photographs

Eliza’s Gorgeous Bridal & Pre-Wedding Portrait Shoot

I’m very excited to share Eliza’s gorgeous bridal and pre-wedding shoot. These two are a great couple, and so good together. It makes me excited to photograph their upcoming wedding.

This portrait session started off on a cold and rainy spring day here in Utah. While waiting for an opening in the rain, we started photographing inside my Davis County studio where it’s both warm, and where we have full control of lighting for a variety of looks and styles. And because the groom had not seen Eliza’s dress yet, we started with a “first sight” series.

Look at how he glows with excitement, seeing his bride for the first time in her beautiful dress, spinning her around to see her all the way around, and hugging her tight.

Feeding off these two’s glowing faces and excitement, we moved into some color couple portraits on a fashion gray background with some soft studio lighting.

And then some of just Eliza alone in her dress, doing a high-key bridal set, white on white. The simplicity, color harmony, and dramatic lighting really make this image. She look absolutely gorgeous in it, and I love the details in the back of this dress and all the lovely lines.

I love shooting a variety of lighting styles and looks, so we then moved to a set of snappy, high-contrast black-and-whites on a dark background for a modern yet classic feel. We made up this framed wall collage to tell a story between the images, and to showcase their personalities in a finished portrait display at their wedding reception. This will look beautiful displayed on the wall in their new home together too.

Here are some of those images up close so you can see how happy and great these two look to be together.


After finishing the studio part of the shoot, I checked the weather and saw a clear spot in the clouds and rain. We took advantage of that opening in the storm and quickly drove to an outdoor open area near my studio. We worked quickly in order to beat the cold, while using the wind and stormy sky to our artistic advantage. Using some powerful auxiliary lighting on site to sculpt the couple and bring depth into the terrain and sky, we got some breathtaking panoramas.

In this series of three images, notice the storyline as the groom pulls his bride closer for a kiss as she dances towards him.



Of course the bride alone looks fantastic and stunning throughout the shoot. It was hard choosing the best images from this shoot because everything looked spectacular.

As the outdoor wind got frigid, we decided to end the shoot with one more dramatic portrait utilizing the rocks, storm clouds, and wind. In this final portrait, these two look like they’re straight out of a national magazine fashion shoot. Their expressions, body language, all perfect, the wind blowing her veil softly, and custom, dramatic lighting to make the sky and clouds pop.

I loved seeing these two interact on this shoot, and how much the groom helped and protected his bride from this outdoor environment. He carried her over boulders, hugged her, warmed her arms, and continually made sure she was taken care of. I know that these two will have a wonderful life together. And I have loved working on this order and framing and delivering these beautiful portraits. They are seriously breathtaking in person.

If you’re getting married, I’d love to create some amazingly gorgeous images for you too. Everything is custom and there are a lot of things we can do, but here are a few links for some early info…

  • My main portfolio website: BryCox.com
  • My mini site for wedding info
  • Lots of real wedding samples (no fake brides) here on my blog
  • And of course because of the custom nature of what I create, it’s best to give me a call at 801-728-3317 so we can talk more about what you’d like.

And until next time, America.

Studio Shoot with Jacq

I had a great time photographing the fun and beautiful Jacqueline in this studio photo shoot. These images are so beautiful that I have to share with you some of my favorites.

We shot a couple outfits, and this first image is one of my favorites from the whole shoot. I love her look, expression, and the overall feel of this photograph.

With a different style of lighting and a new background, we got this stunning headshot of Jacq.

And then photographing her in this retro blue outfit on the fashion gray background gave us lots of great options, all completely different with a unique set of expressions and looks, with full length and mid-length.







I really love what we got from this shoot and hope that Jacq loves these as much as I do. My indoor studio located here in Davis County, Utah is a great option for fashion shoots, commercial shoots, avoiding bad weather outside, or anytime you want even more custom lighting options.

If you’d like some beautiful new images, give me a call at 801-728-3317. It’s a great time to come in and update your portfolio.

And until next time, America.

Elyse’s Gorgeous Studio Engagement Shoot

Elyse is a beautiful and upbeat woman who is very well-known and a friend to everyone. And she’s getting married. Though she and her fiancé live in California, we did a studio engagement shoot while they were here in Utah. And the images are gorgeous! I’m really excited to share them with you.

