Mike Kelley
Mike Kelley is a Los Angeles-based artist and photographer. Originally from Ipswich, Massachusetts, he studied studio art and environmental science at the University of Vermont before moving to California and pursuing a career in photography in 2009.
Kelley’s clients include numerous airlines and airports, and his work has been featured in many publications including BBC, CNN, Fast Company, European Photography magazine, and Fortune magazine. Mike was named one of the 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide 2016/17 by Luerzer’s Archive and his images have been named Digital Camera World’s Best Images of 2014. His Wake Turbulence image was selected as the cover image of Gestalten’s ‘PhotoViz’ book, and other images have been featured in Assouline’s ‘The Art of Travel’ book.
A self proclaimed “aviation enthusiast”, Mike has traveled extensively to photograph airplanes and major airports throughout the world. His Airportraits series utilize multiple exposures to illustrate our busy skies with an accuracy that cannot be achieved in a single photograph. In this way, the images reveal the social and economic importance of aviation and invite us to contemplate the scale of the only worldwide transportation network.
His series LA Airspace, Final Approach and Life Cycles incorporate both his love of aviation and architectural photography, and have been featured in major publications worldwide.
Selected features and exhibitions include: SFO Museum – Mike Kelley: Airportraits Auckland Art Gallery: Civilisation, Photography, Now Museum für Gestaltung Zürich: Knowledge in Images – Information Design Today American Institute of Architects Los Angeles Chapter | Solo Exhibition Luerzer’s Archive 200 Best Ad Photographers Worldwide 2016/17 Digital Camera World’s Best Images of 2014 As Seen In: National Geographic Assouline’s ‘The Art of Travel’, Gestalten’s ‘PhotoViz’ Cover Image, Virginia Quarterly Review, Gizmodo, Mashable, Professional Photographer Magazine, Los Angeles Magazine, Fast Company, BBC Future, Engadget, Kottke.org, The Daily Mail, Fuji TV, NBC, Fox News, CNN, The Atlantic, The Huffington Post, The Washington Post, The Denver Post, Lifehacker.
