I was thinking about what shoot would be good to post for Christmas, and it hit me. It was obvious, the “Girls’ Christmas Pajama Party.” 🙂
These friends of mine had a fun pajama party together, and had me over to create some photographs. We hammed it up with a lot of fun photos and a pillow fight. 
Luckily they suggested we end the shoot with a picture of me. It saved me from having to suggest it. 😉
Merry Christmas, everyone! And until next time, America.
Kendra Lowe has been busy, and we’ve been creating new photos to keep up with all of her projects. She released a song and music video to raise money to fight sex trafficking, she just returned home from a tour of performances in France, Jordan, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia (in just the first part of 2016), and she’s been busy recording and arranging pieces for herself and other prominent musicians.
All of this means that she needs great photographs to send to various groups for printing and promo use as well as updating her website. So we’ve spent some time shooting images images of her performing and on stage plus commercial portraits in the studio.
Here are some of the images I’ve created of her recently. These first images are of her as music director of and while performing with David Archuleta.
And between shows we created this series of images of her playing keyboards and piano. Stage lighting is always difficult. The lights are never aiming where they should for a great portrait. So I adapted the stage lighting with reflectors and other various means to create the right atmosphere while giving me some great portrait lighting. I really like how these look.
And here are some of our favorites from the studio shoot. All great, and all showing different sides of her personality.
I was happy to be able to use my piano in part of the shoot too. 🙂
Not too long ago I created her a brand new website because she was being featured all over. She had just finished in one month doing Carnegie Hall, the Kennedy Center, a European Christmas Tour, and events with Mitt Romney, David Archuleta, Lexi Walker, and Lindsey Stirling. All of her free time was gobbled up creating arrangements and orchestrations for a number of groups like the LDS Church. Some of these gigs came as her role as the musical director, arranger, and pianist for Lexi Walker, a 12 year old singing prodigy who I photographed and posted about earlier.
That website is KendraLowe.com and we are in the process of adding even more to it now.
Some people are surprised to hear that I create websites, but I’ve been doing my own websites as well as sites for specific clients since the 1990’s. There are a lot of things I do as a photographer and designer to help my clients with their photographic needs. Most people need photographs for a specific commercial need, and many times I can keep the look and vision of the images throughout the entire entire process, which helps them save time and money. It looks extra professional when original design concepts are followed through from initial photography to final output.
If you are unfamiliar with Kendra, she plays the piano, violin, banjo, she sings, she orchestrates, she really does it all. You have to read her bio on her website. And here are a few more images we created before.
I like websites that are engaging and are photographically and visually impactful. For her opening page, we did a full bleed page that’s responsive and adjusts to the device and computer screen you’re viewing on. I wanted a variety of images, so I pulled photographs from past events too, like this recent event where she played for David Archuleta and Lexi Walker.
And this image where she sang with a full orchestra, …
If you need some great photographs for your business, or just would like a new photo of yourself that is impactful, give me a call at 801-728-3317. And make sure you check out ideas on my main website too, at BryCox.com. Happy New Year, and until next time, America.
Stephanie is a skilled acupuncturist here in Utah, and needed some new photographs for her business website. I convinced her to stick around the studio for some other fun model type images too because she is so photogenic. The shoot was a blast and the images are phenomenal and definitely show her personality. I created them to have a clean and welcoming look to both match her website and also to show her kind and caring personality, something prospects want to see when searching websites thinking about trying acupuncture.
She owns S. Gross Acupuncture & Chinese Medicine in Salt Lake City, and I can tell you from personal experience that she is very good at what she does. She studied extensively in California and also Beijing China and has an impressive bio.
When I recently broke a rib, I was hobbling around and having a hard time even opening doors without grimacing and hurting, all while being wrapped around the middle for support. About 30 minutes after my first visit with her, I was able to remove my wrap because the pain had subsided a great deal. I was really quite shocked, and follow up visits helped with my pain, relaxation, and also I know helped my healing go faster too.
I also had two out of town speaking gigs coming up that required me to move heavy equipment and shoot photographs in front of a crowd which requires agility. One of those events was a two-day TV show where I had to work on camera for viewers. I was concerned about my abilities at these events, and Stephanie had me moving so well that people had no clue I was injured.
