utah fashion photographer

Salt Flats Morning Shoot with Addie, the Bubble Trailer, and the Chop Stick Guys (part 3)

In parts one and two of this series, I talk about how my photographer friend from California, Suzette Allen and her husband are touring the United States in their Bubble Trailer to teach and train photographers. And I share the evening shoot we did when they came through Utah, and now I’m excited to share with you the fun early morning shoot we did the next morning here on the Utah Salt Flats.

The next morning, we got up for an early sunrise shoot. Suzette and her husband interviewed me as the sun was rising behind us. Here’s that video…

And here’s a selfie video showing the gorgeous sky.

But before the sun came up, we started shooting photographs and my beautiful friend Addie was our model. The early morning sky was deep blue with just a touch of pink on the horizon. Using my Profoto studio lights to both sculpt Addie and also capture the true colors in the distance, I started photographing with the blue sky as our background.




While we were doing our photoshoot, Suzette and the Chopstick Guys were off shooting video.

With just a few studio lights on location, we were able to create some beautiful images with vivid colors. I really loved this early morning light. As the sun started to peak over the horizon, the colors around us went from deep blue to soft pastels. These colors worked perfectly with Addie’s outfit.

As Suzette photographed Addie with her Bubble Trailer, the warm colors of the sun started to peak over the salty horizon and hit the clouds. The golden clouds and warm light was a magical time.

The rising sun brought a cool desert wind which I found exhilarating and fun creatively. And as you can see, we all were having a lot of fun in this beautiful and creative environment. Here’s Suzette rockin’ her Lumix camera, with her husband Jon having fun behind.

When Suzette had her images, I photographed Addie again, but this time using the sun as my main light. The wind and golden warm light were gorgeous. I love all these gorgeous colors together, and Addie did such a great job on this shoot. And she was a lot of fun too. We were laughing a lot.


I had to keep stopping to soak in the view around me. And that made me want to create some long panoramas as well. I loved how the warmth of the rising sun on east side of the horizon mixed with the deep blues of the other end.

I also created some panoramas showing my Nissan Rogue and Profoto studio flashes on the salty desert floor, because it looked like a commercial ad. (Hey Nissan and/or Profoto, if you need commercial photography work, check out BryCoxPro.com.)

And of course with such a beautiful sunrise and mountain range, we had to do a quick selfie together, firing the camera with a remote in one hand.

And here we are having more fun, dancing in the wind and sunrise.

Then mixing in studio lights with the sunrise, I wanted to capture the golden sky behind Addie. I wanted to shoot into the sun, and for that I needed some serious lighting power. I love how these turned out!






With the cold wind finally making Addie cold, she went to warm up in the vehicle. And I took a moment to create a selfie showing my studio light and sunrise behind me.

Fall has now hit us here in Utah. It’s time to create some beautiful location photographs of your family and kids. If you’d like something in the fall leaves or on an exotic location like the Salt Flats, and you want that some awesome lighting that makes you pop in that location, give me a call at 801-728-3317. Let’s create some iconic and legacy portraits for the walls of your home.

Also, if you’re a photographer looking to up your game and get more training to really understand lighting better, check out my online and in-person courses at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

Salt Flats Evening Shoot with Pamela, the Bubble Trailer, and the Chop Stick Guys (part 2)

In my previous entry I shared the first part of this shoot at the Utah Salt Flats. And continuing on, the sun was going down quickly and we were losing our light. As Suzette Allen and her husband prepped the Bubble Trailer and lighting for their next series of photographs, my model Pamela did a change of clothes while I set up a multiple-light look for a clean, commercial, studio look that would work with and accentuate the deep blue of twilight as things got darker.

These turned out to be a fun and wonderful series of images. I love the motion between the images and feel they’re best shared in sets of three to show action.

For these next couple of horizontal portraits, I let one of my lights show in the image. I loved the lighting angle, and I wanted to show the open vastness around us. Pulling back with the camera allows that long, empty, and open horizon to show. And the light I think it adds interest, telling the viewer that the lighting is controlled and specific.

I often see photographs posted from the Salt Flats by other photographers and the results are dull, muddy faces, washed out backgrounds, noisy grainy images, blurry faces, and shadows in the wrong places on the face. Why? Because most photographers don’t understand exactly how to custom light, where a light should be, and how lighting needs to continually move and be adjusted based on sculpting someone as they move. It requires knowledge and lots of mental work. But the results of doing so are powerful images like these – amazing portraits created in a normally impossible setting – long after the sun has gone down.

