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Windy Winter Mountain Shoot with Nicholette in Utah

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

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.

Portraits of Stephanie for Her Acupuncture Website & For Fun

Stephanie is a skilled acupuncturist here in Utah, and needed some new photographs for her business website. I convinced her to stick around the studio for some other fun model type images too because she is so photogenic. The shoot was a blast and the images are phenomenal and definitely show her personality. I created them to have a clean and welcoming look to both match her website and also to show her kind and caring personality, something prospects want to see when searching websites thinking about trying acupuncture.

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She owns S. Gross Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine in Salt Lake City, and I can tell you from personal experience that she is very good at what she does. She studied extensively in California and also Beijing China and has an impressive bio.

When I recently broke a rib, I was hobbling around and having a hard time even opening doors without grimacing and hurting, all while being wrapped around the middle for support. About 30 minutes after my first visit with her, I was able to remove my wrap because the pain had subsided a great deal. I was really quite shocked, and follow up visits helped with my pain, relaxation, and also I know helped my healing go faster too.

I also had two out of town speaking gigs coming up that required me to move heavy equipment and shoot photographs in front of a crowd which requires agility. One of those events was a two-day TV show where I had to work on camera for viewers. I was concerned about my abilities at these events, and Stephanie had me moving so well that people had no clue I was injured.BryCox_Stephanie-03

For this photo shoot, we started with some images on white for her website of her smiling. We quickly had what we needed, so I began shooting some other unique type of images just for fun. These were mostly serious, focusing on depth and beauty, and using specific lighting for her eyes and cheekbones. This first black and white image is really captivating and one of my favorites from the entire shoot, but all of these are quite stunning. It was hard to pick favorites.BryCox_Stephanie-02 BryCox_Stephanie-04 BryCox_Stephanie-05 BryCox_Stephanie-07 BryCox_Stephanie-08 BryCox_Stephanie-09

Thank you Stephanie for being a model for me in the studio, and if any of you are thinking of trying acupuncture, give her a call. It’s surprising how many things acupuncture can treat, so talk to her and see what she can do for you.

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

Until next time, America.

Andraia’s City Photo Shoot

One fun way to shoot outside in the colder seasons of Utah when nothing is in bloom is to shoot downtown in the city, using the textures and buildings as a background. Of course that only works for certain kinds of shoots and all the elements have to work together for an artistic theme, which is why this is such fun shoot to share. I think it is a great shoot where all of this works perfectly.

First, Andraia’s clothing choice of warm and black tones not only blended well with the colors of the city, but it also made her stand out and created a fun style for this fashion shoot. And secondly, she moves really well and takes direction perfectly which is really needed because lighting people in a city takes a bit of work. I need to light her to compliment her and also light for the background to create depth, and all the while be non-intrusive with the various stands and pieces of gear I’m setting up so that people walking by don’t trip or break my stuff. Yet the look is that no one is there and the whole image pops.

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I like these long lines of the pillars with her standing full length. The straight lines of the pillars and the angles of the steps are a nice juxtaposition against her curves and her stance. Plus it’s fun to have that splash of blue up in the far corner for balance.

Below, Andraia’s serious expression and the perfect material of her outfit is all contrasted against the old ragged stone.Cox_Andraia_002 Cox_Andraia_003

Down an alleyway, some elements and lines in the wall worked great for visual balance for this photo.Cox_Andraia_004

But the overall look and pose make me think of a painting too, so I took some time to create one of my unique paintings. I have creative ideas before I start but the painting process makes me change my mind and therefore I never really know what I’ll end up with. Here I ended up completely changing the background to a more abstract and textured background and I love how every part of this turned out.

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In this area, I really liked the gold railing and set up using an angle that made for a nice complimentary background while also hiding a lot of distracting things as well. But here we were more exposed to the street because we were right on the sidewalk. That meant getting a lot of distracting attention from passerbys who would stop, gather around, watch, or even yell questions to us. We even got some whistles. Yet, Andraia was a pro and wasn’t distracted, and continued to take great direction, move well, and even throw me a genuine smile for this shot.

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It is always a pleasure to shoot Andraia, and this shoot provided too many great images to choose from. But these are some of my favorites.

Warm weather is coming, and it’s a great time to make an appointment for your photo shoot. But no matter the weather, I know just how to create some great images for you. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and also check out my portfolio website at BryCox.com. My studio is located in Utah north of Salt Lake City, and I do shoots everywhere – inside my studio, outdoors in my studio gardens, all over Utah, Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo, to jobs out of state as well. My skill is making you look great and doing it with lighting. That means I’ll make you look great and I’ll capture you in unique and fun ways that others can’t copy.

