Doug & Anna’s Family Portraits

Years ago I had the pleasure of photographing the wedding for one of my good friends. Just recently I was able to photograph his family and see how much his cute kids had grown. We shot everything here at the studio, outdoor in the studio gardens.

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These little girls were so fun and adorable. We took some time during the session to create individual portraits of each girl and some groupings of them together as well. One of those groupings I used to created this painting.

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While the painting may portray more of a feeling of being young together, this next grouping shows all their smiling faces.

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I also really liked this trio of all three girls.

Cox_DBassett-F-8x20AnnaMarie_oooAnd here are of the favorites of each girl, printed as individual images so that they can be either hung together in a grouping, or later spread out around the house.

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It was so fun to see these guys again and to create these family heirlooms. I really love to photograph families and kids and would love to photograph YOUR family. Now is a great time to get in. Give me a call at 801-728-3317.

And until next time, America.

Past Portraits of My Grandma

My last grandma has just passed away and today is her viewing. It is interesting that relatives have been reminiscing by finding and posting pictures of her on facebook and on blogs. I myself took some personal time on the day she passed to finish some restorations that I had been working on.

These portraits that I’ve been restoring, are meaningful because they are well done portraits that tell a story of my grandma. She was a florist, and her and my grandpa started a floral which is still run by some of her kids. When I was little, being tended by my grandma meant running around greenhouses and having adventures while she made arrangements for customers. It meant playing cowboys and indians in the orchards, climbing trees, and sometimes picking weeds in the greenhouses for an Orange Crush.

I have a lot of memories of my grandma that I am not going to share because this is a public blog. But I do want to say that portraits matter and I’m glad I do what I do for a profession. I am grateful for portraits of my loved ones because they remind me of memories and of times past.

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Today we live in a world of photo-poliferation. We have a disposable mentality due to being inundated by tons of pictures created on every device we have. But where is the quality portrait? Someone said to me this last week that they didn’t think photographs were worth spending money on because they’re just temporary.

I completely disagree. There is almost nothing that I personally can spend money on that my children and grandchildren are going to want when I’m dead and gone. Everything else is just stuff, most of which can be replaced by insurance by a better and newer version. But portraits are going to be fought over by future generations, especially the quality portrait.

Yes maybe in the short-term we may change out a wall portrait for a newer updated one, but over time we miss the portraits we took down. They become a window to the past and a way to remember loved ones and past times. Portraits unlike electronics and other expensive items actually grow in value over time, especially if someone passes away. And once someone passes away, there is a search for the one quality portrait that tells a story about that loved one. Snapshots are passed over and everyone searches for and wants a copy of the quality portrait.

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To close, here is a portrait I did with my grandma a few years back while visiting her at her St. George home. I am grateful for these portraits as they remind me of memories and of times past. I am reminded of what a kind and loving woman she was and the example she and my grandpa set for all of us, and am comforted with the knowledge that she and my grandpa are now reunited.

Tara’s Family & Graduate Portraits

My friend Tara recently received a graduate degree with honors from the University of Utah. With that big moment and also because her family was all in town, we did a mix session creating some family portraits and some graduation portraits of her as well.

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Her family was so nice and it was great getting to know them better.

After photographing the family, we focused on some individual portraits of Tara. I have photographed Tara on other occasions and I love it. She’s very photogenic but also has a great personality that really shows through and is fun to photograph. Here are some of my favorites images from the shoot.

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Cox_TDeWitt-F-198 Cox_TDeWitt-F-239I always feel it an honor to photograph families, and especially felt that way and loved having the opportunity to photograph Tara’s family at this time. I appreciate them asking me. I would also love to photograph your family as well. Give me a call if you’d like me to create something special for your family. 801-728-3317

Until next time, America.

 

Emotional But Important Family Portraits After Losing a Loved One

Last year, tragically a border agent with family ties to Utah was killed on the border. I knew this man and certain members of his family very well. It was a tough and sad situation.

Recently, their extended family was all going to be back together in Utah, and they asked me to create a large group portrait of everyone, as well as smaller group portraits of each family. This was a particularly emotional and hard shoot to do, but again reiterated to me the importance of families, loved ones, and of having great portraits — not just for us, but especially for our loved ones.

For this shoot, I brought my entire studio to the home of one of the family members who was hosting the get together. I set up the background, lights and gear in their home, and I began photographing each individual family.

