Jason Hurst: The Photo Blog

Spring House BeerAdvocate Cover

Jason Hurst Photography — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 14:27:28 +0000

There are perks to having a brewery in the family. One is, having a perfect place to get married (which Heather and I took full advantage of this past fall). Another would be having amazing beer at family gatherings (which Heather and I also take full advantage of at every gathering). For me as a photographer, it’s been a lot of fun shooting pictures for their marketing and press materials.

For those of you that don’t know the beer world, BeerAdvocate is a big deal. It’s a national magazine with a huge readership. So, when BeerAdvocate decided to do an article on the Lancaster, PA beer scene by highlighting Spring House Brewing company, needless to say, we were all very excited. After we discovered that the cover was still up for grabs, we were even more excited. This was a huge opportunity for both Spring House brewery and Jason Hurst Photography.

After finding out that the cover was available, Heather and I took a trip out to my sister and brother-in-law’s (Nikki and Matt Keasey) house and the location of Spring House Brewing Company in Conestoga, in order to take more photos. Matt had the idea to park “Big Green”, the panel truck seen on the cover, in front of the brewery in order to load some kegs into it. This turned out to be the winning idea After getting the truck thoroughly stuck in the snow and pulling it out with my Mazda, we took the cover shot seen below. Here’s a gallery of all the photos taken that weekend and below are some other photos used in the article.

February 2012 BeerAdvocate cover

Matt Keasey checks the carbonation on one of his beers.

Spring House Interior

Keasey house and Spring House Brewing Company

Pictures from Paradise

Jason Hurst Photography — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:03:38 +0000

Heather and I went on our belated honeymoon in the beginning of January. We took an eleven day cruise which had seven stops throughout the Caribbean. Between the Rum Punches, the seafood and chicken (chicken on the islands is a million times better than what we have), and some intense board game play, I managed to take some photographs.

I brought with me two cameras (one big and one small,) and 90% of the photo taking was with the smaller Canon S95, which I highly recommend. At one point, towards the end of vacation, I thought that I had lost the S95. I was horrified that I might have lost all of my pictures, but have no fear, it was in the front pocket of my bag exactly where it belonged.

Here are some of my favorite photos from the trip:

This was in St. Kitts at a lookout that is called Black Rocks in the small town of Belle Vue. It was on the opposite side of the island from our port and was much cooler because we were overlooking the Atlantic Ocean as opposed to the Caribbean Sea. There were a couple of stands selling beer, chicken, and fruit. Heather and I partook.

This was the Black Rocks View.

This was right down the road from Black Rocks looking up to Mt. Liamuiga. Obviously some income disparity here.

This is Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park on Saint Kitts. Great view of the island and the largest fortress ever built in the Eastern Caribbean.

This is one of the rooms in the Fortress.

This was on a black sand beach in Dominica. Despite almost missing the boat because of traffic, this was our favorite island.

Dominica is largely covered by beautiful rain forests. Among other things, we visited hot springs and a beautiful water fall.

This was The Pineapple Beach in Antigua. Apparently Antigua has 365 beaches and this is dubbed the most beautiful. I didn’t see the other beaches, but this one was pretty darn beautiful. We relaxed a lot this day and read books.

We had an amazing vacation! I came back rejuvenated and ready to get back into my photography marketing. Thanks to Rago Arts and Auction Center and a magazine that I will name later, I’ve been very busy since my return in mid January.

Thanks for reading.

Fashion reworked

Jason Hurst Photography — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 23:03:05 +0000

These are fashion images of Vanessa Marie Caruso that I took back in the summer. Sometimes when you go through past pictures, you end up liking them for all new reasons. I re-edited and tried out some new Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop techniques.

For those interested, I discovered a new photographer that I think you should check out. His name is Chris Orwig. I love his philosophy on photography and he’s a great teacher. He has some tutorials on this youtube channel or check out his new book People Pictures: 30 exercises for creating authentic photographs. That’s where I learned some of the techniques used below. As always, input is appreciated.

Musician Portraits

Jason Hurst Photography — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 18:31:28 +0000

There are a couple determining factors that led to these portraits. One day I was checking out photography websites and I came across Joshua Black Wilkins work. In his testimonials someone wrote “Amazing organic portraits….somehow he always manages to capture the soul- I don’t feel like I’m looking at a photograph when I look at these photos- I feel like I’m sitting right across from the subjects at a diner or on the street.” If that’s not what a portrait is supposed to be, I don’t know it is. I couldn’t agree more, I love Joshua’s work and it inspired me to get out and do more portraits.

Mike McMonagle is a very talented musician from Lancaster and Heather and I were lucky enough to have him play our wedding in September. There’s a great interview with him on itunes and it drove me to his music page. I’m a huge fan of his sound and he’s an amazing lyricist (Goodbye, VA is my favorite). He was exactly what I was looking for to start a series of musicians.

Mike recommended a great location in Lancaster called Tellus360. Very cool store with tons of variety and multiple floors. The second floor is completely unfinished with tons of windows and the roof has a bunch of plants growing on it. This is exactly what I was looking for in a location. I highly recommend that you check it out if you find yourself in Lancaster.

Longwood Gardens Holiday Extravaganza

Jason Hurst Photography — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 14:52:36 +0000

I wanted to get some new pictures to put on Holiday cards to send to friends and prospective clients. I hadn’t been to Longwood Gardens in years and years and I thought that this was the perfect opportunity. It was magnificent! It’s worth the trip and make sure you reserve a time slot before you go. I went in at 3:30 to experience the daylight and the evening lights, but just going for the evening would have been okay too.

Happy Holidays blog readers!

Solstice

Jason Hurst Photography — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 20:13:11 +0000

The Awesome Team:

Jenna Meglic-Model

Jessica Figueroa- Stylist

Silvia Baptiste- Photographic Assistant

Jenna was the ideal fit for this shoot. Her blonde hair glowed with the back light and her natural gestures matched the setting perfectly. I’ve worked with Jenna a ton before this shoot and I think that that familiarity and trust enhanced the posing. I had also worked with Jessica extensively. Jessica is young, talented, and very driven. I sent scouting photos of the Swarthmore location and some swipe to Jessica and I knew that she’d nail the fashion. All of the outfits had a classic feel that worked well with the estate/natural settings.

Philadelphia Marathon

Jason Hurst Photography — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 21:04:44 +0000

While Heather was running the Philadelphia Marathon, I was doing the hard part… taking pictures and cheering. It turned out to be a perfect day for both. I enjoyed seeing the wide range of people, outfits, and expressions. It was a great day to be in Philadelphia!

Promos

Jason Hurst Photography — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 18:36:29 +0000

Just starting out, promoting my photography has been daunting to say the least. There’s the website, the portfolio, the print promos, compiling lists of people to send the print promos to, the emails, trying to shoot new work, blogging, etc. etc. etc. Part of it is just figuring out what works for you along the way, but also, there are blogs like these:

http://blog.chasejarvis.com/blog/2010/07/evaluating-photographer-promotions-with-heather-morton-art-buyer/

http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2008/01/09/photographer-promo-cards/

Here are a few of my latest promos:

Philadelphia’s Fabric Row

Jason Hurst Photography — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 20:38:15 +0000

Loved reading about the history of this place at this website. I thought that I’d go down and document what I could. I can only hope that neighborhoods like this are still around in 20 or 30 years.

Rago Arts and Auction Center

Jason Hurst Photography — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 16:31:13 +0000

Spent a week and a half working with the fine people at Rago Arts and Auction Center on their Jewelry and Silver print catalogue.