Until next time, America.

Kira’s High School Senior Portraits

Graduation is right around the corner, and this week I had the pleasure of photographing Kira for her high school senior portraits. She was a blast to shoot, fun to talk to, had some really cool music on her iPhone, and did a wonderful job throughout.

In fact, we got so many awesome images, we had the hardest time narrowing it down. Even though I’m a Utah based photographer, I do work all over the country and shot models everywhere. But Kira was easier to shoot than many models I’ve worked with, so I used that and created a lot of commercial and fashion style images.

For instance, Kira loves to ski so I created this multi-image composite of her in the studio. I shot it like a magazine ad, then mixed in snow, and the Banff mountains that I shot when I was up in Calgary. I love the lighting and the expression in this. This was one of my favorites from the shoot.

© BryCox.com, Bry Cox

Here is another favorite of mine. Her turning her head over her shoulder felt like it should be a painting, so I used this studio portrait to create this painting. I love the colors and the mood of this.

© BryCox.com, Bry Cox

And of course here is the original photo, but instead taken in a different direction, as a finished signature texture piece.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox I love creating these texture pieces, and seniors really love them too.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox

And this fun trio showing different expressions.BCox-Kira-sr_05

And here is a mix of images from the studio and one from just outside the studio.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox

One fun way to get a lot of senior portraits without having to buy a ton of wall portraits is to get a collage like this. I really like the nine-up design, and this is a popular seller. They can show a lot of moods, sides, and outfits in a cool design.

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Well thank you so much for the fun and cool shoot, Kira. And if you’re a senior, now is the time to get in before graduation. Give me a call at 801-728-3317. Let’s capture this moment in time in a fun and cool way. I really do know just how to light and photograph you with a magazine/fashion sense that will capture your personality and make you look amazing.

And until next time America.

Rava’s Sunset Cruise Portraits

While on my Caribbean cruise, I found myself imagining photo shoots on the boat. I was spotting areas that would be perfect for a shoot, especially with the rails and sunsets. I asked a friend of mine Rava, who owns a dress company specializing in very unique dresses from Tahiti to pose for me. Here’s what we created.

Cox_RAmo-S-210I had a very limited amount of gear with me, but it was enough to create the custom lighting I needed to both sculpt her as well as bring out the awesome skies in the background. I really love how these turned out.

Cox_RAmo-S-177She was a great model and the shoot was a fun break to get away from the crowd on the boat and be creative. I find it interesting that sometimes I need to get away from the studio and relax, and other times I need to get away from relaxing and shoot something and be creative. This trip was a mix of both. I didn’t have internet or phone service for that week, which meant being completely off the grid: no email, no voicemail, no Facebook, no news. It was odd at first but also very relaxing. But I also went hoping to create beautiful images of places I had never been. It’s fun to shoot abstracts and scenics, but I also love faces. You’ll notice in my previous post of art images from the Caribbean, faces I met along the way. But it is also fun for me to create portraits with my Master style of custom lighting using an exotic location as a background.

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Well there are some of my favorites from the shoot. And it’s good to be home too and working hard again in the studio. I’m sure there’s a reason you need some new portraits, and this month is a great time to get in the studio. Give me a call and let’s create something awesome for you. 801-728-3317

Until next time, America.

Pictureline Blog Article – Model Shoot Testing Rogue Flash Gear

About a week ago, I told you I had a cool shoot to share. Well this is it. Pictureline, which is my favorite camera store in the country, asked me to review the Rogue line of flash diffusers for a blog article. I tested the pieces by taking a model out to shoot in high-bright sun, low sun, bright shade, and deep shade.

See the images I created along with my setups in the article today at http://www.pictureline.com/blog/rogue-flashbender-review-and-giveaway-with-bry-cox/

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I want to thank Pictureline for asking me to do this. They are a fantastic store with a fantastic staff. Being a photographer, random people are always asking me what camera or lens they should buy. Though I may share my opinions, there really are too many options now for consumers, especially those who are not full-time pros. The best place to get advice and to buy any gear whether you’re a pro or not, is at Pictureline in Salt Lake. Even if you live further away, they are still the best place. If you go there, you’ll see why it’s my favorite store.

Well until next time, America.

