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.
Happy 9th Anniversary Brandi and Cory! It’s amazing how time flies, and I love being able to look back on the images I’ve created for people over the years. And on this day in 2007, these two got married and I wanted to share some of their engagement photos that I created for them back in 2007 in my Utah studio and outdoors in the studio gardens.
I know these two are having a wonderful life together and I hope your day today is extra grand. Happy Anniversary you two!
And if you’re getting engaged and need some wonderful portraits, whether it be for your wedding invitations, your home decor, or your family history archives, give me a call. I’d love to create someone wonderful for you that you can look back on years from now and love. Give me a call at 801-728-3317, and until next time, America.
This week I’ll be photographing Matt and Treva’s wedding. And recently I had the privilege of shooting their engagements and printing up their wedding announcements. Here’s some of their beautiful images.
We created a variety both in the studio for some black & whites, along with some beautiful color images here in the outdoor studio gardens. They way my Utah studio is designed, we can do both quickly and easily, in one location. And both Matt and Treva were great in front of the camera, and we had a big variety of wonderful images to choose from.
I took some of their favorites and designed up this wall collage to be displayed at their dinner, and it’ll look great in their new home. Collages like these are best designed with a variety of expressions and looks, while keeping an artistic uniformity. I love how this turned out.
The shoot went great. We all had a great time, and their excitement and emotions about being together and getting married really showed in their images. I can’t wait for their wedding.
If you’re getting married, give me a call. I’d love to create some wonderful and emotional images for you. I can shoot everything (engagements, bridals, and wedding day) or just some things – whatever you like. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and we can discuss your dream portraits.
Before Kiley moved to Hawaii with her family, we did her high school senior pictures here in Utah. And now that school is ending, it’s a great time to share these gorgeous images of this gorgeous girl.
Of every thing I shoot, high school seniors are one of my favorites. I often feel like a big kid and I love working with young people, chatting about their lives, and really creating lots of fun and creative images that tell a story about who they are. And Kiley’s photo shoot was even extra fun. She’s a joy to be around and being a dancer, we wanted to capture that side of her and get a lot of variety, images that really capture who she is right now.
Kiley started off her year going to Davis High here in Davis County, Utah. And before her family moved to Hawaii, we did her senior portraits here at my studio, and I am really excited about how everything turned out. This first image was one of my favorites, and we used it on her graduation announcement cards.
I love doing fashion lighting on seniors, and from this series of images I also designed a trio. It looked great once it was finished and framed. And being a dancer, we created some action shots of her dancing in the studio, and I used those to create this collage. She really looks beautiful in every single one of these images, and the entire design really flows and looked great finished. And of course for high school seniors, I like to do big sessions that include indoor and outdoor setups, plus multiple changes of clothes and backgrounds. One of our favorite outdoor images was this one of her dancing in the road.
She had a lot of beautiful outfits, and it was hard to pick favorites, but this one really stood out.
And I love doing 9-up collages for seniors. It’s a great way to show a lot of variety, and here are some of our favorites that made her collage. And here are some of those closer up.
It was a real pleasure to spend time with Kiley and do these portraits for her. I hope they all made it to Hawaii safely, and that her and her family enjoy these for many years to come.
And if you’re a high school senior and would still like to get some portraits done, I know school is ending for most seniors in Utah right now. And maybe you want some great images still, or perhaps you did a shoot elsewhere and regret them and would like something much better. Whatever the reason, give me a call and let’s get you something great that you and your family will love for a lifetime. Spring has sprung here at the studio and the outdoor gardens look great, plus I’ve been re-vamping the studio gear for even more fashion lighting and options.
Give me a call at 801-728-3317, and until next time, America.
Spring is officially here and it’s time for family portraits. But sometimes people want something different, unique, something that they can feature in their home as an art piece and be proud of. For those clients, I offer custom painted portraits, painted from the family groups I create during your session.