In fact we just finished her portrait inserts for her announcements, and I’m excited for people to get them in the mail. She posted one of the photographs on Facebook yesterday and it quickly garnered over 700 likes in just a few hours (it’s now over 850). It just shows how much she’s loved and how excited her friends and family are for her upcoming wedding.

Here are some of my favorite images from our shoot, designed up as a framed square wall collage.

I love how beautiful they look in each of these images, and how great they look together.

After shooting some on a light fashion gray background, we changed up the lighting and background and went with darker colors behind. Here some of our favorites.

I took a few portraits from the brown series and designed this framed trio. It’s a beautiful way to show a story between the images.

I’m very excited about this engagement shoot and for their upcoming wedding. I know it’ll be a gorgeous and blissful event.

If you’re getting married, I’d love to create some amazingly gorgeous images for you too. Here are a few links for info…

I’m a Utah based photographer, and do work all over the USA, and sometimes abroad. Give me a call and let’s talk about your dream portraits.

And until next time, America.

Travis’s Fall Family Portrait Canvas and Standouts

At the end of fall, I photographed Travis and his beautiful family here in my outdoor studio gardens located right outside my Utah studio. Then later for Christmas I had everything finished and delivered their final order. The morning of the delivery, I made this video showing how gorgeous their finished products looked.

It was great seeing Travis and his beautiful family again. His children are adorable and are growing so fast. I always like to photograph a few options for the large family group, and this was our favorite of everyone. Here at my Utah studio we can do either in-studio images or we can step out into the studio gardens and do outdoor portraits too. For this shoot we choose to shoot outside and take advantage of the last of the good fall weather. And having everyone sitting together on the ground close, was our favorite grouping of the entire family. Hopefully you see how beautiful this looks in the video above.

We also took time to photograph each child and then made up square standout portraits of each one. Doesn’t this little girl make you smile? She’s so cute with her long hair, crossed knees, and feminine pose? The rock stairway was the perfect spot for her individual portrait.

And each child has a perfect and genuine smile, each custom lit, each looking fantastic. These looked beautiful as finished, glazed, square wall pieces.

And to close the shoot, we did one wall portrait of all the kids together in one photograph. There’s a lot of personality in this image. And it’s a piece that they can all look back on for years to come and remember when they were all this age.

It’s always a wonderful thing to update your family portrait. And I know you probably need an updated portrait. We can mix it with larger family groups, or alone with your immediate family, then taking time with your children.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s talk about your new family wall portrait.

And until next time, America.

Headshots for Comedian Keith Stubbs

Winter is a great time to update your business headshots and website. A while back I photographed comedian Keith Stubbs because it was time to update his business headshots and we had a great time during the shoot. He’s a standup comedian and you’ll often see him online in photos with all sorts of famous comedians. And when he’s not doing standup, he’s running a comedy club in Utah with three locations, called WiseGuys. If you enjoy comedy and live shows, you should check him out and his clubs. He always has a number of big names coming into Utah to perform.

We shot for a high contrast black and white look, and got a lot of personality in the images. I love how these turned out. They’re tack sharp and have a modern, edgy look.

Here are some of the favorites, all uniquely different and interesting.

Here’s an example of how these images are being used by Keith online. I really like this blue texture behind him. It makes for a great banner on social media.

I’m a Utah based photographer, and depending on the number of people at your business that need headshots, I can often come to you. But you’re also welcome to come right here to my studio here in Davis County, Utah.

If you’d like some new headshots for your business, give me a call at 801-728-3317. And check out my commercial website BryCoxPro.com, for more examples of headshots and business images.

And until next time, America.

Kara’s Bridal Portraits

I just featured Kara’s engagement shoot and I thought I’d continue featuring Kara for another post because her bridals are so beautiful! You have to see these.

I love these of her. She glows in these portraits, and they looked fantastic framed and on display at the wedding reception.

We spent the bridal shoot laughing and having a great time here at my Utah studio, and ended up with lots of favorites. I especially love these two images though, one with a light background and one with a dark background – both dramatic, both gorgeous, and both with a different mood and lighting style.

And of course they looked especially great printed and on display. I’m now finishing the design for her winter wedding album, and I’m excited for her to see all of her gorgeous wedding day images. It has been a joy to work with her and her family.