For this photo shoot, we started with some images on white for her website of her smiling. We quickly had what we needed, so I began shooting some other unique type of images just for fun. These were mostly serious, focusing on depth and beauty, and using specific lighting for her eyes and cheekbones. This first black and white image is really captivating and one of my favorites from the entire shoot, but all of these are quite stunning. It was hard to pick favorites.
Thank you Stephanie for being a model for me in the studio, and if any of you are thinking of trying acupuncture, give her a call. It’s surprising how many things acupuncture can treat, so talk to her and see what she can do for you.
And if you need some wonderful photos for your business or website, give me a call at 801-728-3317. I’d love to create something great for you.
Until next time, America.
One fun way to shoot outside in the colder seasons of Utah when nothing is in bloom is to shoot downtown in the city, using the textures and buildings as a background. Of course that only works for certain kinds of shoots and all the elements have to work together for an artistic theme, which is why this is such fun shoot to share. I think it is a great shoot where all of this works perfectly.
First, Andraia’s clothing choice of warm and black tones not only blended well with the colors of the city, but it also made her stand out and created a fun style for this fashion shoot. And secondly, she moves really well and takes direction perfectly which is really needed because lighting people in a city takes a bit of work. I need to light her to compliment her and also light for the background to create depth, and all the while be non-intrusive with the various stands and pieces of gear I’m setting up so that people walking by don’t trip or break my stuff. Yet the look is that no one is there and the whole image pops.
I like these long lines of the pillars with her standing full length. The straight lines of the pillars and the angles of the steps are a nice juxtaposition against her curves and her stance. Plus it’s fun to have that splash of blue up in the far corner for balance.
Below, Andraia’s serious expression and the perfect material of her outfit is all contrasted against the old ragged stone.
Down an alleyway, some elements and lines in the wall worked great for visual balance for this photo.
But the overall look and pose make me think of a painting too, so I took some time to create one of my unique paintings. I have creative ideas before I start but the painting process makes me change my mind and therefore I never really know what I’ll end up with. Here I ended up completely changing the background to a more abstract and textured background and I love how every part of this turned out.
In this area, I really liked the gold railing and set up using an angle that made for a nice complimentary background while also hiding a lot of distracting things as well. But here we were more exposed to the street because we were right on the sidewalk. That meant getting a lot of distracting attention from passerbys who would stop, gather around, watch, or even yell questions to us. We even got some whistles. Yet, Andraia was a pro and wasn’t distracted, and continued to take great direction, move well, and even throw me a genuine smile for this shot.
It is always a pleasure to shoot Andraia, and this shoot provided too many great images to choose from. But these are some of my favorites.
Warm weather is coming, and it’s a great time to make an appointment for your photo shoot. But no matter the weather, I know just how to create some great images for you. Give me a call at 801-728-3317 and also check out my portfolio website at BryCox.com. My studio is located in Utah north of Salt Lake City, and I do shoots everywhere – inside my studio, outdoors in my studio gardens, all over Utah, Ogden, Salt Lake City, and Provo, to jobs out of state as well. My skill is making you look great and doing it with lighting. That means I’ll make you look great and I’ll capture you in unique and fun ways that others can’t copy.
Until next time, America.
I recently spoke for Adobe at the two big national photographic conventions, PPA in Nashville and WPPI in Vegas. The week leading up to the second convention I photographed Jessica, and used her shoot as my demo for the crowd in Vegas to teach workflow and retouching. It worked great because it was a fun photoshoot that involved some problem solving.
We had a batch of warm weather and planned something outside, but it turned out to be a very cold day in Utah instead. And because of time constraints, our first choice for a location shoot fell through and we instead met at a parking lot between us where there was no “traditionally great” place to shoot. But we set out to find something that would hide the brown, dead, winter look of Utah, and also possibly block some of the heavy and cold winter wind of the day. And with some creativity and lighting skills, I know that any background can work.
Jessica spotted this awesome bright red double-decker bus and we set up. The wind was cold and pretty heavy, I believe hitting 20 mph that day. But the wind was blocked on this far side and the sky was on a great angle from the sun to really go blue when mixed with some lighting techniques that would also knock down the harshness of the sun.
