Roberto Valenzuela is an internationally acclaimed portrait, wedding, and fine arts photographer based in Beverly Hills, CA. An acknowledged master of precision lighting techniques and dynamic posing and picture composition, he has been honored by Canon USA as one of a select group of photographers included in the prestigious Canon Explorers of Light program. He is also a respected teacher and lecturer, whose inspirational workshops have helped scores of aspiring pros acquire the technical skills needed to fully express their photographic vision and establish their careers.
Valenzuela developed his unique teaching style by following the same practice regimen he developed as a professional concert classical guitarist and educator before he ever became a photographer. While he recognizes the importance of innate talent, he believes that it is not talent per se, but deliberate practice that is at the core of acquiring the proficiency necessary to accomplish outstanding achievements.
To that end, he has traveled to every corner of the world motivating photographers to practice and break down the various elements of photography in order to master them individually through goal setting, self-training, and unreserved dedication. He also serves as a chair and judge for some of the largest photographic print competitions in Europe, Mexico, and South America, as well as major international photography competitions held in the United States through the Wedding and Portrait Photographers International (WPPI) in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Valenzuela teaches private workshops, seminars, and platform classes for the largest photography conventions in the world — among them Photokina, I Am Photgrapher in Estonia, PEP in India, Imaging US, WPPI, FoviTech in Peru, etc. He has been an international first place winner at the WPPI photography competition three times and has been nominated by his peers as one of the ten most influential photographers and educators in the world.
His first book, Picture Perfect Practice, is currently the number one bestseller on Amazon in the wedding photography book category. His second book, Picture Perfect Posing, has also joined the ranks of its predecessor as a best seller and has changed the way people learn posing. His third title, Picture Perfect Lighting, was also ranked the top-selling book in the world for books on lighting. And another of his iconic books, Wedding Storyteller Vol. 1, is also doing extremely well. Not surprisingly, Valenzuela’s books have been translated into Chinese, Portuguese, Spanish, Indonesian, and German, just to name a few, and are sold in bookstores worldwide.
Independently, Valenzuela operates a well-appointed photography studio located between Los Angeles and Beverly Hills, where he currently shoots most of his fashion, portraiture, and creative work. In addition to being a prolific photographer, author, and educator, Roberto enjoys piloting high performance remote control helicopters. He is also a “very out of practice” classical guitarist, and a table tennis fanatic who’s “always on the lookout for a good challenge,” he tells Adorama.
“I’m not satisfied with the outer trappings of strength, an attempt to look strong — I want the viewer to actually feel the subject’s strength through the photo.”
How does Valenzuela see his role as a photographer and what is he trying to achieve when he’s behind the camera? His answers may come across as somewhat technical, but it’s clear that he uses these skills to express his vision and his passion.
“My overall goal when I take a photograph is to use photographic elements to the highest level possible within my skill set,” says Valenzuela. “I pretend post-production doesn’t exist when I’m shooting. This forces me to nail lighting, posing, and composition as I shoot. Of course I edit my photographs, but I like to pretend that’s not an option as I’m actually shooting. This prevents me from ever using ‘average lighting’ to take a portrait. Instead, I find ways to maximize the beauty of the light and to place it exactly where I want it. My constant goal is to use lighting to communicate my vision to the viewer of the photograph, not merely to illuminate the subject. My highest priority when it comes to posing is to have the pose not get in the way of the feeling I’m trying to convey. For example, if I pose someone in a way that looks strong, decisive, and confident, I want exactly those emotions to come through to the viewer. I’m not satisfied with the outer trappings of strength, an attempt to look strong — I want the viewer to actually feel the subject’s strength through the photo.”
But if you ask if Valenzuela started out as a photo enthusiast, or if he envisioned a career as a professional photographer, his answer will surprise you.
“I got into photography as a high school business teacher,” he says with a smile. “I was given a grant by the federal government with the assignment to create a real business that would allow my students to learn the ropes of running a for-profit organization. My students chose photography as their business of choice — a decision that was destined to change the course of my life from that moment on. Once I finished that school year, I tendered my resignation to pursue photography full-time. It certainly wasn’t an easy choice, but nothing puts a fire under your aspirations like having the pressure of bringing home the bacon in an industry you have zero knowledge about!”
“I felt a burning desire to be in control of artistic decisions, and I knew that luck alone wouldn’t get me there.”