Pamela was so much fun. She had a lot of personality and I loved her choices in clothing. These photos with her hat made for a great set of images. I’ve had a hard time picking my top favorites.

Time was really flying and we were having a blast and didn’t want to stop shooting. So after Suzette had finished her shoot with the trailer (which can be seen here on her blog), it was completely dark. While her and the Chopstick Guys were packing up their gear and loading their vehicles, Pamela and I decided to shoot a bit longer. She had this awesome flowy outfit, and the evening desert wind was really howling.

So with a couple studio flashes on stands manually controlled, I used the wind to our favor and did one last series of images. I really like the dark blackness that surrounds us in these images. With blackness behind and the light illuminating the white salt floor, falling off, fading into the distance, it makes it feel like we’re shooting on a stage. And Pamela’s movements and expressions really make these images sing.

What an amazing shoot, and this is just Part 2. There’s Part 3 coming because the next morning we did a very early sunrise shoot with another beautiful friend of mine who came out to model for us.

Those portraits have a completely different look and feel because the sun was direct and coming in from a different angle, plus the color temperature was different too. As the sun rose, the color around us went from deep blue, to pink, to a warm golden color. The entire location glowed with the sunlight. Those images are incredible and I’m excited to share those soon.

In the meantime, if you’d like a cool photo shoot at an exotic location like the Salt Flats, give me a call at 801-728-3317. With my style of custom lighting, it can work wonderfully well for families, kids, even high school seniors.

Also, if you’re a photographer looking to up your game and get more training, check out my online and in-person courses at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

High School Senior & Modeling Portraits of Ashton in Texas

I love photographing high school seniors because I’m able to be more creative. There’s a lot of variety that we can create in the studio in a short amount of time too. While in Texas, I photographed this beautiful model, Ashton. She was great and we got some killer images.

This shoot was part of a longer weeklong photographic workshop where I train photographers in Texas on lighting, expression, posing, and more. I’d demo specific concepts for a few moments and then let the other photographers shoot. So in these training/demo shoots, my actual shooting time is short – only segments of 5 minutes here and there. I set it up so that the photographers taking my course to try things for themselves with real models.

But when I combine all the concepts that I teach into any shoot, even short segments like this, I end up with powerful images with exquisite lighting, perfect exposure and color balance, that also incorporate real and genuine expressions. So yes, even in that short amount of time I have a lot of images to choose from, all great. Here are some of my top favorites.

In the image above, I created a custom art piece by mixing textures with some creative editing. Those techniques mixed with her expression makes for a very captivating portrait. Then below, I did some custom color toning for another unique image.

These were part of my first quick shoot with Ashton, were I photographed her on deep blue with a variety of lighting styles. Notice that we have a mix of poses and expressions while the lighting and technical details all remain perfect.

Then before she left, I did one more quick shoot of her in a new outfit and on my fashion grey background. These images were strong individually, but I also liked them in sets of three to show movement and personality.

I love training photographers to do better, teaching creativity mixed with solid techniques. Ashton was a great model and I love the images we got.

If you’re a high school senior, it’s a great time to do some cool photos for you. And here at my studio, I’ll typically do even bigger shoots than this for seniors. I love creating a variety with clothing changes, location options, plus over-the-top art pieces that really show your personality. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s set something up for you.

And if you’re a photographer looking for more training like this, check out my online courses or in-person workshops at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.

Modeling and Senior Portraits of Summer in Texas

I had a great time getting to know Summer and photographing her as she modeled for me. I was demonstrating lighting and client interaction while teaching a weeklong photographic workshop in Texas. She was a beautiful girl and a lot of fun to hang out with, and as you can see, we got a lot of beautiful images in a short amount of time.

I start with teaching a primary focus on perfect exposures, perfect color balance, and exquisite lighting that sculpts and flatters the model. From there as a photographer we must interact and connect with the model in order to get real and wonderful expressions instead of the typical fake smiles that are all too common.

And as you can see from this shoot, Summer’s personality made all of this easy. We had a great time and created a lot of beautiful images with genuine and captivating expressions, despite our actual shooting time being very short. Because I’m training and getting other photographers to shoot and practice these concepts, it means I only step in and photograph models like Summer in small chucks of 5 minute intervals here and there. But even with small 5 minute intervals, you can see that we’ve got a lot of beautiful images of her. Here are some of my favorite images.

