Eli Mastaine (legal: Elvis Mastaine, 30) is a humanist photographer, visual designer and former art director from far North-Eastern India, he started photographing for local press/media and events sometime in mid 2016, he is a self-taught darkroom/print practitioner, and an autodidact.

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He grew up in various towns and cities of India and in his young adult years, he took a fascination with stories of passion of common people, alternative-cultures in quiet places and struggles for Individual identity, these compelled him to go out with a camera and make photographs.

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Growing up he had always felt an impending stifle between traditional societal norms and personal values, the unseen pressure to fit into the mainstream dominant culture and it's influence on carefree self-expression.

 

Now an adult, as a form of self-expression, acceptance and defiance; he tries to incorporate aspects of those and everything in between through his personal work.​

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He has a Master of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication with forte in Visual Communication, he has also worked with creative agencies as a creative professional before committing full time to the holistic practice

of photography and printmaking.

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He also enjoys fixing and using ignored and unloved cameras. In order to master the whole photographic chain, he recently began creating his own chemicals. Outside of his homemade darkroom and the idea of practicing photography, he likes slap-stick and dark humour, poetry, meeting people who also share similar passion and he has a personal special interest in alternative & counter-culture.

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For him, photography and visual art irrespective of genre, format or medium is an infinite playground, where everyone can contribute something that can inspire a change, or at-least an action.