Jessica is great in front of the camera. She’s relaxed, she moves well, and she responds perfectly to direction. I love the emotion and action between these images in this trio above. The deep colors, her hair blowing, her laugh – it all really makes this set incredibly interesting.
We also did some work on the side of the bus to put the sun behind us, but the wind was a lot stronger here so we didn’t last long. But here is one of my favorites with her hair blowing in the wind. And with the warm beautiful colors, you’d never know it was freezing cold. However, between setups, she was bundled up in coats. She was a good sport.
We didn’t have much time left, so I thought of finishing up inside somewhere warmer. There was a nearby hotel where a friend used to be night manager, and so we walked over and asked to use their lobby for a few minutes. This is Jessica as we were walking in, wearing my down parka backwards on top of her own layers.
We took about 20 minutes or so in the hotel’s lobby, and got a great variety of amazing images. There is a lot of expression and changes of mood in these images, and notice too how the lighting changes from shot to shot to constantly highlight her cheekbones as she moves. There were so many fun images and every one shows a different side of Jessica and I couldn’t cut any out. In fact I thought they worked great as a series so I used them all and created this square collage.
Though my program for Adobe was on retouching techniques, the big secret is to of course do everything with lighting so that no retouching or adjustments are required. And then when you retouch, it should be subtle so that everything looks natural. That’s what really makes women look great.
But as a side note, none of the images in these collages have had any retouching or adjustments. And yet her eyes pop, her skin glows (and isn’t gray or muddy), the angles of light and the color balance are all right on so she looks great and the background colors pop – and add to that Jessica’s graceful movements and her fun personality and we have one killer shoot.
This colors of the couch and wall worked great with her outfit so I made a trio (above) and felt this one long shot below was really interesting and captivating, so I used it as the basis for a painting.
And here is the final painting.
And on the way out of the lobby was a big leaf mural. I shot a few closing images by it and did some texture work to the background.
Well there you go, one great shoot created on a very cold and windy day while finding new and unique places to shoot.
If you were a photographer who attended my speaking event then you can see how the collages and and other ideas all came together. If you’re a model or a high school senior and want fantastic images, now is the time to book. And if you’re a bride and want to look great no matter where your wedding is located or what the weather is like, give me a call. 801-728-3317. I know just how to make women look great, so call me and let’s talk about your dream portrait.
And until next time, America.
Lexi Walker‘s YouTube video of her singing “Let it Go” from Frozen has over 50 million views. Being only 12 years old, she has fantastic control of her voice, and she’s getting more and more gigs like singing on TV shows, for various events, and with musicians like Michael Martin Murphy. All of this means that she needed some really cool new portraits for press kits, gigs, and web use.
Years ago I named my studio, “BryCox.com – Celebrity Style Imaging” because of my unique style of focusing on lighting and emotion. I don’t just take pictures of people, I work to create portraits that tell stories. For this shoot, Lexi is a very talented and beautiful girl. I wanted to show professionalism, skill and stage presence, but also show that she is a young 12 year old and fun-loving kid.
Lexi was such a fun girl to shoot. Even though she is young, she is very intelligent and precocious, and was fun to laugh and talk with. The shoot was a blast, and the images really show her personality.
If you are needing some new portraits that stand out and are completely different from the norm, give me a call at 801-728-3317. Though I am a Utah based photographer, I do work all over. Besides offering you options here at my studio and in my outdoor gardens, I do a lot of location work in Salt Lake City, throughout Utah, and out of state.
Call me and let’s create something wonderful for you.
Until next time, America.
I recently photographed Abby in my studio for my recent lighting video tutorials for photographers. Abby is a talented architectural and interior designer, and was at my studio because I was working on some interior images for her and designing un updated website for her business. (I think it would be a good idea to post about her business on my blog actually. I will do that!)
So I needed a studio model for my tutorial and talked her into doing a quick shoot when we were done. The shoot went great and the images look beautiful.
As you can see, Abby is a great model. She’s beautiful and fun to shoot, and did well and showed a lot of personality in front of the camera. All of the images looked great, and it was hard to pick any favorites. I especially liked this series of three images below.
