Chema Madoz was born in 1958, in Spain. He attended school for art history at Universidad Complutense de Madrid from 1980 to 1983, which is where he discovered his love for photography. To take his photos, he uses a Hasselblad camera. He has won several awards, including the Kodak Spain Prize in 1991, the Higasikawa Overseas Photographer in 2000, the PhotoEspaña Award in 2000, and the National Photography Award in 2000. He has had his works displayed at the Museo de Arte Contemperáneo in 2011.
Chema Madoz takes pictures of everyday objects he has in his studio, and arranges them to make the viewer see them in a way they never considered. He's taken books arranged into an arch, a willow tree with letters for leaves, a carpet on the stairs down into a pool, and many other surreal photos. All of his photos are in black and white, intended to invoke a feeling of peacefulness. They're most often lit from the left side, or backlit if they're intended to be silhouettes. He never photographs real people, so if he needs a human figure, he will use mannequins or statues.
He uses everyday objects because everyone can relate to them and understand them. They all represent something to someone, and everyone has memories with them. This way, when he photograpphs them, they stay with people because they can relate. What Chema Madoz really wants is for his photographs to stick with people, to embed themselves into our minds so we remember them forever. You can always see what something could be if you twist its meaning a little bit, or you could take all meaning away. Both of these are part of his photography.
I am influenced by his photography in the way that I like positioning objects I photograph to twist their meanings. You can see some of the influence in my Shadows and Reflections work, with Rainy Window and Mini Mirror. I also like the photography of everyday household objects. I tend to use things I have in my room for photography, much like he uses things he has in his studio. I've used my glass figurines, stones from my rock collection, bells and beads that I keep in jars, marbles, and more. The difference is, he uses things that are more common to everyone, and I tend to use things that only I have, so it's more special to me as an individual.
Chema Madoz takes pictures of everyday objects he has in his studio, and arranges them to make the viewer see them in a way they never considered. He's taken books arranged into an arch, a willow tree with letters for leaves, a carpet on the stairs down into a pool, and many other surreal photos. All of his photos are in black and white, intended to invoke a feeling of peacefulness. They're most often lit from the left side, or backlit if they're intended to be silhouettes. He never photographs real people, so if he needs a human figure, he will use mannequins or statues.
He uses everyday objects because everyone can relate to them and understand them. They all represent something to someone, and everyone has memories with them. This way, when he photograpphs them, they stay with people because they can relate. What Chema Madoz really wants is for his photographs to stick with people, to embed themselves into our minds so we remember them forever. You can always see what something could be if you twist its meaning a little bit, or you could take all meaning away. Both of these are part of his photography.
I am influenced by his photography in the way that I like positioning objects I photograph to twist their meanings. You can see some of the influence in my Shadows and Reflections work, with Rainy Window and Mini Mirror. I also like the photography of everyday household objects. I tend to use things I have in my room for photography, much like he uses things he has in his studio. I've used my glass figurines, stones from my rock collection, bells and beads that I keep in jars, marbles, and more. The difference is, he uses things that are more common to everyone, and I tend to use things that only I have, so it's more special to me as an individual.
For this photo, I had to hand-write the "THE END" to put under the cup, so I could get it where I wanted on the sheet of paper. The cup is about the same size, but all I had available were these ones with the bubble texture, so it's got a little bit of a different feel to it than the original. This also made the shadow a lot more visible, which is an effect that I quite like.
The wood underneath was a good bit different than what the original used, mine was a lot rougher and greyer even before I desaturated it. I also couldn't find a match, so I used a birthday candle. The original photo is monochrome brown, while mine is in greyscale. This one, I think, is less successful than the others.
I went outside and got a leaf off the porch, but I couldn't find one as small as the original. It's also a different shape, but that's just due to the kind of trees that grow in my backyard. The plant the leaf is speared on is also considerably different: I thought I had one more like the one featured in the original, but it turned out it was not the same shape or size at all. I also had to do it in front of a window.
Overall, I think my best photo recreation was the THE END one. Even though it is very different from the original, the differences enhance it. The other two were less successful due to me lacking the proper items to recreate the picture. I think each one had a completely different feel than the originals, even if I did have the correct materials. Although, that was the intention in creating these: making them similar but different.