Creativity – A Summer Day with Adobe, Heber Utah

This summer, some friends and contacts of mine from Adobe’s California office had some meetings in Park City. They invited me along as a local tour guide and helper on their creative day of shooting, and had events scheduled that ended at the Heber Valley Railroad (aka Heber Creeper).

Here are some of my images from that day. I started out using one of my Lens Babies as I photographed the train yard.

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The colors were so vivid that day, and the selective blur was a great look I thought for the train cars. With older and nostalgic train cars, I thought an older lens look would match perfectly.

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They had lined up this model too, who came in this authentic conductor’s outfit. I think he was my favorite subject to photograph, and I created images with both a selective focus…

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…and a normal lens. His outfit and expression were perfect. I really liked balancing the converging lines in the background with him.

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Here are some abstracts from an area of the train yard that is normally closed to the public, but with special permission we were able to walk around and explore. It’s hard to explain how fun it is to crawl around in areas like this and just shoot photographs for fun.

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Cox_AdobeHeber-220 It’s always fun to get away and create new images just for the sake of being creative, and it was fun being with  photographer friends from Adobe. They really had a fun night planned and I am grateful I could be apart of it.

Until next time, America.

Shooting Model & Seniors in Washington (Evergreen Workshop part II)

Usually I only get to post the images I create. At this event, one of the photographers in attendance, Joanne Murray took a number of images of me working and was kind enough to provided them to me. I really appreciate that and am posting them here so that you can see another view of this workshop.

Having so many out-of-town jobs in a row, I was sporting a trip beard.

If you compare these images of me working to the previous post of finished portraits, you can see how I created the images. this one below was one that I featured on the last post. I wanted a unique angle and balanced on the tip of the bench, then held my light out at the right angle with one hand and photographed her with the other hand.

Here we are after dinner, setting up for the night shoot.

Here’s me using a reflector to help control the natural light.

You should see the image I created here too in the previous post. what you can barely see here is that the flash I’m using is off to the side. I don’t like using just pure natural light, as it is never coming in at the correct direction that I need it. I always need to correct it somewhat to get a spectacular image.

And finally, Joanne was kind enough to be my ride and escort from Seattle to Port Townsend. We had a long and lovely drive that included a ferry ride. Here is one of her images of me on the ferry.

If you’re looking to attend one of my photographic workshops, please check out my workshop site, at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com. There are new events being announced all the time. I hope to see you at one soon.

Until next time, America! 🙂

 

Shooting Model & Seniors in Washington (Evergreen Workshop part I)

I taught a weeklong photographic workshop called ‘Evergreen’ outside of Seattle in a small town called Port Townsend. Here are some of the images from that event.

Usually as I travel and move, I create images — it’s like a part of my brain that doesn’t turn off. I see abstract shapes in everything around me.

For a while now, I’ve created some of these images on my iPhone because it makes it extra fun. You see, the iPhone in its simplicity, doesn’t have any exposure controls, so so I have to think around its limitations. That particular method of thought makes me think differently and I tend to create different images than I normally would.

While teaching, I demonstrate various types of equipment and techniques. All of these image were created in front of the group, from the initial creation, to the workflow and the final retouching.

We also used a minimal amount of equipment, staying as mobile as possible, and used backgrounds and locations right there within walking distance. When I’m shooting at a workshop, I specifically like to focus on teaching three things:

1) Make the most of what you’ve got. For instance, instead of wondering if there’s a better place nearby, instead ask yourself how you can make a particular area work as a cool background?

2) We don’t want just good images, we want to create fantastic images that have punch and emotion.

3) We want all the work to be done in camera so that we don’t have to fix anything later. The images should be perfectly exposed, have the perfect color balance, have a strong emotion and believable expression, and be lit with control from the right angles. That way anything we do to the image later will be for fun instead of to fix it.

Most of these images have very little work done to them, and what work was done was done quickly in front of the class using special techniques and some of my specific products. In fact, using these techniques it seems that it actually takes more time to pick favorites than it does to finish them up.

So these girls told us that a lot of local photographers use the area for senior shoots, so we really wanted to create unique images, find cool nooks, and use the area in new ways.

I think you can tell that the shoot was a lot of fun for everyone.

Hopefully you can see that we really created a lot of variety, and used all sorts of areas to our advantage. We wanted to create a lot of different looks as quickly as possible, and make something wonderful from each spot.

That night after dinner, we invited the girls to come meet us in town for some night shooting. Instead of the normal dark or flat images that are typical at night, instead I showed how to create depth and how to get perfect exposures while working with various off-camera flashes.

