McKenzie Fashion Shoot On Location

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.

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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.

A Sneak Peek from Kami’s Wedding at the Salt Lake Temple

This weekend I photographed Kami and Mark’s wedding at the Salt Lake Temple. It was a beautiful and windy spring day. The air was refreshingly brisk and though it never rained, the sky had drama. It made for a great environment to create some very romantic wedding images. I really love weather! Here are a couple early favorites that really stand out to me. This is a great couple and were a blast to work with.

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Now that the wedding is shot, I begin the sorting process. I look through each image and begin laying out their big and beautiful album. That is a long process and today is the first overview. And as I was looking at them, I thought it’d be fun to share a few exciting images right now before things get designed. The bride and groom are off on their honeymoon, and I hope they see these gorgeous images today.

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If you’d like to see how my albums are finished, check out this video. My albums continue to win awards.

 So if you’re a bride, give me a call. Let’s create something amazing for your wedding. 801-728-3317

And until next time, America.

Caribbean Art Images Created Mostly with Point-And-Shoot Camera

I recently went on a cruise with some friends to get away from the cold weather, create some unique art prints, and recharge my creative spirits. One of the things I found fun was to create as many art images as I could with just my small point-and-shoot camera on manual. Now that I’m home, I thought I’d post some of my favorite images.

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This first image is a multi-image panorama created at the Bahama port at sunrise.

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Looking down off my room’s balcony into the water of the Bahamas.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox

© BryCox.com, Bry Cox These images were created in the St. Thomas area.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox

I really like photographing people and faces, even if they are strangers I meet when I travel. This man had such an interesting look to me. I went over and talked with him for a bit while on the island of St. John. He plays in a reggae band. I made sure to position myself with the blue water behind him before creating this image of him. I loved the look in his eye and the stark contrast of colors framed with the deep blue water.

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Then we stopped in Puerto Rico. There is an old fort there with a lighthouse, and most of my images from this island were created there.
© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox
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© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox The last stop was Grand Turks. It had one of the prettiest beaches. It was a very small island, only 1 mile wide and 7 miles long. The port is at one end, and I paid a local guy to drive me to the other end to photograph a lighthouse. I love searching out and photographing lighthouses when out of town. © BryCox.com, Bry Cox

The lighthouse was not the typical lighthouse, set on a rocky ledge. It was set back quite a ways and surrounded by odd buildings, trees and wild donkeys. With the time of day also not being ideal, I decided to photograph this lighthouse in high-contrast black and white. I also shot some with a shift-lens to blur out areas I didn’t like in the image.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry CoxHere is a pirate statue that guards the door of a building right next to the lighthouse.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox

By then it was time to get back on ship. This is a look towards our boat on the right, from the Grand Turk docks. The sun was setting so I hurried on board to photograph the sunset from the boat.© BryCox.com, Bry Cox © BryCox.com, Bry Cox Once on board, I hustled up to the top deck to finish photographing the sunset.
© BryCox.com, Bry CoxAnd one last image of this man undocking our ship, shot through the guard rail, creating a cool ‘Z’ shape in white.© BryCox.com, Bry CoxIt was a great and relaxing trip, but it is good to be home. Let me know what some of your favorite images are. I’m curious what others like. I will add some to my art site soon, once I narrow them down a bit.

Until next time, America.

Marisa’s Engagement and Bridals

I recently photographed Marisa’s wedding and thought about posting her engagements and bridals here to celebrate her wedding day, but I didn’t want her fiancé Ben to accidentaly see the bridals before the ceremony. So I am now sharing these images and am excited for you all to see them. I’m starting with some of her bridal images. Because it was a cold fall day, we started inside in the warm studio to create these.

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Marisa looks so elegant and beautiful in these images. There were so many great images, it was hard to pick some favorites, but these were some of them.Cox_Marisa02 Cox_Marisa03

At one point, the rain seemed to stop so we hurried outside and shot a bit in the leaves. This dancing trio is a collection of some of our favorite images outside before the rain started up again.

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And here are some of Marisa and Ben’s engagements. We did a mix session with multiple studio backgrounds and lighting setups as well as some outdoor images as well in the studio gardens.Cox_Marisa05 Cox_Marisa06 Cox_Marisa07

These two were so fun to photograph and are such a great couple. We were laughing most of the time when we weren’t shooting. I think they look great together and I am excited that they found each other.

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I really love how these images turned out. They had a great variety of images and the display of images at the wedding reception looked amazing. Cox_Marisa10

And to close, here is a sneak peek of the wedding day. Though the album will take some time to design, this is one of my favorites from the day. I will for sure share their entire wedding album once it is ready.

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If you are getting married now is the time to give me a call and reserve your day as it is that time of year when brides are booking dates. Or feel free to just call me and ask any questions you may have. 801-728-3317

And until next time, America.

Sari’s Wedding Album, Timpanogas LDS Temple

Sari’s album is all finished and I’m so excited for her to see it! Here are some of the album design pages from her book. Each of these images below is a double-page album spread, that is printed without a seam, and mounted and coated in the book. Below these images is a short video explaining how the book looks, and even shows this actual book.

Cox_Sari_05Sari is one of my close, dear friends from years ago, and we had a blast shooting at the temple. It was so fun seeing her get married, and her and her husband make a great couple. The weather that day at the Timpanogos LDS temple was gorgeous, and I love how beautiful she looks in all of her images.

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These two images are big photographs in the book and are each double-page spreads. They look amazing in the book.Cox_Sari_07

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Sari was a joy to photograph. She is beautiful, fun, and very photogenic and her dress was gorgeous. These images are just some of the highlights from the first half of the book at the temple, and second half of the book that covers the reception at her home was beautiful as well. Her yard looked amazing and made for a great backdrop. Here’s one double-page spread from her home.