I have photographed Janet’s extended family before, but this time they wanted something different. So while they were on vacation in Utah, I drove up the mountains and met up with them and photographed each family in some tall grass near their vacation property. I shot a variety of options with the families looking at the camera, and some of them interacting with each other that I could use to create paintings. Here are some of those finished paintings. They look amazing up close when they’re finished on canvas.
And here are some of the other groupings, starting with the biggest extended family group, and then each family separately. I love the diversity of location options in Utah. With a little bit of scouting and some custom lighting, I was able to make this location work right outside their vacation home. By me coming to them, I was able to integrate a location into their images that meant something to them, plus it saved them vacation time so that they could quickly get back to their time together.
And of course I love to focus in on children and do just some individuals. Rather than show every child’s individual portrait, here are some from just one family.
And for every single shoot I do – whether it’s in my studio, outside in my Utah studio gardens, or off on location as this shoot was – I really hope that my clients see the quality and value that I offer. I work to mix into every single image a combination of emotional impact and fantastic lighting. I want both, real expressions that draw you in mixed with all the technical details nailed.
I know it’s time for YOUR updated family portrait. Give me a call and let’s get it scheduled. 801-728-3317
Jason was a great model during his acting shoot. He owns a tech company that he runs during the day, but in his free time, he does acting and needed some cool new photos. This first one was one of my favorites from the shoot.
Being based in Utah, we can easily do a variety of looks, especially right here at the studio. For instance here, we created images inside the studio and outside as well, including this cool one with a motorcycle.
These are just some of the many images we created, but I think they show a variety of looks and different sides to his personality, which is something you try to get across in an acting photo.
If you need some cool new photos for your business, give me a call, 801-728-3317.
It’s a great time with couples getting engaged for me to share some weddings. This beautiful wedding at the Jordan River LDS Temple in Utah during the fall is of Kayla and Richard’s beautiful day.
I like to start out album designs with a full, double-page spread of where the couple got married. in this case I did an abstract b&w of the Jordan River Temple before the couple came out.
And here are a few page designs from her finished album, shown as double-page spreads. The idea of the album design is that every double-page spread should be a mini story. I also like the images to be as large as possible for impact when you’re holding the album.
But that’s really hard if each image isn’t crystal clear, which is one reason I believe most photographers don’t produce albums – their images aren’t clean enough to be printed well. That’s a sad thing, because half of the job of photographers should be to produce products that clients can enjoy as physical products, items that can be held in the hands rather than being small phosphorus image on a phone or screen. Digital sharing is handy, but there is something magical about actually holding an album and turning the pages, and having each image large enough that they come to life.
We had a beautiful and sunny afternoon to shoot, and you can see how happy the bride and groom are together. I felt honored to be there that day as their wedding photographer.
There’s much more to the album, but it’s hard to show albums on a blog. But I do have some short videos that show the books in more detail. Just click on these videos to see them.
And if you’re getting married, give me a call, 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something amazing for your special day.
It’s the day after Christmas and it’s the season when lots of couples are getting engaged. So I thought I’d share some beautiful weddings I’ve been wanting to post, starting with this gorgeous wedding that I did for Kim at the Portland Oregon LDS temple.
Here is a slideshow of her album design. It’s best viewed full screen in HD.
And here are some of the page designs from her book, shown here as double-page spreads. Notice that through the entire album, images are large, impactful, and the couple is happy and in love.
In contrast, one of the most common problems I see when photographers show me their images for a critique, are too many things out of focus. Like the bride is in focus but the groom is slightly out of focus, even though they’re standing right next to each other. Or one of the bride’s eye is in focus but the other eye or her nose is out of focus. Another common problem is that most photographers blow out their skies, and skin tones are dull and chalky. Now perhaps clients can’t see these problems when viewing images on their phone or computer screen, but these problems are horrendously exaggerated when trying to create a big beautiful album with large images, or when you want images for your wall.
You won’t see those kinds of problems with my wedding images. Every image on every album page is clear, crisp, and there is a feeling of a real three-dimensional world that you can step right into. Skin and eyes look great due to custom lighting, so there is no chalky look or over-retouched plastic skin on people. Just great images that you’ll love for a lifetime.