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Then because of the size of the large group, the lack of space, and because of the needs of various versions of a large extended family portrait for various people, I instead created a digital composite. Instead of actually shooting the entire group at once, I instead invested some serious digital creation time to blend and mix the smaller family group portraits together into one beautiful panorama. It’s designed so that smaller group relationships are shown while portraying the entire family’s adhesiveness.

The largest finished version of this was a 70 inch canvas which looked amazing!

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We then created these smaller groups, like the original family…

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…and another of just grandkids. A large group of grandkids in one portrait is always a challenge. There are so many young people who don’t want to sit still, let alone where I need them to sit for balance, let alone to look forward and show personality. But they are always a fun challenge and I love how this one turned out. Everyone has such personality and years from now they will love looking back on this image and seeing each other.

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It was an honor to be asked to create the photographs for this family. I really appreciate the opportunity to be apart of these memories.

And now is a great time to book your own family portraits! Kids are out of school, the weather is great, the studio gardens look amazing, and the July Family Portrait Special is still going on! I’ve got some opening still before the end of the month, and if you at least call by the end of July but need to make your appointment during the first part of August, that’s okay too. My number is 801-728-3317 and you can see more details here as well.

Until next time, America.

July Family Special

With kids growing up, families changing, the weather being beautiful, the studio gardens in bloom, and this July family promo, there isn’t a better time than right now to get a new family portrait!

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Whether you have a big family or a small family, or whether you’d like a painted portrait or something entirely different, give me a call and let’s talk about creating something emotional and timeless for you.

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These two images are examples of my painted canvas portrait series, where I paint in an abstract way over the photograph to create something new and entirely different.

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Portrait sessions can be inside the studio or outdoors in the studio gardens for free with this promo, or can be on location for an extra fee. However, right now the studio gardens look amazing! To give you an idea of where some of these images were created, three of the images in this post were created right in the studio gardens, with the others being created on location in places that are special to the clients.

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This is a great time to get your extended family together for that once-in-a-lifetime portrait, while at the same time creating portraits of each smaller family while they are together. If you’d like to see more examples and stories about each of these family portraits, many are posted right here in past blog posts as well as on my main portfolio website.

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So what’s the catch? Call now to make your appointment in July. By doing so you get a free session (usually $200-$400 depending on the size of your family), a free retouched and hard-mounted 11×14 with leather protective finish so that it isn’t damaged by handling or fingerprints and doesn’t need glass (value $199), as long as you purchase any framed wall piece like a 16×20 portrait of your group, or a child’s trio, or a multi-image collage for example.

The image you purchase can be larger of course. For instance you may want a painted wall canvas like the samples at the top, or perhaps a long panorama canvas of your extended family so that you can see each child’s face from a distance. What you get is up to you.

Many are doing the free 11×14 as the portrait of their children with their wall portrait of their entire family. Some are doing the session of their children using the free 11×14 as their group portrait and a wall collage as a way to showcase each child.

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You know it’s time for new family portraits. Don’t settle for average photography. You will look amazing and will get portraits that are real, emotional, timeless, and that don’t have all the plastic skin effects or weird washed out retouching.

Give me a call for any further questions and to set up your appointment to get the best options for dates and times. My number is 801-728-3317. Again, check out my main portfolio site at BryCox.com to see more samples, or the blog here too.

And until next time, America.

I Love Photographing the Same Families Over the Years

Being a photographer is a satisfying job. I’ve spent years perfecting the craft because I feel that there is an important need to create not just pictures, but heirlooms that connect with people emotionally and are different from the other offerings. When I do shoots like this, I am reminded of that importance and it makes me grateful for the opportunity to create great images for people.

I had a blast photographing these cute kids that come into my studio every few years. I’ve done shoots for this family as each of these kids came into the family. It’s always been fun to see how much they’ve grown and changed. In fact for this post, I’ve pulled up some images I did last time for comparison. But first, I did a series of square wall portraits of each child. This first little girl was the newest in the family, and I hadn’t photographed her yet. She was so adorable and full of personality as you can see.

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And here are the other children, each with their own square wall print, which looked beautiful hung together on the wall.

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And here are the first three children, each from the shoot I did of them a few years ago as well as today. It is so fun seeing these comparisons. It’s another reminder to me me of how fast children grow, how fast families change, and how important it is to get great portraits over the years. I really love the personality in each of these images.

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With each shoot over the years, I photographed each new child to create a personal wall collage. Here’s an example of this boy’s collage from the past when he was much younger.

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Every child has their own collage at about the same age. For the newest little sister, we did a collage for her on this new shoot.

