Gene Higa and Jose Villa’s Workshop…In Review

I first heard of the Tuscany Photography Workshop at WPPI when attending Gene Higa’s platform presentation with my good friend Jeff Wilson. I committed to going early this summer by signing up! With the onslaught of workshops that took place this summer, I started thinking to myself, “I really hope this workshop is worth it!” The biggest reason for thinking this is because quite honestly after looking into many of the other workshops out there, it seems to be more about the hype created than the content provided. And being truthful I think that in some instances photographers just entering the business are taken advantage of by OUTRAGEOUS fees only to walk away with information that they really could have read on a blog for free.

Well the day finally arrived to fly overseas and attend the workshop in Tuscany Italy. We arrived on Sunday (two days before the workshop started) and hung out a little with Gene Higa, Ann Hamilton and a couple of other attendees that had arrived early. We talked a little about the workshop, caught up with each other and began adapting to the Italian way of life. On Monday Jose Villa and Joel Serrato arrived with the other workshop attendees to include Bob Davis. That evening we had our welcome gathering which was great!!! That is when I realized that there were attendees from all over the world at this workshop.

The workshop started the following morning and there was no looking back. Jose and Gene started sharing their experiences in the industry. They were an open book to us, showing their business practices in a very detailed manor. This is when I knew that this workshop was on another level. Workshops or seminars that I have been to before all seem to be saying the same thing, almost as if there is some photographers handbook out there that only available to those giving workshops and they just recite the words from those pages. Also this didn’t feel like a workshop that was just bent on selling their latest product. They weren’t selling anything but they were sharing their hearts towards our industry.

There was one major advantage to traveling what seemed to be half way around the world to attend this workshop and that was it took us out of our familiar environment. We were immersed in an entirely different culture and were able to draw from each others experiences and practices.

The photo shoots were A-M-A-Z-I-N-G!!!! From the makeup to the styling, the people we photographed and the location, as a photographer, you couldn’t asked for a better scenario.

If nothing else, the Tuscany Photography workshop by Gene Higa and Jose Villa has raised the bar as far as industry workshops. It will be the standard to which I compare any future workshops that I plan to attend. I want to encourage anyone that is looking to attend a workshop to always look beyond just the name of the person hosting. Look at what they will be providing you and make sure when it is all said and done that you walk away with something that will help you to grow your business.