AT A GLANCE
- Known for
- Soft, light-filled wedding photographs on film, and celebrity weddings such as Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas
- Works in
- Color and black and white; medium format film and digital
- Camera
- Contax 645 with an 80mm f/2 lens for film; Sony Alpha 1 with a 50mm f/1.2 lens for digital
- Also
- Named one of the world’s top ten wedding photographers by American Photo (2008); author of Fine Art Wedding Photography; film-look presets with DVLOP
- Start with
- Fine Art Wedding Photography (Amphoto Books, 2011)
- Links
Jose Villa (born 1980) is an American wedding photographer, born in Mexico and raised in California’s Santa Ynez Valley. He is known for soft, romantic pictures made in natural light, often on medium format film. He has photographed the weddings of many well-known couples, including Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas.
The story
In the early 2000s, Jose Villa had his own photo studio in Solvang, California. He also had a full-time job at the local Rite-Aid. There he stocked shelves, helped in the pharmacy and worked at the film and photo counter. Sometimes his own photo clients walked into the store. “I had some clients who would come in and I didn’t want them to know I worked there,” he said, laughing.
His family had come from Mexico when he was five. His father worked as maintenance manager at a farm in the Santa Ynez Valley, and the family lived there. Photography started as a high school elective. “Basically, I wanted an hour to goof off,” he said, “but I ended up falling in love with it.” His teacher, Mr. Burton, took him to visit the Brooks Institute of Photography in Santa Barbara. His parents were worried about a career in photography, but he enrolled and graduated in 2002.
In 2003 he shot his first wedding. He charged $400 and lost money. But he loved the work and the pictures, and soon he was shooting about 25 weddings a year. In 2004 he bought a house and left the job at the store.
Then the industry moved to digital. “Shooting digitally wasn’t what I wanted, and it was scary because brides wanted it,” he said. So he stayed with film, mostly a medium format Contax 645. With fewer photographers still on film, his business grew. In 2008 American Photo named him one of the ten best wedding photographers in the world.
Ten years later came a very different job. In December 2018 he and a team of six photographed the wedding of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas at Umaid Bhawan Palace in Jodhpur, India. Magazines needed pictures the next day, so he shot mostly digital, with presets that copy his film look. On the last day the couple looked through his pictures together. “There were these two mega-celebrities side by side, newly married and holding hands,” he said. He admitted he was a little nervous.
The boy who chose photography for an hour of rest still wants the same simple thing. “If I can continue to take beautiful pictures,” he once said, “that’s all I ever wanted to do.”
The work
- 1980Born in Mexico
- 2002Graduates from the Brooks Institute of Photography
- 2003Shoots his first wedding, for $400
- 2004Leaves his job at Rite-Aid to photograph full time
- 2008American Photo names him one of the world’s top ten wedding photographers
- 2011Publishes Fine Art Wedding Photography; marries photographer Joel Serrato
- 2018Photographs the wedding of Priyanka Chopra and Nick Jonas in Jodhpur
- 2025Photographs the wedding of Hailee Steinfeld and Josh Allen in Santa Barbara
Lessons
Find your own look. At Brooks he decided he needed his own style and did not want to copy others.
Stay with what you love. When brides asked for digital, he kept shooting film, and it made his work stand out.
Serve the client too. When magazines needed pictures the next day, he used digital with presets that keep his look.
Try this: photograph one person by a big window, with no flash. Put the light to the side of their face. Make twelve frames, then choose only one.
Gear
Villa has talked openly about his tools in interviews.
Contax 645 medium format camera: his favorite camera, with an 80mm f/2 lens. It is behind his signature film look.
Medium format color film: he has named Fuji 400H as his favorite film. Kodak Portra is also part of his look. His film is usually scanned by Richard Photo Lab.
Sony Alpha 1: with a Sony 50mm f/1.2 lens, for most of his work today, because travel and fast delivery favor digital.
Film-look presets: made with DVLOP and photographer Jeff Newsom, for Lightroom. He spent about a year on them.
Books
Fine Art Wedding Photography: How to Capture Images with Style for the Modern Bride (Amphoto Books, 2011). Written with Jeff Kent, 159 pages with many color pictures. It explains his design-led approach to weddings: composition, natural light and gentle posing that still looks natural. It covers the candid moment that comes right after a posed shot, getting the picture right in the camera, and carrying the same style into albums. The last chapters are about staying in touch with couples through baby and family portraits. Written for working and aspiring wedding photographers who want to refresh their style.
In his words
“People come to me because of how I see and how I interpret moments.”
“I want my images to feel airy but grounded, elegant but real.”
