Thank you 2014 for a fabulous year filled with amazing moments, accomplishments and celebrations! Each December, I get excited to reveal my year in pictures review. It's an important part of the reflection process that salutes the families, friends and colleagues that shaped our life during the past 12 months. It's my way of showing gratitude to all the good people, places and things that enriched our world.
I'd like to lead this year's story with my personal feelings on why I do what I do. Shared family experiences are incredibly precious. They form the deepest memories in all of us. Each summer, our family takes a special trip to find excitement, deepen bonds, take long hikes, laugh, and live! I love this quote by George Eliot, "What greater thing is there for human souls than to feel that they are joined for life - to be with each other in silent unspeakable memories." When those experiences are photographed, we get to relive those moments again and again. What could be better?
Have a very happy holiday season and wonderful new year. Enjoy the 2014 year in pictures!
THE BOOK
I've developed a body of infrared black and white photography work over the past few years that I've bound into a magnificent book titled, INFRARED. It's a collection that I'm particularly proud of and features some stunning landscapes. Here's a sneak peek at a few pages...
LIVE MUSIC
In the summer, I was thrilled to be part of a photo exhibit in Bologna, Italy featuring three of my personally signed, fine-art 16x20 prints of Jack White. Together with 42 other great photos of one of my rock and roll heroes, the ONO Arte Contemporanea museum presents JACK WHITE: American Roots, a photo journey inside the life and career of one of the most eclectic and prolific musicians and writers of the last years.
Also this summer, it was an honor to photograph the legendary somgwriter of hundreds of songs for the Grateful Dead catalog, Robert Hunter. I'd also like to give a special shout-out to my good friend Mitchell Kaneff who leads the Young Presidents and also had a great year with their incredible release, Coalition.
Earlier this year we did a record cover for emerging hip-hop artist Rooky for his debut release featuring DMC (Run DMC) at our studio.
PARTY PEOPLE
With live music and killer DJs, there are party people in the house who came to partay. We love shooting candids while on the dance floor - seeking that perfect emotional moment and capturing the pulse of a seething dance floor! Let's check out the highlights from this year.
HARRIETTE ROSE KATZ THE CHOSEN FEW
One of the major highlights of the year was being part of the inaugural induction into Harriette Rose Katz The Chosen Few, a society of event industry professionals that is committed to a new measure of excellence for the event industry. Harriette is the Queen of social events and for the past 35 years has grown Gourmet Advisory Services into the premiere event planners with impeccable taste, so getting to spend more time with her and learn from her experience is a blessing. On behalf of the Michael Jurick Photography team. we are incredibly honored to be selected among so many of NYC's amazing event industry talent. We have to deeply thank everyone on our team and to the team at Gourmet Advisory Services - led by the incredible Melissa Rosenbloom and Claudia Warner for their passion, talent and effort that goes into every fantastic event on behalf of our clients. Thank you so much to my amazing team Paolo Ferraris, Mark Sweeney, Michael Rodenbush, Bia Sampaio, Nathaniel Johnston, and of course my wife Gal - the photography A-Team! We are so grateful to be in this business - each event is an opportunity and a masterpiece to paint and I wanted to share A FEW collaboration highlights because it's their work that brings the magic to life for us to document - we salute you!
TOTAL ENTERTAINMENT
Marc Jason and his incredible team at Total Entertainment continue to raise the bar and bring innovative, fresh fun to events week after week. Their DJs, MCs and entire team make you sweat...literally. Their dance sets and games and candy stations are the stuff of legend. Here's a snapshot of some recent TE action leading off with the powerful locomotive-voiced band Soul Solution....
UNTOUCHABLE EVENTS
Greg Telleri and David Sharky of Untouchable Events wrote the book on visual spectacle. I have to personally thank them for providing our team with some of the most amazing photographs, care of their legendary confetti canons! As you'll see from the photographs below, they bring the gamut of entertainment for their clients.
...and the king of all confetti shots...
MAGNIFICENT ROOM DESIGN
Here's a look at rooms designed by my fellow Chosen Few members Ed Libby, Diana & Jennifer Gould, Mark Rose, Frank Alexander and Dejaun Stroud. We are truly blessed to be able to photograph what they produce!
I also had the privilege of photographing other superstars in the event planning & design field including Arthur Bacall, David Beahm, Carolyn Bender, Victoria Dubin, David Stark, M Studio Events, and Anthony Taccetta and look forward to many more collaborations in 2015 especially with newly renovated and magical Rainbow Room.
Our fashion, sports and rock star portrait sessions got kicked-up to a whole new level this year. My lighting master, Mark Sweeney, and I continue to seek out awesome locations for our star subjects to shine. We explored the north, south, east and western tips of this city chasing and shaping the light. These photo shoots are amazing to capture stunning content for the fabulous designers to work with inside the party venues (see Jennifer Gould's work above for a super example of showcasing these images in all their glory).
GLAMOUR PARTY PORTRAITS
As much as I love the fashion shoots, I really love creating drama when one reads from the Torah. These are the images that I feel will be appreciated for generations.
Before we get to my favorite photographs of the year, I wanted to share a special summer review. I never had a chance to publish my summer photographs and really love these.
TOP PERSONAL PICKS
Picking favorites is not something I like to do, though I like to think these have a personal connection to me for either their artistic, emotional, or technical achievement and thought I'd answer the question folks seem to want to know. What are your faves from this year?
I would like to wish everyone a happy and healthy New Year. May your year ahead be filled with JOY and achievements.
Please leave a comment below if you like what you see. Thank you for taking the photographic journey with me in 2014 - have a fantastic new year and we wish everyone success in 2015! Labels: 2014 Year in Pictures