If you’re getting married, I’d love to photograph your wedding. Here are a few links you’ll like…

I’m a Utah based photographer, and do work all over the USA, and sometimes abroad. My studio in Davis County, Utah is a great place to start if you don’t have a location in mind. It’s especially great for bridal portraits in the winter, but I can always travel to create images on location too. Give me a call and let’s talk about your dream portraits.

And until next time, America.

Kara’s Engagement Portraits

I just photographed a beautiful winter wedding for Kara which I may share later, but I first wanted to share a couple of her gorgeous engagement portraits. Winter is a great time to shoot inside in the warm studio, but the studio is also a great option any time because we have full control of lighting. It makes it easy to change clothes and shoot in multiple outfits if you’d like, we can quickly setup to shoot in both color and black and white, plus studio engagements are especially classy in black and white.

Kara and her husband are great together, treat each other beautifully, and they look beautiful in these engagement portraits. These were the favorites, and we used these in her wedding announcements, as larger wall prints to be displayed in their new home, and on display at the wedding reception.

This was such a fun shoot and I’m so happy for these two finding each other and getting married.

If you’re getting married, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to photograph your wedding and create some amazing portraits for you to be enjoyed for years to come. I’m a Utah based photographer, and do work all over the USA, and sometimes abroad. My studio in Davis County, Utah is a great place to start if you don’t have a location in mind. It’s especially great for engagements or portraits in the winter, but I can always travel to you too to create images on location too. Give me a call and let’s talk about your dream portraits.

And until next time, America.

Model Portraits from Teaching at ‘Texas School’ Photographic Workshop – Part 2

Once a year I speak at this big event for photographers called Texas School. It’s at the end of April and photographers from all over the US and abroad fly in to train and learn for an entire week. It’s always one of my favorite events, and part of my teaching style is to give photographers personal challenges using custom lighting while shooting models to see how they do.

And at the end of the week, we have a shootout where photographers from all classes can see quick demos from various instructors. For those demos, I was given a cool Ferrari as a backdrop, and a bunch of models that would come through every few minutes. I photographed the models very quickly shooting about 10-15 photos per model in just a few minutes using some quick lighting techniques.

It’s perfect for showing a crowd of photographers the essentials for shooting a variety of poses, using lighting to sculpt and define faces and bodies, as well as metering, white balance, and getting clients to relax in front of the camera. Behind me, you can see groups of photographers like this, shooting their own photos.

And despite crowds of people moving through my background, here are some of my favorite images I created that evening.

I love the creative challenge of working quickly with various problems to solve – like onlookers, other people walking through the background, the best angles and lighting for a model’s face and body shapes, quick posing, color, exposure, and more.

Here’s me shooting, as a behind-the-scenes image in black & white.

If you’d like some great and creative images, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something for you that you love.

And to see more images created during this event, including in studio, see Part 1.

Finally, if you’re a photographer and would like to attend a full weeklong workshop with me, or would like some online instruction, check out my training website for online videos and upcoming schedule at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.

Cute Little 2-Year-Old Twins

I had the joy of photographing these cute little 2-year old twins for their birthday portraits. They were so fun and expressive, that they had me laughing the entire time.

Before shooting outside, we started off in the studio on a clean white, to show off their fun, colorful, number-2 shirts. I have things that I do to get little kids to relax and open up with me, giving me great expressions. Right from the beginning, this little boy opened up and saw me as his buddy. But the little girl was a bit more apprehensive. She brought her favorite monkey, and held on to him for the first part of the shoot and started off with some cute scowls.

Before long though, they were both doing great and we got some wonderful smiles from both of them.

One of the games I play is to “get their toes.” In this photo, she’s poking her feet out to show me her toes because she wants me to get them again. It’s a good sign and shows she’s happy, open, and having a good time.

Then a change of clothes and a wonderful, somber expression from both of them. I love these outfits, and love how each one is standing. Their body language is perfect.

But then their moods swapped. She was happy and open, but he started to crash and cry. For comfort, he’s holding a toy car in one hand, and food in the other. And this little girl is calm with her monkey.

And then back to some fun expressions out of both of them again.

But when he started to lose it again, calling his aunt on the phone helped him settle down. And I love her expression, watching her brother.

Sitting down in the chair, she comforts him with an arm around him.

Using these favorites from the studio white, I designed up this 9-up portrait collage, ready for the wall in their home. It’ll be finished and framed, setting these images off.

