Pines in general have a fairly specific "subset" of bonsai techniques unique from other conifers and deciduous trees. They represent a skill set unto themselves. Japanese Black Pine, JBP for short, Pinus thunbergii is by far the most amendable pine in terms of adapting to bonsai techniques. The Japanese red pine, or Korean red pine, Pinus densiflora comes in a close second.
Pinus parviflora - Japanese white Pine - You are in zone 8a, which is probably too warm for Japanese white pine, JWP. If I were you I would avoid JWP. This is the perfect 5 needle pine for people living far enough north to see snow in winter. Zone 7 is the warmest. Probably zone 4 to zone 7a is the range for this species. Much warmer and you are likely to have trouble.
Scotts pine, Pinus sylvestris, or forest pine in non-english speaking European countries is a good choice, it might be okay with the heat of your zone 8a summers. If you see it offered at your local landscape nurseries, then it will survive as bonsai in your area.
Another good pine is Pinus mugo - this is a single flush pine, many dwarf forms are available in the nursery trade, some grafted, some cutting grown, some seed grown.
Pinus nigra - popular as a collected tree in Europe, needs to be fairly large, over a meter tall to get proportions right. I personally don't like it. But that is my taste.
Pinus strobus - Eastern white pine - Many have tried, all but a few have failed. This species will frustrate most, it will resist being turned into bonsai even in skilled hands. I know of exactly one tree that is an exhibition quality EWP, the rest of the hundreds of attempts I have seen, including the 20 or so I have attempted over the years have turned out to be utter crap. P strobus will end up looking like sparse pompoms on the ends of sticks. Never a tree. Don't waste your time with this species. Other white pines like Pinus flexilis and strobiliformis might work much better, but skip strobus.
When choosing a species of pine for bonsai, one trait to pay attention to is needle length. In general if a species naturally has needles longer than 5 or 6 inches in length, it is not a good candidate for bonsai. Better species will have needles around 4 inches or less. Using a long needle species is not "impossible", but the long needles can pose an added level of difficulty. Ponderosa pine is often used for bonsai as a collected tree. A 100 or more year old trunk of a Ponderosa pine can be wonderful. But seed grown Ponderosa are never used because the long needles are too ungainly to work into any youthful tree design. A 100 year old trunk is spectacular enough it trumps the appearance of long needles, one just ignores the long needles. Seedling ponderosa just don't have enough character to ignore the long needles.
Also when choosing a pine species it helps to know if there are quirks of growth habit, like the tendency of all Pinaster group pines to produce juvenile foliage every time you prune them.
So go wild, there a 100 or so pine species to play with, but JBP and JRP are the 2 with the best track records for bonsai. And EWP has the worst tract record for bonsai. Everything else is somewhere in between.