If you’d like so see more about how my albums look on the outside, click on these videos.
And if you’re getting married, give me a call, 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something amazing for your special day.
I’ve been so busy I haven’t had a chance to get this on my blog, but I’ve been excited to do so because the final album is so gorgeous. I even shot a video so that you all could see it properly, page by page. And this video leads off the last video in my last blog post where I talk about what’s different about by wedding albums and photographic approach. So here’s Lindsey’s album.
I posted about this wedding briefly when I first shot it, sharing a sneak peek, but wanted you to see the entire album. These guys look so good together, and Lindsey’s dress is quite stunning on her, as you can see from these album page design spreads.
This wedding was on a very hot day, over 100º at the Salt Lake Temple. Most photographers today can’t shoot in direct or hot sunlight without getting white skies or dark eyes. But compare that common look to these images with the right lighting approach, it made for very dramatic skies and punchy colors and the couple always looks amazing. But they are a great looking couple and had great chemistry that day.
And I love these twilight images too, just as the sun was setting. Wow!
If you are getting married and want the best possible romantic and beautifully lit photographs possible, give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s talk more about your dream day.
I’m really excited to share the finished wedding album for Liz & Dewayne’s wedding. I love being a part of weddings and producing these awesome albums for couples and find fulfillment in seeing how all of the work comes together in these gorgeous products. I shot a video of me going through the book page by page. I talked about my approach to photographing weddings and how my offerings are different and unique. Then at the 4:45 minute mark I share each page of Liz and Dewayne’s album. I uploaded a full HD version of the video so you could watch it with clarity and with more detail full-screen if you’re so inclined.
Liz and Dewayne are a great couple to work with and their previous shoots that I’ve posted to my blog and Facebook have created a huge response, so aside from my own excitement, I know there are a lot of people who want to see their final book. Here are some of the double-page spreads from their album.
Their wedding was held at the beautiful La Jardin wedding center in Sandy, Utah just outside the metro Salt Lake City area. If you’d like to see Liz and Dewayne’s previous shoots, both their pre-wedding images and their engagements are here on my blog.
If you are getting married and want the best possible romantic and beautifully lit photographs possible, give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s talk more about your dream day.
Family portraits are important and meaningful, especially when children are young because they change so fast. It’s wonderful to be able to have a custom art piece on the wall that you can enjoy, not only right now, but also in 20 years.
And for my clients that are looking for something completely different, I offer my special line of painted family portraits. This is not some quick filter or effect. Instead I individually paint each image from scratch using a photograph that I create during your portrait session. It’s a lengthy creative process, but I created this sped up video so that you can see it come to life in a short 15 second time-lapse video.
That finished painting is now hanging as a beautiful canvas in their home. During the creation as I was photographing the family, their dog ran around behind them, came around the side and looked up at them. For one split second everything was perfect, and I quickly got that shot. Everyone is looking at each other and interacting including their beloved dog that really wanted to be a part of the moment.
With summer ending, this is the last great time to photograph families that want outdoor images. The studio gardens look amazing right now, and the colors are green and lush. We can do a variety of family options and groupings for a lot of choices. And though no one likes to think about Christmas early, the weather is starting to get cooler which means outdoor options will become limited, plus we only have about 14 Saturdays left to get things by Christmas.
Besides family groups, it’s always nice to get an updated couple portrait. I’m amazed how many couples I photograph admit that they have not had a professional couple portrait since their wedding. Let’s fix that and get you something you can put on your desk at work or display around your home.
Here at my Utah studio, we can shoot outdoors and indoors during the same appointment. For Angie’s family, we went in the studio for some fun, high-contrast black and whites of individuals that could be displayed as a series of squares going up the stairs.
And those squares worked really well as this framed trio too.
Let’s get some great portraits of your family inside the studio and outdoors in the gardens while the weather is still nice. Now is the perfect time to get in and beat the Christmas rush of fall.
Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and until next time, America.
