Oct 8, 2012 | Destinations, Photos, Travel
This past week was a dream come true! I traveled to Italy to study under two of the world’s most admired portrait and wedding photographers –
Canon Explorer of Light, Clay Blackmore and best selling author and composition lens-master
David Ziser.
Each day, from dawn till dusk we immersed ourselves in our craft – practicing advanced off-camera lighting techniques, window lighting, composition, and talked business & marketing, post production and so much more – all in one of the most scenic places in the world, a 15th century castle in Tuscany.
We practiced with professional models from Milan (and soon-to-be models) on the grounds of the Palazzo Sarteano, a historical castle and farm hidden among spectacular oaks, pines, vineyards, olive groves, ponds, and creeks.
If you have read the great book, “7 Habits of Highly Effective People”, you’ll remember chapter 7, “Sharpen the Saw.” Sharpen the Saw means preserving and enhancing the greatest asset you have – yourself. It means investing in a balanced program for self-renewal in the four areas of your life: physical, social/emotional, mental, and spiritual. Clay and David enabled us to truly sharpen the saw in those areas and were our heroes – revealing their combined 75 years of knowledge to ensure we create our own masterpieces each and every time we are behind the camera. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
During sun-drenched lunches in the garden and dinners in the courtyard under the stars we shared the camaraderie of fellow photographers (who became true friends and family). After this fantastic experience, I was finally able to get some of the images out of post-production and onto the blog. These are a few of my favorites…
On the final day of the class, Clay and David turned their lenses on my family – bringing home the lessons of what it feels like to be on the other side of the camera. These are Clay Blackmore’s photographs:
These are David Ziser’s photographs:
We fell in love with the tiny town of Sarteano. It was the most charming, idyllic old-world walled village. Then, it was off to explore Tuscany – starting with the stroll through the vineyards. A day trip to Siena and Montepulciano completed the photo tour. 
I’d like to send a huge shout-out to Jeff Medford who produced the event. Jeff is the owner of Monte Zucker Photographic Education – formed in 2007 shortly before Monte’s passing with the goal of continuing Monte’s expansive educational achievements. Their mission is to provide the finest photographic instruction in the world in honor of Monte’s legacy as a legendary instructor and mentor. Their approach utilizes all of the finest forms of education to provide photographers with a comprehensive set of tools to reach his or her artistic potential. Jeff is the sweetest guy and a true gem – thank you so much for making our dream come true with this trip!
Sep 28, 2012 | Uncategorized
Portraits are a passion of mine. When I have the opportunity to capture such a super fun and kind spirit like Max to make the photographs come alive, well that’s icing on the cake. The laughs came fast and often when we joked about South Park the entire time! He was such a great sport during the pre-shoot in Central Park and then at the party, he just took it to another level on the dance floor. However, he earned the right to cut the rug after his incredible reading from the Torah in Jerusalem.
Thank you to Hart Pictures for capturing the sacred service, the incredible montage and video. I love working with their team – they are truly the best at what they do. The room was illuminated by Jennifer Gould of Diana Gould, LTD, the party was thumpin’ by the team at Total Entertainment and the party was produced by the amazing team at Gourmet Advisory Services. Special thanks to Bia Sampaio, Michael Rodenbush and Mark Sweeney for helping me make this wonderful family and Apella look so good.
Sep 22, 2012 | Uncategorized
After an impressive Torah reading at the spectacular Rodeph Sholom Sanctuary, the party headed downtown to the incredible IAC Building. InterActiveCorp’s headquarters in Chelsea also doubles as an amazing event space designed by uber-architect Frank Gehry. The room’s centerpiece was a football field size LED wall that shifted images from Ollie’s former home in London to iconic locations here in New York. The party was rockin’ – literally. Ollie hooked up a classic Randy Rhodes-inspired flying V guitar and “Rocked the Casbah”. The room’s sophisticated streamlined design was created by Matthew David Celebrations, the amazing band/DJ was Element Music, and the whole event was produced by the super hip Debra Morris, President and Owner of Eventsful, Inc.
Sep 15, 2012 | Uncategorized
Seriously, what could be better than photographing your own beautiful daughter’s birthday party when that party is a fun fashion photo shoot with a few of her girlfriends?! That’s exactly what happened last night in Central Park at sunset. Afterward, we celebrated Eden’s birthday dinner at the super cool Plaza Hotel Food Hall by Todd English. Everything we ate was delicious, but you’ve never in your life tasted tater tots like this! Sublime truffle oil-brushed crispy crust with melted cheese and rice on the inside. Oh wait, this is a post about Eden’s birthday, not tater tots, sorry. So here you go, a few fun photos from the shoot. Happy Birthday Edy Bear – we LOVE YOU!!! Enjoy!
Sep 3, 2012 | Published, Travel
Malta Media Madness! I could not believe the incredible reaction to my blog post, “Magnificent Malta.” The blog post went viral and had touched many people in ways I wouldn’t have ever imagined.
Here are a few highlights:
Over 200,000 unique page views and 305 comments on my blog saying things like:
“All I can say is .. WOW! I am Maltese, and looking at your pics it’s like I’m seeing my country through different eyes and from a new perspective .. you have managed to capture the beauty of our islands so magnificently :) Hope you get a chance to come again and see more of what our country has to offer! Well done!”
and
“Mr. Jurick, my grandparents immigrated to the U.S. from Malta. Your photos are so beautiful and my yearning to travel to Malta to connect with my heritage has been INTENSIFIED one hundred fold. Thank you soooo much for sharing these wonderful pictures with the world. I am inspired!”
