Jose Villa | Fine Art Weddings

Enjoy Cupcakes

josevillablog — Fri, 26 Feb 2010 19:23:24 +0000

Amber and Kevin are the amazing talent behind Enjoy Cupcakes in Los Olivos, CA. Their goodies are to die for! Joel of Joel Serrato Films and I collaborated on this fun project, his film captures the best of Ambers baking.

Flowers in her hair & A black Wedding Gown

josevillablog — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 02:13:40 +0000

So fun to collaborate with some of my favorite people. Joy Thigpen styled this fun shoot, and was shot for Oncewed. Thank you to B Hughes Bridal for the AMAZING gowns and Joel Serrato for the help.

And the Winner is… Inspire me Mexico

josevillablog — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 00:40:10 +0000

Thank you to the more than 150 photographers who entered the all expenses paid Mexico Workshop Scholarship giveaway. The entries were off the hook amazing!

Im sorry to report that the voting was unfair with tons of extra voting being registered in the poll, by clearing the browsers cookie, therefore the next fair way of selecting the winner was gathering the 4 guest speakers and yours truly to select the winner based on each of us voting for 1 of the 4. This being said the winner of the Mexico Scholarship is Inspire me Mexico.

Thanks again everyone who voted honestly and who spent so much time and energy in making and submitting a video for consideration. love, jose

inspire me mexico on 12seconds.tv

Mexico Workshop Scholarship – top 4

josevillablog — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 15:06:12 +0000

Im amazed at the amount of time, creativity and effort that more than 150 photographers put into making their video for the opportunity to win an ALL Expenses paid Mexico Workshop, scheduled for Nov. 07-11, 2010. I couldn’t sleep thinking about the top 3, so I decided to make it top 4.

Videos came in from around the world, South Africa, Canada, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, Hungary, Iceland, Mexico, France, Argentina and of course across the US. Thank you all who submitted, you all truly deserve to go, but only 1 will be chosen by the public to go based on the amount of votes received. Only 1 vote per person. I encourage you to get your friends and family involved to help you Win! Twitter, Facebook, blog it and email blast it.

The winner will be announced Monday, February 15th, at 9:00 a.m PST

Good Luck to you 4 and Get voting!!!

I know you want me (for the workshop) on 12seconds.tv

Mexican Breeze on 12seconds.tv

inspire me mexico on 12seconds.tv

My World on 12seconds.tv

See YOU in Mexico!

Mexico Workshop – Scholarship – ALL Expenses PAID!!

josevillablog — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 07:09:46 +0000

An ALL EXPENSES PAID trip to Mexico for the Mexico Workshop on November 07-11. YES you heard that right!! ALL EXPENSES PAID!! Never heard of that before have you?!

Here’s the deal: The scholarship will cover a 4 day wedding photography workshop in Ahualulco De Mercado, Mexico at Hacienda El Carman built 350 years ago. We’ve got you covered on a round trip airfare to Mexico. All 5 days will be covered at the Hacienda El Carmen, all meals, and we’ll even throw in a spa treatment. The all Expenses paid workshop value of $5500 cannot be transferred, or redeemed for cash, if the winner is a husband and wife team only 1 of the photographers may take advantage of the winning scholarship seat. Anyone from any part of the World is eligible to enter.

What do you have to do to apply? No boring essays, sob stories (sorry), or long stories of how you got into photography.. The 12 second video contest is back. A Mexico Workshop 2010 account has been set up on 12 seconds.tv website, simply log on to the 12seconds.tv website, make a profile/register and upload your video, then click THIS link MexicoWorkshop2010 to get to the Mexico profile, press “Follow” on the left hand side of the page, this will allow me to view your video. Sorry for the mix up, someone had to ruin it for everyone by hacking the profile, deleting all the current videos and changing the password.

http://12seconds.tv

Lets see how creative you photographers can be. Be you and tell us why you deserve to join us in Mexico, be creative, funny, and just WOW us! After you have uploaded the video post a link on Twitter to @josevilla and @villaworkshops.

Deadline: Wednesday, February 10, 2010 midnight PST. From there we will select 3 of our favorite videos. I will upload the 3 to my blog the next morning (Feb. 11). Then the public will decide the winner of the Mexico workshop 2010 scholarship based on the number of votes they received, only 1 vote per person. If you’re in the top 3 we encourage to get your friends and family to vote, blog it, twitter and facebook it.. after all this will be a life changing Experience .. I PROMISE!