I recently posted on Facebook about installing this large 7×4 foot portrait, and included with a few images of me hanging it. I received a bigger response than usual, 260+ likes, 30+ comments, and private messages from people asking how I did it. So I thought it’d make a great blog post.
Here I am hanging the portrait with a couple large Little Giant ladders that still were’t quite tall enough.
Bry Cox hanging a beautiful 7’x4′ family portrait in this beautiful home. The size of a photograph should fit the space properly.
And here is the portrait so you can see the details better. This family had grown quite a bit with married kids and lots of cute new grandkids. So when they hired me, they wanted to make sure that they could see everyone’s faces and could enjoy the image from the given viewing distance of the room.
The day of the shoot was cold and rainy but I still wanted to create the image outside. Yes, they have a large home and we could have set up in a room somewhere, or I could have even set up a studio in their gym, but I always emphasize my specialty of lighting and emotion, and I knew I could create something with more drama outside in front of their home. And yes, we could have rescheduled for a pretty, sunny day, but I don’t like to reschedule for lots of reasons.
One, many times like this, it’s the only day when family is all in town. Two, sometimes rescheduling means the portrait is never created. And three, rain makes for really beautiful and saturated colors when custom lighting is handled the right way. Plus after 20+ years of creating photographs full time for clients I know that I can work within the cycles of a rain storm as it goes from a big downpour to a slow drizzle to hard rain again.
The trick is to be all set and shoot quickly when the rain slows down so that I’m done before the next wave of hard rain comes again. And that’s what I did. While the family waited in the warmth inside, I set up my lights and camera and had everything metered and ready to go. I kept everything covered until we had a lull in the storm, and then had everyone come outside and we began working.
Storm or not, I pose and position people quickly and in natural stances, then I play with the kids with a puppet routine that I’ve worked up over the years. I love it when even the tiniest kids, babies really that can’t even talk are laughing at my puppet show because they know it’s funny.
I started with the largest family group, and moved quickly to individual family groups. I only shoot about 3-5 images per family because I don’t want to wear people out, or exhaust the natural smiles of the children. And on this night we had other reasons to hurry as the rain was starting to get heavy again.
Besides the biggest group I was able to get two other families groups shot before the rain hit hard again, so I moved under the awning that can be seen in the earlier groups. Again, I wanted to stay outside so that all of the family groups would have a uniform look, color scheme, feel, and lighting style. I want them all to look good when hung together and not look like different shoots. So working under the awning was perfect because the clients were able to stay dry (even though I was standing in the rain), and we were able to finish the session so that everything matched and looked beautiful.
I love that this little baby is laughing. In the big family group, she was the kid laughing the loudest at my silly puppet routine.
At some point, no matter how fast you work, kids are spent. They only have so much energy for photos, but it’s still fun to try and get a grandkids photo, even if some are crying. We did one under the awning and then went inside to the fireplace and did one big casual group of the entire family.
Here is a view of their finished portrait in their home. The most common concern with families is getting your portrait too big or too small for where it is hanging. You want to be able to see faces and it is hard to imagine sizes when looking at a price menu. That is why I preview your order on a projector so that you can see your exact image at the exact size you’d like it. And if you know you’re getting over a certain size, I’ll come to your home and will help measure walls so that we get it absolutely perfect. And yes, I’ll even come hang it for you too.
Bry Cox hanging a family portrait. Notice how the size works so well with everything.
Summer is ending and this is a great time to photograph your family. It’s always hard because schedules are crazy, and right now kids are going back to school. But winter is even harder and right now it’s still warm and pretty outside. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s create something amazing for you.
And being a dancer, we created some action shots of her dancing in the studio, and I used those to create this collage. She really looks beautiful in every single one of these images, and the entire design really flows and looked great finished.
And of course for high school seniors, I like to do big sessions that include indoor and outdoor setups, plus multiple changes of clothes and backgrounds. One of our favorite outdoor images was this one of her dancing in the road.
And here are some of those closer up.
Their wedding was held at the beautiful 