THE TIMES OF MALTA ran this online article and the full-page printed story below in their newspaper on my journey and photographs. That’s my son, Jonah on the cover.
The official I Love Malta Tourism Board in France posted my gallery and it currently has 431 likes, 81 shares and 30 comments
I’ve been invited to exhibit the photographs in a gallery titled “Sunnara.” Fish4tomorrow will be selecting a number of photographs by local as well as foreign photographers and putting together a fishing-themed exhibition.
My Malta and My Destination Malta Facebook pages have been so kind to share the links to wonderful feedback.
Additionally, The Malta Tourism Authority reached out and invited me to participate in their annual press awards and a possible assignment for them when I return to Gozo & Malta.
The letters and emails have been coming in and I’d like to close with a copy of this email that was sent to me. What a blessing in life to be able to touch people through photography. Read this email I received… speechless…
I feel so grateful to have seen such beauty in Malta, and so blessed from the wonderful reaction to “leaving my heart in Malta!” Thank you so much for the wonderful response from the kind people of Malta – you are an inspiration!
-Michael
Sep 1, 2012 | Awards
I am thrilled to have placed Honorable Mention in the Brenizer Method photo contest sponsored by B&H. As a huge fan of Ryan Brenizer his innovative “bokeh-rama” technique, I entered this photo into the B&H-sponsored contest. It placed Honorable Mention. Thank you Ryan and B&H and the judges! Looking foward to seeing the other great image winners.
Aug 24, 2012 | Destinations, Travel
What you are about to read and view is some of my most prized travel work. It is because I fell in love with Malta the day we landed and could not stop clicking the shutter everywhere we went.
It is one of the most visually stunning countries that I have visited and would describe it as a perfect mix of ancient Jerusalem, ancient Rome and the Greek Islands.
Our trip began on the island of Gozo at the Azure Window.
Malta is a Southern European country consisting of an archipelago (series of islands) situated in the centre of the Mediterranean, 50 miles south of Sicily, 175 miles east of North Africa. Malta is also one of the world’s smallest states and is also one of the most densely populated countries worldwide.
The day after we landed, we were in Victoria, Gozo for the “Feast” a colorful religious and decorative festival of horse racing (through the streets), marching band, church mass, and then drinking, celebrating and massive fireworks.
Malta is ancient, but impeccably preserved. There is so much charm, character and texture in the design of the doors, windows, and streets. It’s a feast for the eyes.
Throughout history, Malta’s location has given it great strategic importance, and a succession of powers including the Phoenicians, Greeks, Romans, Arabs, Normans, Spaniards, Knights of St John, French and the British ruled the islands. The country has been defending its conquerors for centuries. Malta gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1964 and became a republic in 1974, however the churches and cathedrals have maintained their original influences from each of their respective rulers for hundreds of years.
The food in Malta is incredibly good – insanely good, in fact, it goes toe-to-toe with the best Italian food. The food is fresh – so fresh, in fact, that your fish is sometimes only 2 hours from hook to table. I was smitten by the charm of the bars and restaurants. Our favorite lunchtime snack was the pastizzi – a sublime flaky filo dough crust with herbed/seasoned mashed peas in the center. Mmmmmnnnhh. The bakeries are run by 4th and 5th generation families and the stoves are nearly as old! And the coffee? Don’t get me started – creamy and delicious!!! Our night time treat with the Maltese beer, Cisk. So crisp and refreshing! My father in law, Avram picked fresh prickly pears right off the cactus.
Malta is internationally renowned as a tourist destination, with unlimited swimming and snorkeling options in caves and blue grottos around the island. We did our share of swimming in the crystal-clear, aqua-blue, pristine Mediterranean Sea.
While the country has a raw chiseled terrain, it more than makes up for it in the hand-painted colors of the fishing boats and garden flowers.
We were so fortunate to have our friends from NYC to help us plan the trip – and it was double bonus that we were in Malta together during a part of the trip. I have to give a shout out to Ed and Rita and Rita’s parents Joe and Maria. Joe gets the super mvp of the trip by magically appearing during important moments to escort us to key locations during our trip – thank you Joe!
The trip wouldn’t be possible without the generosity, support and love from Gal’s parents Rita and Avram. Avram gets MHP of the vacation – most hilarious. He was truly in a class by himself and probably enjoyed the trip more than all of us. Thank you, thank you, thank you!
Finally, I’d like to close the trip with my personal “visual” favorite… Popeye village.
Popeye Village, also known as Sweethaven Village, is a group of rustic and ramshackle wooden buildings located at Anchor Bay in the north-west corner of the Mediterranean island of Malta, two miles from the village of Mellieħa.
It was built as a film set for the production of the 1980 film starring Robin Willians and now is a waterpark. I just love starring at those animated, colorful and completely wackey-looking fishing huts. Hope you enjoyed the post – I hope I have inspired you to get to Malta one day!
Aug 23, 2012 | Awards
We are honored to be selected by the Ritz-Carlton, Westchester as their 2012-2013 Platinum Preferred Vendor for Photography. Michael Jurick Photography shares the values of the Ritz-Carlton by delivering service and quality excellence on every level to our clients. We are truly grateful for this association. We would also like to offer a huge thank you to Jennifer Gould of Diana Gould LTD for her support and recommendations. Below, you will find a few of our photographs that are used on their website.
From the Ritz Carlton, Westchester:
With your convenience in mind, each year we renew our prestigious preferred vendor list to inform you of the trendiest and most respectable purveyors in the meetings and events world. In order to keep our list selective, we feature a limited number of vendors within each category. We hope your experience with our preferred vendors will be as flawless, unique and memorable as it will be with us.