These video tutorials were created because as I’ve taught and spoke around the country, I’ve found that most photographers admit to having personal difficulties when they light either inside or outside. One or the other seems to be harder, so this video series is to help give photographers a specific system that works everywhere. It shows that lighting inside is no different than lighting outside. The system shows that in all instances, you should light people specifically and beautifully, and always control exposure, lighting, and color balance. When done right, images straight out of the camera do not need retouching or correction. So if you want to spend time on the computer, it can be creative work and not corrective work.
Though I may speak and shoot images all over the US, I’m a Utah based photographer and my studio is about 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake, out in the quiet country. Here I have both indoor and outdoor options. I have a half acre of trees where I can shoot outside, but also a beautiful studio inside. This means I can photograph people in a variety of locations without travel fees.
However, sometimes when people don’t want studio images. This is based on the awful images created in grocery store or mall studios, or even the 1990’s type studio images. But a studio used in the right way means getting some very modern images with some very specific and controlled lighting. It’s not uncommon for clients to come to me for some outdoor portraits but then choose the indoor studio images are their top favorites.
So if you need some awesome images, give me a call. Maybe you need a portrait for your website or business, or you would like some fashion images or some portfolio work, or just some updated family portraits. If so, give me a call. It’s a great time to get in for either an outdoor or indoor session. 801-728-3317.
And until next time, America.
My friend Kendra Lowe is featured today on the Mormon Tabernacle Choir blog. The opening photo is the image I created for her, to be used in exactly this way, for musical bios and write-ups.
It’s quite an honor for her to be featured by the choir, as it is world-famous. Founded in 1947, it is a 360-member, all-volunteer choir, part of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints (LDS Church). Called “America’s Choir” by President Ronald Reagan, the choir is completely self-funded, recording albums for support.
Kendra has performed with the Choir before, and on June 24, 2014 Kendra will accompany David Archuleta for a worldwide live Facebook chat.
Kendra is a good friend of mine and a great musician. She’s a full time composer, arranger, and performer, and she plays multiple instruments like the piano, banjo, and violin exceptionally well. She has perfect pitch, she performed with the Utah Symphony at age 6, was the Assistant Executive Director of Utah’s Stadium of Fire show, toured with David Archuleta (of American Idol fame), and is a constant studio musician.
We really had a great time during this photo shoot and the image above is one of my favorites from the shoot. In fact, I actually posted about this shoot on my blog at the time and you can see it here, but here are some of my other favorites.
If you need something more than the normal photograph, and instead desire some iconic images that also tell a story of who you are, then give me a call. I’d love to create something wonderful for you. 801-728-3317.
And until next time, America.
Photographers love overcast days, because it means they can shoot “naturally,” not doing anything to add or control lighting or even thinking about it sadly. It’s a lazy way to work, and the results are flat and dull images that require layers of “filters” to give them any type of punch or contrast. So for my recent lighting video tutorials for photographers, I photographed Heather on location on an overcast day to share with photographers how to control lighting in any scenario, even on these days with natural dull, overcast light. I like images to pop, to have vibrant colors and have depth in the contrast, but it should be done in the camera and with lighting controlled on the scene.
Interestingly, we where shooting in an area of Salt Lake City that is popular with photographers, and the place was almost over-run with photo shoots everywhere. Photographers were waiting in line to shoot in the same spots, and nowhere did I see anyone controlling their lighting. Every photographer I watched was using the natural dull light of the day, or were using an on-camera flash incorrectly. So it seemed apropos to be doing the exact opposite as everyone else, as part of my master lighting tutorial series.
Heather was such a great model. She moved naturally and gracefully, and had a way of always giving a real expressions throughout the shoot. We had a lot of fun laughing throughout the shoot and it was a blast.
I really like this dress of Heather’s too. The color popped against the low-key colors of the area, plus the retro look was a lot of fun, and she made it look great.
I also really like that in the images, the place looks empty. We had to find the right angles as well as time images in such a way as to avoid getting people in the shots, because really there were people on all sides of us. However, you would never know it from the images. The place looks empty, and Heather’s looks and expressions were never distracted.
If you know a photographer, send them to my lighting tutorials. And if you’d like some new portraits, spring is ending and warm weather is here. The studio gardens here at my place are in full bloom and now is the best time to get in for some new portraits. Call me at 801-728-3317 and let’s block some time off to shoot you some great images.
And until next time, America.
