For me, the no. 1 spot in my (photographic) heart is Jose Villa (pronounced “vee-ya”, although “vill-a” has a nice ring to it as well methinks). His work is absolutely beautiful, soft, sweet and elegant. His images simply make me feel like falling in love. If I could ever produce images like that, I would cry, die then go to heaven.
When I look at his work, I see two people ALWAYS. I don’t mean that in the literal sense ‘cos duh it takes two to get married. What I mean is, the work is never distracted by the place, the background nor the post processing, I always just see the romanticness and the love sweet love between the two people.
I deliberately used the word “romanticness” (which doesn’t exist) and not “romance”. I was trying to explain this to someone and I couldn’t quite do it but there is something different that doesn’t convey what I see/feel if I had used the word “romance”. I’m probably not making much sense but “romance” makes me think of those night shots with video light and glowy effects.
It’s also not about the photographer, the images don’t scream “look at me and my awesome skills”, there is no ego in it. It’s just about the people and the elements of the wedding day, captured in a natural and beautiful way. Brilliant. I love it.