Starting on a fashion gray background to go along with her black outfit, and as if she was a high school senior in my studio, I shot quickly for variety of styles, expression, and poses. You can see that we have smiles, but also thoughtful and serious images. We have close ups, mid-length, and full-length. We have a lot of variety in a lot of ways, and all of these are very beautiful of her. These would make a wonderful album or even a great series of images in a wall collage.

To demonstrate location lighting, I took her to the end of the hotel’s bar in her beautiful gown, and balanced auxiliary lighting with the bar lights to create a warm mood.

Later in a new outfit, I created these portraits of her on my deep blue background, again shooting for variety. And again, all looking beautiful.

And before sending her home, we ended the shoot with a quick selfie together.

And a few days later I had a night demo and again was able to photograph Summer. That demo was 30 minutes long, and with talking, setting a groundwork of what I’d be doing, and showing how to light with minimal equipment anywhere, we only shot for a few minutes. But even still, we got some beautiful images. And here is one of my favorites from that quick shoot.

This was a really fun shoot and I’m grateful for Summer coming and modeling for me. She was a joy to be around and I’m excited by the images we created.

If you’d like some great portraits done of you, give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And if you’re a photographer looking for more training like this, check out my online courses or in-person workshops at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

And until next time, America.

Paris Modeling in Texas

I had the pleasure of photographing this beautiful model named Paris while I was in Texas. I was teaching a photographic workshop on lighting and had photographed Paris a few years before, and contacted her to come be my model again. I’m grateful that she did, and we got some beautiful images.

The first part of my teaching was to demonstrate how to shoot with perfect exposures and color balance. Then when you’ve conquered that, you can focus predominantly on expression by connecting with your subject. The goal is to get captivating and real expressions, and as you can see from these thumbnails of un-retouched images, everything looks great. The hard part after a shoot like is is having to decide which images are the absolute best, and I do that by seeing what speaks to me. Those photographs become my top favorites.

From those top images, I picked some to retouch in front of the photographic group, showing them what I do to each image while also showing how little retouching is actually necessary when images are perfectly lit with superb auxiliary lighting.

Starting on a fashion gray background, we have a beautiful set of images of Paris. She looks beautiful, her eyes and expressions glow. We nailed getting the captivating portrait in the first few minutes.

These first few images took about 5 minutes. From there I let other photographers practice shooting her, while I moved on to other models and teaching. Later I circled back for another 5 minutes with Paris, and we did these of her on this gorgeous blue background which really makes her eyes pop. Again, all of these look great.

Then one last time before we ended, I did one more quick 5 minute shoot with her, this time with a change up of lighting styles and while demoing a brand new camera that just came out. So in all, I only photographed her for about 15 minutes total, but we got all of these amazing images of her – all great, all captivating, all beautifully lit.

Knowing that we had great images from earlier, we began to play with motion – having her play with her hair, turning, and incorporating some movement and chaos. I really love how these turned out.

And to end the shoot, we did a quick portrait together under the beauty dish light setup with me holding the camera with one hand.

This was a really fun shoot and I’m grateful that Paris could make it. It’s always great to see her and she’s a joy to photograph. If you’d like some great portraits done of you, it’s a great time. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And if you’re a photographer looking for more training like this, check out my online courses or in-person workshops at BryCoxWORKSHOPS.com.

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.

Singer/Songwriter/Actress Katherine Nelson’s Outdoor Shoot

I’m so excited about these images and can’t wait for you all to see them! This is an outdoor commercial shoot that I did for Katherine Nelson. You may recognize Katherine as the actress that played Emma in the LDS Church film, “Joseph Smith: Prophet of the Restoration.” That movie plays daily at the Joseph Smith Memorial Building, and she was also in the movie “Emma Smith: My Story.”

Katherine is also an accomplished singer/songwriter, winning all sorts of awards for both her solo work as well the work she’s done with various groups like the Nashville Tribute Band and Kenneth Cope.

For this project, she had a specific need and concept, so I chose one of my secret locations that matched what she wanted to create.

I set up all sorts of lighting equipment imaginable to take control of the scene. Lighting this scene was difficult, but it needed to be specific and controlled in order to create images that pop, while still being real and natural. The results are phenomenal! I was especially excited that a storm had gone through earlier, giving us great storm clouds to work with. I love a sky with drama!

Katherine is a fantastic model and a joy to be around. I find her easy to photograph, easy to direct, and she really had great expression. She even did her own styling and created her own clothing, accoutrements and flag for the shoot. It all worked together so well. I flipped out when I initially  saw her and the details of her outfit. It was all so perfect. I especially love her red skirt against the green grass.