Then stepping outside into my studio gardens for a change of scenery, we got this wonderful little kiss! They’re each turned perfectly so you can see both of them, neither one covering up the other. And I love their bare feet.

We also did some individual portraits of each of them. Here, she poses against a tree with her head cocked as the wind blows her dress.

And he stands in a nice, squared-off masculine pose, watching what I’m doing, a little worried and ready to be done.

These three images worked really well in this wall trio design.

Little kids grow so fast, and memories seem to be as fleeting as time. I love being able to create wonderful heirloom portraits like these, and I hope their family loves these, and that these adorable children will love them too when their older and can look back on their 2nd birthday together.

I love how these turned out and had a wonderful time with these two beautiful kids.

Summer is leaving us and the window for outdoor portraits is closing. Now is a great time to bring your family or children in for some family portraits. Right here I can do indoor studio and outdoor portraits in the same place, or I can travel to special locations too. Give me a call at 801-728-3317, and let’s create something beautiful for you and your home.

And until next time, America.

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.

Fundraiser Portraits With a ‘Vanity Fair Backstage’ Look

This weekend I photographed custom portraits at a fundraiser to help raise money for our friend who is re-learning to walk after Lyme disease. The crowd was mostly friends and people I knew, and knowing that everyone would be dressed up, I thought I’d mix that dressiness with the cool tile of the location for a magazine styled shoot.

Along with offering some silent auction photo shoots that raised $600, I also did quick photo shoots of my friends there. I utilized one studio light with a small modifier to create custom but very directional lighting for lots of moody shadows and aimed just right for no retouching. I then posed individuals in unique ways as if it were a “backstage at the Oscars Vanity Fair” type photo shoot. I also created a film look that warmed the highlights to a nice golden tone that was applied to the images on my laptop as I shot.

I had a long line all night and photographed a few hundred people, averaging 2-3 shots per person. I then picked my favorite of each person right there off my laptop. After the event, I posted the portraits on Facebook and the results have been blowing up my facebook feed, so I thought I’d share them on my blog today so you all could seem them too. Here are just some favorites.

Yes, there’s even one of me. I shot it with a remote in my hand before people arrived. I wanted to double check the lighting and look of the tile and tones before we started. I really love the variety of poses and looks with everyone. I think the shoot went great.

With so many people, this is just a few. But all of the images are up on my Facebook page, and you can see them all if you follow me there.

If you work with a Utah charity and would like to talk about package donations to raise money, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to talk more about what you’re doing and how I could donate some packages for auction, or otherwise be involved in raising money.

And until next time, America.

Model Portraits from Teaching at ‘Texas School’ Photographic Workshop – Part 1

Once a year I speak at this big event for photographers called Texas School. It’s where photographers from all over the US and abroad fly in to Texas to train and learn for an entire week. It’s always one of my favorite events, and part of my teaching style is to give photographers personal challenges using custom lighting while shooting models to see how they do.

And while I’m teaching and demoing or showing various methods and procedures, I often need to photograph the models myself for a few minutes. Here are some of those images, starting with a portable studio setup and this gal in her red dress. I really like these three images individually, but also think that together they would make a great trio design too. The deep blue background really makes her eyes and dress pop.

This next young lady was a twin, and I did some images of both sisters individually and some together. But here are two of her alone, shooting with a high school senior style.

And here are these two twin sisters together, showing how much they look alike.

We had some fun with this next model, including doing some creative artwork on the backgrounds.

This next lady with the pretty eyes is a professional dancer as you may be able to tell from her natural posing. And she is also the sister of a model I photographed the year before. I thought her dress and colors were very pretty and turned out really nice on this deep blue background.

 

And finally for this model, we walked around the hotel to find locations and backdrops that would be interesting, lighting her with mobile equipment. Putting her against this green vegetation really made her red hair and dress stand out.

And we closed with some of her sitting on the hotel bar, mixing artificial light with room light to both make her stand out while also getting these bar lights to glow.

There’s a lot more I could show from this event, especially images that I shot on the run on location with some cool vehicles. I’ll pull some favorites and post some of them soon. But in the meantime, if you’re a photographer and would like to get more training on lighting and photography, check out my training site where I not only have online training videos, but a schedule where you can come to a live workshop. My training site is BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.