Mexico Workshop registration is NOW open for November 16-19, 2009, and I'm SUPER excited to announce my guests speakers  Jessica Claire , noted painter and inspirational speaker Karina Puente and Wedding Planner extraordinaire Jill La Fleur.

Jessica Claire was named 1 of the TOP 10 wedding photographers in the World by American Photo Magazine. Jessica's work is vibrant, fun and simply beautiful! The great thing about being joined by Jessica is that we shoot so differently and use different mediums in our love of wedding photography.

Karina Puente is just 24 years young, she is the most creative artist/painter I know. She has been commissioned to create art for clients all over the world. Karina is also an inspirational speaker and travels the world sharing her love for art.

Jill La Fleur is one of the most sought after wedding planners in California and Hawaii. Jill has become a great friend after working on so many events together. She not only is an amazing planner, but such an amazing person. She will share how working closely with Photographers can benifit the photographers day of photographing the wedding.

Registration is now open, The past Mexico Workshops have SOLD out and this one is set to sell out quick..

CLICK HERE to sign up

coming soon

Holga + Mexico + Color = Im in LOVE FOREVER!!!!

*note: I will NEVER share or sell your email to anyone in the whole wide world… promise!

We have a winner!!! We have a winner!!

Thanks to the over 4700 + people who participated in out little contest. We appreciate all of the retweets, the comments and especially your votes. All of the videos were either fun, artistic or very creative. We watched the videos over and over again to finally pick our favorites. From there the public decided. Thanks to the many people who took the time to watch the videos and cast their votes to pick the winner. Below is the poll, We screen grabbed it at 5:00 PST from gene's iphone.

Congratulations to "Shitz-What? see you in Tuscany.

shiz-what?

First off, Thank YOU to all of you who played along with us and sent your entries!!! All of them are awesome!. They made us laugh, cry, sing, dance and one even scared me. 

People from all over the world entered, South Africa, Sweden, UK, Brazil, Costa Rica, and across the US. Thanks for sharing 12 seconds of your life with us and most of all,    your time and talent to be creative and tell us why you want to come to Italy.

Honestly, Gene and I would love to take all of you with us. What a fun and crazy group this would be! It was a extremely hard decision to make, and it took all morning for us to do. But, here are the top 3 + 1 videos in no particular order. The public will decide the winner of the scholarship. If you are in the top 3 + 1, we encourage you to get your friends to vote, twitter and facebook it. The winner will be announced on Friday, June 12 at 5:00 p.m. PST. All votes must be cast in the poll below. We also just want to hear what you thought of them.. 

Can't wait to see who you made you laugh, sing, dance, cry.

Here are the names from top to bottom: View Videos and VOTE below!! 

#1 me plus italy

#2 take me to italy

#3 peanut allergy 

#4 shiz-what?

 

 

I love Mar and Elan, they were married in Ahualulco, Mexico where I conduct my Mexico workshop. Mar is one of the best stylist in Santa Barbara, we became great friends because we were running into each other at so many weddings. Good friend Jill Lafleur was the wedding planner.

We have received a great deal of interest for the Tuscany, Italy workshop with Gene and I, seats are almost gone, we left 1 seat free and clear.. a scholarship.

A scholarship to ITALY? YUP, that's right.. So, we thought about how we could make this fun for you, us and even people who won't be applying.

Here are the details: The scholarship will cover a 3 days wedding photography workshop in Tuscany with Gene Higa and Jose Villa. Flights to and from the U.S., rooms at the Villa and any miscellaneous fees are not included. These items will be covered by the winner. The workshop value of $1950 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, any and all other attendees will have to pay the $1950 workshop fee. The rate per night per person is $85 a night at the Villa.

This is all you have to do: No boring essays, no applications for this scholarship. So how do you apply? Simple. A Italy Workshop account has been set up on 12 Seconds.tv. Simply log on to the 12second.tv website and record your video, it takes 12 seconds, duh!

http://12seconds.tv/

Username: italyworkshop

Password: wedding

So, how creative can photographers be in 12 seconds? Anything goes. We want to laugh, so sing, dance, and just have fun with this. Be you and tell us why you deserve to go to Italy. Be funny, creative and most of all, WOW us. After you have recorded your video.Post a reply link on twitter to 3 different accounts @italyworkshop, @josevilla and @genehiga.

Deadlines: Wednesday, June 10, 2009 midnight PST. From there we will select 3 of the best videos. They will be linked on our blogs the following morning (June 11th). Then the public will decide the winner of the scholarship. If you are in the top 3, we encourage you to get your friends to vote, twitter and facebook it.

The winner will be announced on Friday, June 12 at 12:00 p.m. PST. Good luck and see you in Tuscany! Gene and Jose

This is Alisa and Shahraab's rehearsal dinner at The Parker in Palm Springs.. Loving the color. Alison and Kelsey of Alison Events did an amazing job on the design, crazy beautiful flowers by Danielle of Brown Paper Designs.. wait till you see their wedding ;) mmmmm 

Alissa and Ryan were married at the stunning San Ysidro Ranch in Montecito, CA. My favorite location ever! Alissa is a photographer and went to Brooks Institute, we met at WPPI a few years back when her and Ryan dropped in one of my platform speaking deals. They live in Philadelphia and own an amazing online boutique named Horne. These guys are so creative I love it!!

The details are stunning! Lisa Vorce of Oh How Charming was their event planner, and Mindy Rice was the amazing florist.. need I say more?!  :)

In celebration of Spring and in refreshing your album collection for 2010 , My Sponsor Cypress and I are giving away a Free Iris Book assembly with 20 sides (10 pages) 12x12, a box to protect your beautiful album, and your choice of Swatch.. a $700 value to 1 lucky photographer.

All you have to do is add your e-mail in the slot below, then write a comment on what your dream photo assignment would be.  Dena Roberts (owner of Cypress) and I will select a winner on Monday May 11, 2009. Both Email and comment must be submitted to WIN. Winner will be selected at random. Good Luck! I swear I want to win this!!

Cypress is my album of choice for all of my portrait sessions and weddings. These albums are individually handcrafted by artisans. Every album is made from rich, smooth, heavyweight fine art paper and fabrics. My favorite album they offer is the Iris Book, a flush mounted album. Who wouldn't love them?!

Ben is a photographer and went to Brooks Institute of Photography, the same college I went to a million years ago ;) .. they're getting married in beautiful Ohio.