“In order to support myself I began by concentrating primarily on shooting weddings and portraits,” he continues. “After shooting literally thousands of photos at weddings without much skill behind them, I inevitably got lucky and managed to capture a few impressive shots. Something about the way the light hit my subject made these images so poetic and dimensional compared to all the flat photos I was typically taking. That unexpected success sparked the passion inside me, and I made a commitment to study and learn how I could replicate that poetic look, or any other look, anytime I wanted to. I felt a burning desire to be in control of artistic decisions, and I knew that luck alone wouldn’t get me there.”
Valenzuela didn’t really intend to be a self-taught master of photography, but it turns out, he really had no other choice.
“I was self-taught, but with a restless passion, commitment, and dedication to becoming a great photographer.”
As he recalls, “When I received the grant from the government to start the photography business my students wanted to do, I asked for help from practically every professional photographer in my hometown of Tucson, Arizona,” he adds. “To my surprise, not one was interested in helping me. They told me that they didn’t want to help ‘breed more photographers into the city’ because they would inevitably become competitors! That was my harsh introduction to the photography industry. But that’s OK, because that negative attitude only strengthened my strong desire to master the craft of photography. I was self-taught, but with a restless passion, commitment, and dedication to becoming a great photographer. I lost track of the hours, but it was one of the best times in my life. Everything was so exciting! I just loved it!”
While Valenzuela is certainly renowned for his masterfully executed and incisive wedding images, which have been widely published and circulated in the U.S. and abroad, he doesn’t like to be typecast as a wedding photographer.
As he succinctly puts it, “I love wedding photography and it will always have a special place in my heart, but nowadays I do a lot more fashion and fashion portraits, and my goal is to get more into large, fine-art gallery photographs. If I had to describe what defines photographic style, I would call it elegant and cinematic.”
As a Canon Explorer of Light, Valenzuela shoots exclusively with Canon gear, with a specific focus on choosing certain cameras depending on the project.
“My current arsenal consists of a Canon EOS 5D Mark IV, a 5DS R, a 5DS, and the top-of-the-line Canon EOS 1DX Mark II,” he tells us. “I try to stick to prime lenses as much as possible. Right now, I’m really loving the new Canon EF 85mm f/1.4L IS USM. I also own eight Canon Speedlite 600EX-II RT flashes. I am a strong believer and advocate for using flash correctly and in a subtle manner to enhance seamlessly what natural light provides. The adept use of flash is also, in my opinion, the best way to differentiate yourself from the large crowd of natural light photographers.”
While Valenzuela has received numerous awards and accolades over the course of his career, these are hardly his primary focus.
“In themselves, awards don’t mean much to me,” he asserts. “What I do like about competitions is that they often give me a much-needed burst of energy to create something special while executing every assignment I do. The most gratifying showing of my work is definitely when I had a gallery of four photos exhibited at the Whitney Museum of Art in New York City. My images have also been featured in Cosmopolitan Bride, Grace Ormonde Wedding Style, Rangefinder, Digital Photography Magazine, and other publications.”
“My general approach on a photo shoot is to keep the energy very relaxed and fun,” Valenzuela continues. “I actually act as though I’m just shooting without much thought at first, and I laugh a lot with my clients. We chat, we laugh, and we have fun, but 15 minutes later, I begin to quiet down and you can tell that I’m beginning to become more focused. As the shoot unfolds, my technical abilities begin to come alive and my interactions with my clients are more specific and targeted. This gradual and empathetic approach has served me well in getting the images I want, without risking that that my clients will feel overwhelmed.”
“This gradual and empathetic approach has served me well in getting the images I want, without risking that that my clients will feel overwhelmed.”
As for the future,Valenzuela is ready to take the next big step. “I’m probably going to look for an agent now, because I’ve really become a full-time fashion/editorial photographer,” he concludes, “I’m also interested in selling large work to art galleries. I’m quite sure this will be a fun adventure to take on. Also, I’m really excited about my new YouTube channel where I’ll be doing quite a bit of fun photography-related videos, practice sessions, travels, and behind the scenes shoots. I would encourage people to check it out and subscribe to the channel (RobertoPhotography).”
To see more of his work, follow him on Instagram @Roberto_photo and for wedding imagery, @robertoweddings. On Twitter, you can find him @robertophoto, and a Facebook group titled Picture Perfect Practice by Roberto Valenzuela.