We really had a fun time at this shoot. Looking back over it, two of our initial favorites were the image above and below. I love the sun shining through the clouds in the photograph above, and in the image below, the flag blowing against the awesome storm clouds with a little bit of blue peaking through, really makes this sing!

And this next portrait below is one of my all-time favorites from the entire shoot. I love the stance, the directional lighting on Katherine, and the color harmony with the dominant blue sky. The clouds have wispy pink highlights painted by the sun that has now set. This image is at twilight, and has such depth! I actually put this up on my website’s main splash page today, cropped square.

We were having so much fun that even after the sun set completely, I continued to shoot and create in the dark, using all artificial light. However I did it in such a way that it looks like real sunlight. The scene in these next images was actually dark to the eye at the time, but with the right techniques the scene glows and feels like sunset.

Then to end the shoot, I finished up with some close-ups, again with all artificial light because the sun had set at this point. The idea was to create a fake sunset but with the control of darkness, and these images are some of my favorites! (That’s one of my lights as a fake sun in the image below because it’s actually dark outside.)

You really need to see the entire shoot, but there’s not room enough on the blog, so I created a slideshow set to music. Start it up and enjoy.

It seems funny, but anytime I post a shoot like this, I get a lot of emails and phone calls asking where my images were taken. When I suggest that they hire me and I’ll photograph them there, some will admit that they just want to go to the same spot with a cheaper photographer – as if my locations are what yield great results. This is of course untrue.

Being in a great location with the right gear and a beautiful model certainly doesn’t hurt, but the real key to creating great photographs (whether it be outdoors, in sunlight, at twilight, sunset, or even after the sun has gone down) is specific control of lighting. And lighting people specifically and artistically is my unique skill.

I sometimes point to my list of awards and credentials, not to brag, but to show that when you hire ME, you’ll get something completely unique and personal, you’ll get phenomenal photography.

No matter who you are, I will make you look great, real, and natural, and generations from now people will still love your portraits and appreciate your purchase.

Now is a great time to set up your Spring appointment. I’m sure it’s time for a new family portrait, and high school seniors are getting ready to graduate. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 to schedule a time. And feel free to browse my main website at BryCox.com.

Musician Portraits for Scott Foster’s New CD

Scott Foster is coming out with a new CD, and we created some awesome images for his project.  We started in the studio and then moved to one of my favorite outdoor locations.

This first image is very captivating.  The expression is great and the selective focus is real, created in camera and not in post-production.  There’s something so great about true, organic, soft-focus and selective focus.  This image is reminiscent to me of a Rolling Stone interview portrait.

Everything we created in the portrait studio was done with the mindset of being different and unique.  A CD has to stand out and almost ask to be picked up, and the images have to do that.  I used a very edgy fashion lighting style on these to create a different look, mixed with a unique stance and fun background.

We then switched it up to Scott playing his electric guitar, again with selective focus before moving outside.

We then went on location to one of my favorite places because it’s so far from anywhere.  As far as you look on the horizon, you won’t see civilization.  We are really in the middle of nowhere, and the colors and textures are so great!  I really like the lines in this particular image, and how they all work with the guitar’s neck.

And here’s the same image in a multi-toned black and white version, because it just looks so cool!  The textures really pop this way.

I love working outside and using the clouds and terrain in Utah.  They add so much drama to an outdoor image if you know how to light it.  Shooting in the desert with exposed sun is very difficult to do well — which is why I love it so much.  Few people can create images like this in direct sunlight.  There is a trend amongst new photographers to call themselves “Natural Light” photographers, because they don’t know lighting and can’t work inside and can’t work outside unless it is in shade or the sky is overcast.  There is no control and their images all look flat and dull.

Contrast that look with these images.  They have depth, they have real highlights and shadows, the colors are real and dynamic, and the sky and scene has drama, and all the lines and colors all work together.  There is no “plastic” looking photoshop effects.  Everything is real and because of that, you feel like you can step into these images.

We ended the shoot with Scott walking away, feeling that this could perhaps be the back of the CD or a foldout page inside.  It gives room for text and design work.

 

And here is the same image, but in my special multi-toned black and white.  Both are so cool!  Which one do you like?

Well, I can’t wait to see the final CD design and hear all the new recordings that Scott has been working on.  He is a great musician and a real artist and it was fun to be able to create this images for him.

If you’d like to check out his music and get his new CD, his website is TheRealScottFoster.com.

Well thanks for looking and if you need some new portraits for your project, business, or family, give me a call.  801-728-3317.  And browse my main website, BryCox.com and my blog at BryCox.com/blog.