Jose Villa

ME? weird!!!

The past 2 years have been full of amazing good news. Being sponsored by Fuji Film, asked to speak at WPPI, 2 years running, my own workshops, cover of PDN wedding issue, published in 15 bridal magazines around the world.. and growing and now this.. named one of American Photo's Top 10 wedding Photographers in the World.. that is freaking crazy..

American Photo has released their list of the10 best in the World.

Here is the list

While this is a HUGE honor, I feel like there were so many amazing photographers that should have named here as well.

Thank you all of you who have emailed me to congratulate me already.. Im always the last one know that these things were announced.. ;)

+click here for the article

Big Folio is a leader in website design in todays photography industry. They have some awesome templates that you can select from, or if you are like me and love custom websites then BF is the one for you. Not only do they have some pretty cool websites, they have the best customer service in our industry today.

In the spirit of competition, team work and giving back, Big folio is proud to announce the BIG Foliolympics. A fun competition to build the next great photography website. This month, BIG Folio's 4 developers have each created a cutting edge new website design from scratch.

So go vote for the possibility to win a new website, why not? it takes about 3 minutes.

click here to start voting

Thank you to all who listened to my interview on F-Stop Beyond. My episode has been the second highest listened interview on the site.

If you missed it, here is the link blow.

click here to listen to the interview

click here to listen to the interview

Press on the green arrow and enjoy the show.. Im not loving my voice in it .. lol.. ;)

The mountains in this area were super green and beautiful a week or so ago. I took advantage of the amazing color and scheduled their session around this amazing time.

Matthew is Amelia's uncle, pretty cool huh?

Last Monday I conducted my very first "Super Monday" workshop here in Solvang. It was a fun filled 1 day workshop with 23 attendees and many on a waiting list.

Thanks to all who were interested and all who attended.

Below are some images from the day. Hugs to you Super Duper Monday-ers ;)

I've created A Villa Workshop Blog to keep a journal on all the workshops I've done and all the new workshops for 2008.

Check it out to see images of the Hacienda located in Guadalaja, Mexico.

Dates: November 09-12 and November 16-19, 2008

Special Guest Cameron Ingalls and renown Painter Karina Puente.

A Villa Workshop Website

A Villa Workshop - Blog

Marisa and Pat were married in the mountains of Carperneria, CA and the reception was at the Hahn Estate in Montecito, CA.

Marisa and Pat were so amazing to work with.. It was easy for me to capture their celebration!

Event Planner: Amy Nichols Events Floral Design: Mindy Rice Gown: Monique Lhuillier

Super 8 has been my love for a while now. I was taking commissions in 2007, but recently wanted to take a break from it and focus a lot more on my photography. Joel, of Joel Serrato Films Has taken over and we now work together, his films are so dreamy and very emotional. Our work meshes very well together, being that we are very into film. He is now taking weddings on for 2008 and beyond.

Im excited for him because today Joel launched his website that Ryan of Finch Designs created for him. Ryan is my web designer, he is not only a web designer, but an artist. If you are looking for a custom designed website to stand out from the rest.. he is the guy.

Joel's Blog - Click here

Being selected as the 1 for the cover of the annual wedding issue of PDN is by far one of the most proud moments of my career.

I have been in business for 6 years now and things have been so amazing. I always thought being on a cover like PDN was way too far away, and now that I have been blessed to check this off my goals is amazing to me.

Thanks to all the editors at PDN, especially Jackie Tobin, she is simply one of the most genuine people I know.

Cover: Julie and Everett Harper, San Pedro, Ambergris Caye, Belize.

A Family Wedding Album

Jose Villa, written by Jacqueline Tobin, April 02, 2008

Photographer Jose Villa says he never imagined the web of referrals that would result when a Stanford University student walked into his studio yeas ago. But 18 weddings later, Villa says he has had the pleasure of photographing the weddings of several members of one family, and a network of their friends as well.

“This young woman named Vilma came into the studio one day and asked for my business card,” explains Villa (profiled “Weddings a La Mode” page 58) who is based in Solvang, California. “Apparently, her friend was getting married in San Francisco, so she asked me if I traveled, took my card and then explained that her friend Yazmin would call me.” Soon Villa was off to Napa to photograph her wedding.

After covering Yazmin’s wedding. Villa ended up shooting six more weddings, all attended by Vilma, the woman who made the first referral. At one of these ceremonies, Vilma told Villa, “Guess what, “Im getting married… in Mexico.” Again, she asked if I traveled and again, he said yes, As he puts it, the rest is history.

“So,” Villa counts it down, “three-and-a-half years ago I photographed Vilmas’s marriage to Alfredo in Zacatecas, Mexico. Then I met Alfredo’s older sister Erika, and after she saw my images of her brother’s weddings she asked me to cover her wedding in Monterrey, Mexico. Them after Erika’s wedding, the youngest sister, Cecilia [Cecy] said she wanted me to shoot her weddings, too!

Last November, Villa traveled back to Monterrey, Mexico to photograph Cecy’s wedding. “Throughout the years I’ve had the great pleasure of photographing this one family in Mexico and it’s been just great, “Villa says, “ I’ve watched the family grow and I’m just so glad I was there each time to document it all for them.”

My last post was my certificate of accolades from the WPPI print competition for this year. Many have emailed me to ask to see the images. I have posted them below.