby buildings – continually mixing sunlight with studio flash.

I love how these turned out and wanted to share them with you.

Ashleigh’s friend Natalie was her hair and make up artist, and she looked so pretty that I thought it’d be great to include her in a photograph too. Here they are together.

For the outdoor portraits, I liked them in both color and black and white. But the black & white gives them a great vibe with the textures of the street. And they work great in b&w for this trio design.

Here they are up close though so you can see how beautiful they each are.

Ashleigh did a great job and I appreciate her being my model for this event. And thank you to all the photographers that came to this 2-day learning event.

If you’d like some great portraits, give me a call at 801-728-3317. Even though we’re under quarantine here in Utah, some photoshoots are still possible with the right precautions. And others can be planned out too.

And if you’re a photographer that would like some training, check out my training website, BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com

And until next time, America.

High School Senior Portraits of Shannon

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

I love photographing high school seniors. I can really be creative and the seniors love the fun images we get.

And you have to see these high school senior portraits that I did for Shannon while I was training photographers in Texas. While teaching photographers around the country at an event in Texas, I did a quick lighting and posing demo with Shannon. She was my model and I created some gorgeous high school senior portraits of her.

I have lots of wonderful choices and all of the images look amazing. But here are some of my favorites. I love images that show flow and movement, especially as a series. These four images are great as a collage for the wall as a set of 4.

Even though for this shoot I’m working on location in another state, I still like creating studio portraits when possible. Studio images look sharp and professional, and they separate you from the photographers who can’t or don’t know how to create studio images. Plus mobile lighting and setting up studio gear is possible anywhere.

However, with seniors I prefer to do mix sessions of both studio and outdoor locations. Here at my Utah studio, I have easy options for both inside and out, right here. Plus we have lots of wonderful outdoor locations very close by for more variety too. But for Shannon, because I was doing a lighting demo, we did everything in one studio location.

I have a lot of wonderful images that are great as standalone images. When I photograph a a high school senior, I want a lot of variety quickly with one outfit before changing outfits and backgrounds. This series of Shannon on gray would be just one of the sets I’d do with a senior here at my studio. We’d start with one color and outfit, then keep moving to more outfits and backgrounds. That gives us a lot of variety for the album design to come later.

But as you can see, in just a short amount of time and with one outfit, we have lots of wonderful images of Shannon for her wall portraits and album pages.

Throughout the shoot I like to increase the motion and action of the photoshoot. Here I’m having Shannon spin around, having fun with her hair.

High school senior shoots are fun, and you can bring your friends and family to the shoot too. In fact, adding close friends to part of the shoot is always fun for a few images – though most should be of just you.

If you’re a high school senior and would like some wonderful new images, this is the perfect time of year to get you in. Give me a call and let’s talk more about your personality and what would make for some creative portraits. 801-728-3317

And until next time, America.

The BEST High School Senior Albums!

Posted by BryCox (Admin)

Take your Bry Cox fashion shoot to a new level with these beautifully finished albums! If you haven’t been into the studio and personally handled one of my custom made albums, then you’re missing out.  The web just doesn’t do justice to the quality and workmanship that goes into every custom book.  I wish you could see these first-hand!

For Seniors/Grads, I have custom padded image covers, designed from scratch for every client.  Having the entire cover be an image from your shoot is so fun.  It just makes you want to pick up the book and look through it.

Inside, each page is carefully laid out by me personally, from scratch, without templates, using my own custom edges.  Each two page spread is designed so that the pages work well together and tell a small story between the images.  You really should be saying “Wow” every time you turn the page.

And why pick just one image, when a series of images can be included in your book too?  Make your book custom and make it fun.

These books are fun to show your friends now, and will be heirlooms and keepsakes in years to come.  My senior/grad albums come in a variety of sizes and page options so that you can get what fits you best.

If you’re a senior right now, call the studio at 801-728-3317 to hear about our current specials going through February.  Get a fun fashion shoot and get an amazing album of your images!