Photographers usually have difficulty in lighting either inside or outside. One tends to be easier and the other is harder. So for my recent lighting video tutorials for photographers, I photographed Stephanie here in the studio, showing that lighting inside is no different than lighting outside. In all instances, you should light people specifically and beautifully, and always control exposure, lighting, and color balance. When done right, images straight out of the camera do not need retouching or correction. So if you want to spend time on the computer, it can be creative work and not corrective work.
With that in mind, here are the images I created during Stephanie’s shoot. I really love this first one, the colors, the textures, the look and expression — everything draws you in. For the creative work, I turned it into one of my signature texture pieces. They are fun to create and no two are ever the same.
Here is another one of my signature textured pieces, but this one is a different outfit and of her smiling. I think she really glows in this, and I really love the light on her hair, which has a soft flow to it.
And with a change of outfits, this trio below is awesome. I love the different moods and expressions, and the different ways of leaning really helps this entire piece balance well.
Though I do work all over the US, I’m a Utah based photographer and my studio is about 30 minutes outside of Salt Lake, out in the quiet country. Here I have a half acre of trees where I can shoot outside, but also a beautiful studio inside so people can have options without travel fees.
Sometimes when people hear “studio,” they think of a boring 1990’s type image. But as you can see from these images, my studio portraits are far from boring.
So if you need some awesome images, give me a call. Maybe you need some fashion images or some portfolio work, or just some updated family portraits. Well warm weather is here and it’s a great time to get in and avoid the summer rush. 801-728-3317.
And until next time, America.
McKenzie is a joy to photograph, so for my recent lighting video tutorials for photographers, we went out and did a shoot in the hardest of situations — on location, no shade, broad daylight, multiple flashes, and all settings on manual for camera and flashes. The goal was to show photographers how to create amazing images under any circumstances without excuse, and with perfect lighting using any type of gear. The exposure, lighting, and color balance should all be done deliberately and should not have to be adjusted afterwards with software and people’s eyes should pop without any retouching.
We did the shoot cold too, not scouting the locations or picking the angles prior to the shoot. Everything we shot was organic and real, and you see how I do everything. We found the spots by simply driving out to an area with no possibility of shade, then we pulled over and began to shoot. Here are some of my favorite images of beautiful McKenzie.
Being a Utah based photographer near Salt Lake City, there is a plethora of cool locations to shoot if you know how to use them and make them work dramatically in the image. They don’t have to be the same spots that everyone else uses.
I should mention too that these have almost no retouching or enhancements. In the tutorials I show the before and after of each image. The deep blue sky, the great skin tones, the sculpting shadows — everything is real and done in-camera. McKenzie moves really well too. She’s great and posing naturally and at giving real expressions. Together we make a great team!
If you need some awesome images for any reason, give me a call. Maybe you need some fashion images or some portfolio work, or just some updated images of your children. Warm weather is here and it’s a great time to get in and avoid the summer rush. 801-728-3317.
And until next time, America.
While on my Caribbean cruise, I found myself imagining photo shoots on the boat. I was spotting areas that would be perfect for a shoot, especially with the rails and sunsets. I asked a friend of mine Rava, who owns a dress company specializing in very unique dresses from Tahiti to pose for me. Here’s what we created.
I had a very limited amount of gear with me, but it was enough to create the custom lighting I needed to both sculpt her as well as bring out the awesome skies in the background. I really love how these turned out.
She was a great model and the shoot was a fun break to get away from the crowd on the boat and be creative. I find it interesting that sometimes I need to get away from the studio and relax, and other times I need to get away from relaxing and shoot something and be creative. This trip was a mix of both. I didn’t have internet or phone service for that week, which meant being completely off the grid: no email, no voicemail, no Facebook, no news. It was odd at first but also very relaxing. But I also went hoping to create beautiful images of places I had never been. It’s fun to shoot abstracts and scenics, but I also love faces. You’ll notice in my previous post of art images from the Caribbean, faces I met along the way. But it is also fun for me to create portraits with my Master style of custom lighting using an exotic location as a background.
Well there are some of my favorites from the shoot. And it’s good to be home too and working hard again in the studio. I’m sure there’s a reason you need some new portraits, and this month is a great time to get in the studio. Give me a call and let’s create something awesome for you. 801-728-3317
Until next time, America.