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And another one of just her alone.

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Here is a new collage I did of all the kids at this recent shoot. They were such a fun bunch that day. They were so excited and were an absolute blast. You can see how fun the shoot was from these images as well as their individual personalities.

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It’s hard to describe how grateful that I am to be a photographer, and to be able to do this for a living. I love that I can create and preserve memories for my clients and create real heirlooms that are enjoyed for years. It’s working on jobs like this that makes it feel all the more important, especially when I see these young children grow and change over time. And it was gratifying to deliver this order and see portraits from the past that I had created, hanging in the home.

So thank you to these clients and everyone else for hiring me over the years and allowing me to create images for you. And if you are looking for some updated portraits, there is no better time than now to set it up. Give me a call, 801-728-3317.

It’s Time for Outdoor Summer Family Portraits with Bry Cox

Warm weather is here, the studio gardens are green, and it’s time again too book your summer family portraits and get the best availability.

One reason families sometimes put off getting portraits, is that they want to wait for the “perfect” time. They think that later they will look better, look younger, or then if they wait longer at least everyone will be married, but then they wait until everyone has their children, and then wait until everyone is home from school, …and the reasons keep on going.

But the truth is that now is really the best time. Families change and loved ones pass, and sometimes it’s too late to get a full updated family portrait. We all know that there is no perfect time, so let’s capture your family right now as it is currently. And if your worry is how you will look, remember that I will light and position you in such a way that you will love the results.

Here is large extended family group, created right here in the outdoor gardens. I work to position and light everyone in just the right way so that the overall image has emotional impact.

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During the portrait session, I will also photograph smaller groups. For this session here, that meant that I photographed each individual family as well as a group portrait of the grand children. This way, every group has a new updated portrait if they’d like, but these images will also look great as a series of prints or as a wall grouping.

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Here are all the grand children together…

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…as well as the original family…

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…and just parents.

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One of my favorite things about being a photographer is creating family heirlooms and works of art that will be enjoyed for decades. I work hard to mix technical excellence with emotion and great lighting so that you look great and love your new wall pieces.

Now is the time to book your family portrait. Give me a call at 801-728-3317. It’s always such an honor to be able to create something like this for people, and I’d love to create something wonderful for you.

Until next time, America.

 

Healey’s Family of 40

It is always important to get family portraits, and right now is especially an important time for the Healey family, and I feel really honored that they hired me to create the portraits for their entire family.

Overall, their entire group was about 40 people, including married children and grandkids. We set up in their family yard during a wind storm and rainy week, and miraculously found a dead spot from the weather. Their yard made for a fantastic backgound and the images all loom wonderful.

I’m excited to post them today, even though the web just can’t do them justice. This first image is now a beautiful canvas hanging over their fireplace.

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I love this large grouping. Everyone is positioned comfortably and realistically, the entire shape is balanced and keeps your eye moving, the expressions on everyone are real and happy, the background has depth and texture but is dark enough that it isn’t distracting, and lighting on everyone though difficult, looks amazing.

Big groups are more difficult to do right than you’d think, but they are very satisfying. I really love how this portrait turned out.  It has to be my new favorite.

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With every large family group, I also like to do smaller groups. Above is the original children gathered around their folks, and below is each individual family.Cox_JHealey-F-125

Each family is grouped and lit a little differently depending on the family, but the overall look of each group matches in case people want to create a wall grouping and hang these portraits near each other.Cox_JHealey-F-134

Each family has their own personality and every child looks great. I really love photographing families and especially love getting little kids to all look cute and smile. It’s more than just doing some tricks to get a smile, but rather work to get each child to show their personality in both the pose and their expression. These little boys below look perfect. I especially love the tough pose of the boy standing and leaning into his mother.

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When people are positioned right, lit right, and they have a real and believable expression, the result is a portrait that is fun to look at, and yet classic and timeless.

Cox_JHealey-F-171These little girls below were so funny and wiggly, I was surprised to get any images with all of their feet down on the ground. They were so giddy and were laughing so hard at everything I did, that it was cracking me up too.

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And finally, here is the couple that started this big group. I really liked this image of the two of them.

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Again, it was a real pleasure to work with everyone in this family. I loved all of the groupings and families, and love how everything turned out. I always feel it an honor to create and capture memories for people, but especially for this family. I really love these images and hope that they all do to.

Until next time, America.

