About the FACES Project
This project started with a call from Salt Lake County Mayor Jenny Wilson’s office. The Mayor needed a photographer to capture portraits of unique county residents – mostly immigrants – to be featured in an art gallery show. The event would launch an accompanying art book titled “Faces of Salt Lake County.”
I would have no say in choosing the people or their clothing, and I wasn’t given background information about the
individuals in advance. So I needed to creatively solve a few difficulties:
• Create visual cohesion with over forty individuals, each choosing their own clothing;
• Visually capture each unique personality, meeting them only at the photoshoot;
• Deliver high-end gallery prints and coffee-table art books on a tight timeline.
Artistic & Cohesive
First, for artistic reasons and knowing the images would be publicly displayed as a set, I opted for black and white. This would create visual cohesion regardless of the colors people wore. Second, with a high-contrast look created by dark shadows, I could draw the viewers eye to the face while accentuating textures of the face and clothes. Together, this would create stunning character portraits.
Presentation
In all I created over forty unique portraits for the “Faces of Salt Lake County” art gallery show – and printed 400
coffee-table art books.
Capturing True Essence
As a portrait photographer, it’s my job to bring out a person’s authentic personality and capture their true essence on film. But when in front of a camera, people hide themselves out of discomfort, trying to control their portrayal. How do I mitigate this?
First, I stage people while asking them rapid but fun questions, telling my own comedic stories. Our conversation and banter becomes their central focus and they forget my camera’s focus is on them. This brings out real laughter and natural expression. Second, I work extremely fast. A common but ineffective tactic of novice photographers is to shoot thousands of photos in hopes of getting a good one. These long, drawn-out shoots tire and stress people, and it shows in their portraits. I do the opposite. My shoots are quick but feel easy-going. I manage technical lighting and equipment effortlessly as we chat, so subjects don’t feel any stress from me as the artist. We’re done before people notice we’ve even started.
Lighting for Character
Using large light sources in portraits casts softer, more forgiving light on the face, filling in small lines and wrinkles. On the other hand, using small lights does the opposite – creating sharp shadows that are great for texture. This techniques captures so much character, but it’s incredibly difficult to get right. One slight change of angle can eclipse a face with the wrong shadow, ruining an image.
Because I wanted to portray character through the lines, texture, and story of deep shadows, I chose this latter
technique. Though there’s less room for error, especially when working quickly, the effect is incredibly powerful.
Additionally, I chose not to remove personal effects because they also add personality. If someone came in with a pen in their pocket, or sunglasses, or a watch – I left them as they add to the story of the individual.
News Coverage
Fox 13 Showcases “Faces of Salt Lake County” Book and Gallery Show
Fox 13’s show ‘The Place’ talked about the portraits, gallery show, and book of portraits I did for Salt Lake County, called “Faces of Salt Lake County.” They interviewed Chris Jones, Communications Director for the Salt Lake County Mayor’s office about our project. He does a great job explaining what this is all about. Here’s that interview.
I was interviewed by Salt Lake City Weekly about the portraits I created for the Faces of Salt Lake County.
They quoted me as saying:
“Everybody comes in as a stranger,” Cox says. “I start with, ‘Tell me about yourself,’ and they share some aspect of themselves, and they light up. I like to have conversations with people as I’m photographing them. … These were stories of gratitude, and they love living here.”
Cox also notes that, as much as the interview subjects were able to tell their stories through their words, his goal is also to tell a story through the portraits. “You have all these unique people, unique stories, unique faces, and how do you present it so it feels like you know a person?” he says.
“I sculpt people with light to capture their emotion—powerful, split-second moments frozen in time to tell the story of an individual,” he adds. “In some people I see strength, others excitement, and in others apprehension. But overall, I experienced their gratitude for the opportunity to live here in Utah.”