Voting will end on Monday, February 15, 2010 at 9:00 a.m. PST, Good luck and hope to see YOU in Mexico.

* Scholarship is Sponsored by Richard Photo Lab and Cypress Albums . Love you guys!

Foggy Mornings

josevillablog — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:15:09 +0000

MEXICO WORKSHOP!! SOLD OUT!!

josevillablog — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 20:53:19 +0000

Im excited to announce my 1 and ONLY Workshop for this year, and of course it will be in the Heart of Mexico, nestled in between the hills of agave, corn and sugar cane, in a Hacienda built 350 years ago. We rent out the entire Hacienda El Carmen for 1 week, with a private chef, a full spa, horse back riding, pool, and stunning views. This workshop is 4 days of intense hands on learning, shooting, sharing. Get inspired and move to that next level, and surround yourself with amazing light, people, culture and food.

I have an Amazing line up and it’s going to be the best WORKSHOP yet!

-November 07-11, 2010
-Ahualulco Del Mercado, Mexico at Hacienda El Carmen
- Investment $3500 workshop fee

Guest Speakers:
–ABBY LARSEN – Founder and editor of STYLE ME PRETTY, a blog for the style obsessed Bride.
–JILL LA FLEUR – One of the most sought after wedding planner in the US, planner to the Stars
–KARINA PUENTE – Inspirational speaker and painter, who’s clients span the world
–JOEL SERRATO – Wedding Cinematographer, documenting the unique emotions of a wedding day using 100% film.
–MAR of TEAM HAIR & MAKEUP – Stylist and Makeup Artist who travels the world for weddings.

** CLICK HERE for more info. or to secure your seat.
images of Hacienda all shot by Jessica Claire

Special Thanks to Mar of TEAM Hair and Makeup who did the amazing hair and makeup styling, Matthew Johns who did the wardrobe styling, Jill and Diana La Fleur for all the design and setup. Lacie, Karina and Joel for gathering all the fun gift bags and cool props for the shoots.

Super 8 FILM that Joel shot of the workshop from Nov. 2009 class

jose villa workshop, by joel serrato films from joel serrato on Vimeo.

Loving FILM in today’s digital world

josevillablog — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 00:57:07 +0000

I normally hate to write very much for my blog. After all, if a picture is worth a thousand words then why write? I'm a photographer of 10 years, not a writer. I've been interviewed a few times and I know I have this persona of being a nice guy who shoots film. For today though, I'd like to change that just a little. I'm not out to become the Bad Boy of the film world, but let's face it, I love photography and I LOVE film and digital just doesn't do it for me.

Film has such a classic timeless feel I just don't get with digital. When I have tried shooting digitally, I find I spend all my time working to make it look like film. Think about how bizarre that is, when you could just shoot film to start with.

Years ago there was a great BMW commercial. The car shopper goes into three different car dealerships and is told, "It handles just like a BMW! It rides just like a BMW! It holds its value, just like a BMW!" The closing tag line of the ad was, "Why not just buy a BMW?"

Well, it's the same for film. Everyone is spending so much time trying to make digital look like film - so why not just shoot film?

People tell me they save so much money shooting digitally, but how much time are they working on their images? Or even more costly, how many people did they hire who are re-working their files? I'd much rather spend $35,000 a year on my lab bill, know I'm getting consistent quality and have the extra time and money to market myself, travel with only a Holga in hand, teach and simply work to be a better photographer. I'm willing to bet I'll have a lot more fun in the process too!

I'm getting so many inquires from people who look at my work and see it as timeless. They see the quality of my work and while they don't always understand why it looks different, they clearly notice there's something they like that's not the same as all the other albums they've seen. Film makes my work unique in todays digital world.

And although we are living in a digital world, is the Film trend coming back because it is "different"? I don't know you tell me.

I love film!

Michelle and Steven – Napa Wedding

josevillablog — Tue, 19 Jan 2010 20:06:54 +0000

Wedding Planner: Brandy of Bliss Event Prod. Floral: Kate of Flower Wild

Published

josevillablog — Sun, 17 Jan 2010 21:56:58 +0000