Who are you?
My name is Rubén Vallejo. I’m a 25 year old Spanish photographer based in Madrid. My work is mainly focused in fashion, beauty and advertising photography. My editorials have been published in different international editions of magazines such as ELLE, Cosmopolitan, Glamour, L’Officiel, Grazia, Nylon… Among others.
What is your next creative project?
Lately I’ve been very busy working on e-commerce for a big Spanish Company. I will take a rest and hopefully for the next year I will be ready to work on new editorial projects that is what I really enjoy the most. Also, I’ve always wanted to work on a more personal project, related to fashion of course, but in a more artistic and emotional way. This project is still top secret.
How would you describe your work?
That’s a difficult question. Mainly because my work is not only mine, is the result of my team’s hard work too. My work without a great make up or a powerful styling, or a really expressive model would be nothing. Once said that I must admit that I’ve always been related to art in many different ways. When I was 13 or so I started using photoshop and doing some digital illustration. I wanted to become a great digital artist in the future. Then when I was 16 I got my first DSLR camera and started learning the basics for photography and tried every kind of photography from nature to architecture, macro, portrait… I loved to shoot sunsets… I think that all the photographers go through this phase of experimentation. But anyway for me photography was just another artistic hobby. For different reasons, I ended up studying cinema and photography at public school in Madrid, but I still wanted to become a digital illustrator or comic artist. I’ve never payed much attention to fashion, it was something I just found very frivolous, for “basic people” if you will. But in my second year at school I discovered Annie Leibovitz’s “Eye through a lens” documentary and it completely changed my mind. It was like a true revelation for me . I started buying magazines such as Vogue, ELLE , Harper’s Bazaar and studying the “big” photographers, etc. I loved the powerful aesthetic of the pictures, the clothes, the model’s poses and expressions, the light… Everything. I found on it something that merged all the artistic values I was looking for during my teenage years, and that also gave me total freedom and no limits. It allows me to see beauty where others see nothing.
Who are your biggest influences in the industry?
My biggest influences as I mentioned previously came from the high fashion magazines and the photographer’s that worked for them and that I admire such as Annie Leibovitz, Mario Testino, Mert and Marcus, Steven Meisel, Patrick Demarchelier, Craig McDean… I think that Mert and Marcus are my favorite ones. In Spain we also have some great photographers too such as Rafa Gallar, Richard Ramos, Xavi Gordo… But one of my favorites is Txema Yeste. I think that his creative skills have no limits, he has something I’ve never seen in any other photographer… His work completely amazes me. I also love Chinese photographer Jingna Zhang, and British photographer Lara Jade both based in New York if I’m not wrong. Both are brilliant in their own and different style. I could gp for hours and a hours talking about photographers that I like.
What's your favorite coffee spot in Madrid?
I don’t really have a favorite coffee spot as such, but Mariacastaña Coffe in Corredera baja de San Pablo Street in Madrid, near to Malasaña, is a lovely place to take a cup of coffee or a brunch and to arrange any teamwork meeting.
What do you like about Portfoliobox?
Portfoliobox offers you a very easy and affordable way to develop your own professional online portfolio. The interface is really intuitive and you can re-build your website anytime you want and create a new different version
