PicsArt Monthly May Issue 2014 | Page 73

Interview Aaron Ruell’s Perfect Suburban Vignettes Though to the broader world Aaron Ruell is famous for his role as Kip in Napoleon Dynamite, in the world of Photography he has been established for quite some time. You are probably aware of his work and don’t even know it, as he is the man behind those outrageous Old Spice ads with retired NFL star Ray Lewis of the Baltimore Ravens, as well as ads for T-Mobile, Nintendo, Coke, and Burger King. Beyond his commercial work, his personal photography is his best, and has been exhibited around the world. Aaron has gained acclaim for the neat candy colored vignettes that have become the staples of his work. His photos have a sense of hyperorganization and proprietary, often framing the unassuming shrug of small town America. He works off of sets that he constructs, and his staged scenes has a sense of detail and perfection that is something to see. His work is awesome and original, and so we had to ask him to do an interview with us. How did you grow to love the medium of photography and start doing it professionally? I started taking photos when I was a teenager. There was a photography class at my high school and I had a really good photo teacher who helped me boost my confidence with shooting. I didn’t have any particular style at that time it was a lot of simple compositions but more rural settings (I grew up outside of town in the countryside).I started to get paid for my photography after I had put together a book of my work. I travelled to Europe for a few weeks and shot some things there that helped round out my body of images, and got a rep around that time. 73|PicsArt Monthly