Early photography required subjects to freeze in place for extended periods, limiting productivity and preventing motion pictures from being invented until 1993. Stop the world with today's Groupon: for $49, you get a three-hour photography workshop from Robert Villena Photography (a $150 value).
In the breathtaking natural setting of the Garden of the Gods Park, aspiring Ansel Adamses snap shots of sandstones and sedimentary rocks under the expert guidance of photographer Robert Villena. Villena's informal outdoor workshop schools small classes of prospective paparazzi in the foundations of photography, limiting technical jargon and helping students view the world as a series of potential rectangles. Although Villena's crafted curriculum is best for beginners, more seasoned shutterbugs may use the workshop to get reacquainted with image essentials, such as aperture, shutter speed, and pointing the lens in the right direction. Picture pupils must provide their own digital or manual soul-stealers, along with film and any other equipment needed to take a picture. Call ahead to make a reservation.
Robert Villena Photography
Whether capturing newlyweds and their families, parents and children, or a tree reaching for the skies atop a rocky cliff, photographer Robert Villena eschews traditional posing and straightforward composition for a candid, photojournalistic style. He often shoots from unique angles, such as over a subject's shoulder or underneath a pair of clasped hands, and renders his images in vibrant colors or heavily contrasting black and white. He further enhances shots with bold lighting effects and frames compositions to emphasize his subjects' unique characteristics, such as a rock formation's size or a human's lack of bat wings. When not helming on-location shoots for wedding and landscape photography, he often educates others on his photographic technique and style through on-location workshops for both beginners and advanced amateurs.