The challenge here was to show that no situation is difficult when we really understand light. Below, is a mulit-light setup using a streetlight for interest. I angled her so that the wind was working with her hair, and I really like how these turned out.

And finally we took our model Lane, out on the pier, looking out towards the water. The first image is a photograph, and the second is a painting that I created from another photograph in the series.

If you’re looking to attend one ofmy photographic workshops, please check out my workshop site, at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com. There are new ones being announced all the time. I hope to see you at one soon.

Until next time, America! 🙂

New Hampshire Shoot

I recently got back from speaking on the East Coast in New Hampshire. While teaching, I demonstrated some various techniques on making women look great in photographs. Here are some of the images I created that day.

These images don’t have any finishing touches on them yet, and that’s because I was showing that they should look great right out of the camera. Any final enhancements later should only be slight as the images should be ready to print without them if you did everything correctly.

Some people think that great images come from having a good camera. That’s like saying  good songs are only written on good guitars when the truth is it’s the artist using the camera or guitar. Any good musician can write a great song on any guitar, and any great photographer can create great images on any camera.

Another misnomer is that that great images come from having beautiful models. This is also incorrect. A great photographer understands exactly how to make everyone look better and an average photographer will make even the prettiest person look worse.

I love teaching workshops because I really like helping photographers do better, plus it helps to raise the level of quality in the industry.

 

In New Hampshire, I was teaching how to create great images with any camera, and how to make all women look better using specific lighting and posing.

Here are two portraits of the same pretty girl in the same beautiful location. I shot her two different ways to show that a camera in the right hands will make her look better, and in the wrong hands she will look worse. Look at the two images and see if you can see all the differences.

In the first image, I used custom lighting and posed her specifically in a way that would be more flattering for her and her outfit. I took control of all aspects of the exposure which means her skin tones have great color right out of the camera. I separated her from the background and sculpted her using directional light at particular angles. Everything was set up and shot manually, nothing left to chance or to Auto functions.

Then I did another image of her the way most photographers would, with no specific poses, no control of light, and shooting the camera on Auto.

Notice how flat this second image looks. Her skin tones are green, the light on her face is coming from the sky rather than from any controllable or directional source, her eyes are dark, the background is too light, and the wrong camera angle and lack of posing and lighting make her look thicker. Again, NO woman wants to look thicker or heavier, and fixing it later on the computer isn’t the same as shooting it right.

This is why most photographers shoot so many images – they hope that with the law of averages they’ll get something decent that they can then spend tons of time on the computer fixing and covering with various effects.

This is why you need to hire a really good photographer with credentials – and why photographers need to get continual hands-on training from Master photographers.

So with a change of clothes, I continued to teach and shoot this model, walking around the town, making sure that each pose and lighting set up made her look great.

We ended up at this cool bridge which gave me some cool leading lines.

Well, if you’d like some great portraits, I know just how to make you look great, plus now is the perfect time if you like the fall leaves. Give me a call and book your appointment at 801-728-3317 and lets create something amazing for your wall.

Beautiful Rachel

I loved meeting and photographing Rachel.  She was a blast!

We may have had a short shoot, but the images were fun to create and she looked so great!  This first image utilizes my own custom made edges and overlays.  That is the only image with any enhancements, by the way.  The rest of these are still un-retouched, but I like them as straight images.  They have such a sense of reality to them without any retouching or effects.

I loved Rachel’s genuine smile, the gorgeous shape of her eyes, and her long dark hair.  She was such a great model!  I feel like you get a sense of who she is from these images.

I used this deep, rich brown background to set off her blue outfit and added just a touch of rim light on her hair for dimension.  I am so pleased with these photographs.  They have POP!

And for this final image I added some heavier edge lights to set off her hair and collarbones.  There is a lot of dimension in this and her smile and sparkle in her eyes is so genuine and real.  I really hope that she loves these images.  It was great getting to know her.

When it comes to portraits, everyone needs to be lit in a custom way for them.  I’m one of the only Master photographers in the state and I know just how to light YOU and make YOU look amazing!  So whether you’d like some images for your fashion or model portfolio or would love some kick-butt senior portraits, then give me a call.  I have some specials running during November that you will love! 801-728-3317.

My shoots are so much fun and I know just how to make you look great, beautiful, feminine, and sexy — without being risqué or cheesy.  And overall, you will LOVE your images!

Give me a call to schedule your appointment.  801-728-3317.  And feel free to browse my main website, BryCox.com and my blog at BryCox.com/blog.