About The Photographer: A short artists biography--Tom Madachik

I remember having an interest in art as a child. At the age of 10 I drew pictures of dinosaurs. I have no idea what happened to my dinosaur collection yet even today I can vividly remember my drawings. Of course at the time I thought they were pretty decent., but that was 55 years ago and I suppose if I saw them today I might see them quite differently.

At around the age of 40 I began to look more seriously at ways to express my creativity and began to work in various media. My degree is in Business Management and Marketing but I attended a number of courses since college studying Watercolor and Pottery. I am by no means a master of either but each provided a creative outlet at the time and through these two mediums and a lot of trial and error I learned about content, form, and compostion. I was also able to see first hand and admire the skill and high quality of the work of my instructors. It was both humbling and instructive to compare the quality of my work with theirs and it caused me to set high standards for my own work which is, hopefully, reflected in my photographs.

My "non-artistic" career, though extremely satisfying as a businessman, did not completely fullfill my need for a creative outlet. It did however give me the opportunity to travel and that opened the door for me to do photography as the creative outlet that I so desired. Early on in my photograpy experience I learned that there is a difference between taking pictures and capturing a desirable photograph. The former was easy, the latter hard work. It is not an easy task finding the right subject at the right time and to frame it artistically using the immutable physical laws of light, proportion, and composition.

I'm sure other photographers share with me the frustration of the long wait for the right moment to capture a photograph to find that when the moment arrived the subject moved, or a light breeze arose and moved the subject or the light changed quickly at the instant the shutter was released and the captured photo was not at all the quality desired. Yet, the creative instinct and the desire to get it right is unrelenting and the search continues until the photograph is captured exactly as you want it.

I selected the photographs for my gallery from the thousands that I've captured over the years and which I believe meet the high standards that I impose on myself and that I believe you expect.

I hope you enjoy your visit to my gallery.