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I created a video today talking about my albums because they are hard to portray on the web, and I used Sari’s book as my first sample. 🙂

Below is Sari’s entire design, set to the music of my sister as a slideshow. 

If you are getting married, give me a call and let’s talk about your big day, 801-728-3317. You can also see more wedding album designs on my main website at BryCox.com.

And until next time, America.

Video About My Custom Wedding Albums

Today I took some time to record a video about my wedding albums. They are so unique and so beautiful and gorgeous, that people really do have to see them to fully appreciate them. But people are busy and some of my clients live in other states, so today I set up the video camera and some lights and shot some video of me talking about and showing some of my albums.

See what you think.

If you’d like to see more weddings, you can look both here on my blog, as well as on my main website, BryCox.com.

If you’re getting married, give me a call and let’s talk more about your wedding details and meet if possible so you can look through some of my wedding albums firsthand. My number is 801-728-3317

And until next time, America.

Outdoor Snow Portraits of Lowe Family

Christmas is a great time for creating family portraits because it’s one of the rare times that families are all together. For lots of reasons, snow is really difficult to shoot in, but when done right it makes a great backdrop and can set a mood of warmth and love.

Here is the Lowe family that I photographed during their vacation outside their cabin in the Utah mountains, one of the rare times they were all together because they are a family of traveling world-class musicians (9Lowes.com).

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Being a family of performers, they are also very fun with each other and somehow the idea of a crazy photo came up, so we created this one as well.

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If your family is going to be together for the holidays and you would like me to come create an updated family portrait, then give me a call, 801-728-3317. It could be outside or even inside your home. Call me and we can talk about options.

And until next time, America.

 

Great Smoky Mountains

I just got back from speaking to photographers at the Tennessee Professional Photographers convention outside of Knoxville. Before I flew out, a few of us got up at 5:00 am to drive to the top of the Smoky Mountains to photograph the sunrise. Because of the rain storm, the sun didn’t rise as expected, but I did get some great moody images.

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It was a beautiful morning, but I wasn’t prepared with gear for rain or scenics. I only had my sport coat and a small travel tripod. I used the rain cover for my camera bag for my head. I was happy to later see that one of the photographers with us, Al Gordon, shot this image of me. I really appreciate it because I never get images of myself working, and I like this image.Me-in-the-Smokys-700p

On the way down the mountain, the sky started to clear a little and we pulled over to get this series of mist and fog rising in the distance. Cox_SmokyMts-172-Pano-b Cox_SmokyMts-152-Pano

It was a great group in Tennessee, and I loved the area we were in. It was especially nice to get out and take these scenics before I ran off to the airport to fly home. Thanks to everyone who came to the event, and for everyone else, I will soon have these up on my art site, BryCoxART.com.

Until next time, America.

 

Rachelle’s Bridals and First View Portraits

I am so glad to have been the photographer for Rachelle’s wedding events. She is so beautiful and full of life that her images just glow. This is her bridal shoot which also included some portraits with her groom, and so we started off the shoot as a first view – where the groom sees her in her gown for the first time. His reaction is golden!

I took the entire shoot and created this slideshow for their wedding reception, and thought it’d be fun to share it on my blog too.

And here are some of the images from the shoot.

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Bridal portraits are taken before the wedding so that images can be created for display at the wedding reception, and to create the type of images that you normally don’t have time for on a wedding day. Cox_RSnow_B-813-bwI love the lines framing the bride and the lighting shaping her and drawing you into where she is standing.

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And here is one from outside, using the blue sky and shadows to frame and create interest around the couple.Cox_RSnow_B-755

Rachelle is a dancer, so you’ll notice the dancing images of her in the video above. The entire shoot was a blast despite the sweltering heat that day. But it made for some beautiful blue skies and directional lighting.

If you are a new bride, give me a call. I’d love to work with you and create some fantastic photographs for you. 801-728-3317

And until next time, America.

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.

Blake’s Senior Portrait Sneak Preview

Because school is starting this week, I’m showing a sneak peek of Blake’s senior portraits. We did a Senior Mix Session with an additional location, and here’s what we got! Blake is a drummer, so to showcase that talent, we set up his drums along with a portable studio setup of lights and equipment out in one of my favorite desert locations. The jumping ones were my favorites and I really liked the storm clouds we had that day. It made for some great drama in the sky.

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We also did a full session in the studio with a number of different setups. Here is one of my favorites from his black and white series using a very unique lighting setup. The resulting look is hip, edgy, and modern.Cox_BJohnson-sr-114b-edge

This next image at the pool wasn’t shot at a pool at all, but actually created completely in the studio! Senior portraits should show who you are and what you like to do. Doing this image at the studio gives me the creativity to create the best image possible with the most custom lighting.

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And of course, senior portraits are always fun with a cap and gown.

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In 20 years looking back to today, what are you going to want to remember about your senior year? Let’s create a portrait for you that shows in a unique and professional way who you are right now.

If you are a high school senior and especially if you are a friend of Blake’s, I can create some amazing portraits of YOU, and right now is the BEST time to get in for some senior portraits! I have some awesome promotions going on, plus the weather is great for outdoor sessions.

Here’s what to do:

(1) Call me at the studio to set up a time, ask any questions you have, and let’s talk about some fun ideas for your shoot, 801-728-3317.

(2) Start thinking of fun outfits you may want to bring, maybe go shopping for a new outfit or two, and most importantly, don’t forget some props that say something about you, like wake boards, a basketball, musical instrument, skis, motorcycle helmet, dance shoes, …anything!

(3) Bring your mom or a friend to the shoot so they can be a part of the whole experience.

(4) And don’t forget your iPod so that you have your favorite music playing during the shoot.

I will post more images from Blake’s shoot soon! Keep tuned in!!