Ryan Shupe’s Outdoor Family Portraits

Warm weather is coming and people are calling and thinking about outdoor family portraits. And though I can photograph families inside at any time of year, the subject of talking about families made me want to post family portraits that I didn’t get a change to post during the crazy Christmas rush.

Today’s posting is Ryan Shupe’s family. We did this grouping in the mountains near his home. With any outdoor group portrait, I pack in and set up a lot of gear and lighting equipment so that each subject is lit perfectly.

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There is a push caused by new photographers to use “natural” light, but what that really means is haphazard lighting without any control. The truth is that controlled lighting should look natural, help create depth, and make people look amazing.

So after the standing group, I did a close sitting grouping. I always like to do a few different groupings of families so that people have choices. They really loved this close, black and white one.

Cox_RShupe-F-177And of course, some cute pics of the children. I was able to get all the children looking at me and smiling except the tiny baby. But she still looks cute and the overall image has a lot of personality.

 

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Then we did some images of just the boys. And though I had other options from this grouping, their favorite was the one with the smallest boy laughing and falling down.

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…and just the little girls. I got a great smile on the baby in this image.

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And then some individual of each child. These are great for wall groupings or album pages. You’ll notice a lot of personality in each child’s portraits and looking back on these in years to come will make them even more valuable.

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Family portraits are always a joy to create, and I’m always honored to be able to create them. I feel they are really invaluable in years to come and that’s it’s important that they are done just right.

Give me a call to set up your appointment. 801-728-3317

Until next time, America.

 

 

Prete Family Portraits

This week I finished and delivered this beautiful canvas wall print to the Prete family. It’s always hard to get families together, and in this case their youngest son had just returned from serving a Mormon mission. It was the perfect chance to get everyone together.

We did these in the studio, and created a few options. This first image was the favorite for the wall canvas.

Cox_Prete-F-115---36in-CanvasIt’s always nice to have some options when it comes to family groupings, and this one below was perfect for smaller table sized prints.

Cox_Prete-F-108---8x10During the shoot I like to do smaller groups, and in this case created a trio collage of their married children and single son. I really like the colors and the natural triangle shape or arc created by the faces.

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Photographing this family was a real honor for me as I’d known them for many years. It’s always fun for me to create family portraits for people, and this particular project was really fulfilling.

I’m sure your family is constantly changing, and perhaps because of that you’re putting off getting a family portrait. But remember that’s exactly why right now is the perfect time to come in and get a new and updated family portrait. If you are at all unsure, then please see my guarantee.

Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and let’s talk about current promotions, clothing and locations, and let’s set up a time to create something amazing for your home and for future generations to enjoy.

Until next time, America.

 

 

Adelaide’s Baby Portraits

I had the honor of photographing little baby Adelaide before she went in for heart surgery. She was so tiny, cute, and adorable, and was a joy to play with. In fact, it was hard to pick out my favorites, so I took some of her many expressions and created this composite — the many faces of Adelaide.

And this series of her playing in her mom’s suitcase full of baby clothes made a great trio design. I love her waving in the 3rd image.

And to finish things off, we did a family grouping with her parents. She was so perfect, she posed and smiled in almost every image, though this was my favorite.

She was really a doll and a pleasure to have in the studio. She’s doing much better now too and I look forward to seeing even more of her through the years.

Wonderful Outdoor Family Portraits + Summer Promo

It’s summer, and now is the best time for family portraits plus, I have a great promotion running making it even more affordable than before! Right now when you call for family portraits, you’ll get a free session at the studio or outside in the studio gardens, and a free 11×14 ($199 value) with any wall print (size 16×20 and up)!

Family portraits are very important, not only to have now, but to have and look back on later in life.

I recently had the opportunity to photograph some relatives of mine. This is my uncle and aunt and their children (my cousins). It’s always extra special and fun to photograph relatives and create something lasting, because it’s for people that I have known my whole life and personally care about. In 20 years, when we all look back at this portrait, it’s nice to know that I was able to create this for them.

I love the close composition of this image, the relaxed feel, the real and wonderful expressions, the beautiful diagonals, and the exquisite lighting. The finished portrait was a 40″ canvas for their home.

We also did a series of 11x14s of the couples and children in b&w to match the decor of the room. We framed them all with black and silver frames, and the results were stunning.

It’s time for a new updated portrait of your family. Give me a call, the studio gardens are lush and beautiful, the weather is great, and I have a new, fantastic promotion running. Call now!! 801-728-3317 to set up a time. And feel free to browse my main website at BryCox.com.