Killing it again! Another interview by me for MOSSLESS

Gabe Kelley is 19 years old and watched a five year old stab a fly with a pencil today.

MOSSLESS: When and why did you first take a serious interest in photography?
GABE KELLEY: I first took a serious interest in photography in ninth grade because I signed up for a photojournalism class. I hated the class, as much as anyone could hate something. It was very limiting as we could only take pictures in the classroom, my mind was a bit bigger than the classroom and I couldn’t stand it. I loved the idea of photography after that class though because I realized that people could tell me what to do in photography and I could give them the big ole soaring middle finger and photograph what I want, the idea of being able to break through what people wanted me to do and explore my own limits really pushed my work further. I still hate that class though, but at the same time I love it for giving me that.

ML: You refer to your work as being “an attempt to allow people into my life, for that small brief second”. Why do you think people would find your life interesting?
GK: I think my reasoning behind saying that is actually the opposite of the question, I don’t think anyone finds my life interesting. Most of the subjects I photograph are very boring, showing my surroundings, but I feel as though I can sometimes shine a light on the boring and get a nice shot in the end, that explains how I glorify things in my mind.

ML: A lot of your photographs appear to be very spontaneous and yet others come across as being very thought out. Are you the type of person who carries their camera around with them at all times?
GK: I’ve got a Supreme leopard print camera bag on my belt pretty much all the time. I leave the thing unzipped so I can whip the camera out at anytime. If you see me on the street, please, steal my camera, I need to be taught a lesson of closing that thing, and saving film. If only I showed some of the spontaneous shots that I wish I could take back.

ML: You’re also a keen graphic designer. Where does your interest in this stem from?
GK: I actually am going to school at MICA for graphic design, but this year my love for photography shot back up, so that major is subject to change. To be honest I can’t think of why I started in graphic design, I think I had to take a computer art class to fulfill my degree for graduation, and I found myself liking it, and looking at it night and day, so I figured I’d try and give back a little bit to the world that I was enjoying so much.