Elisha Stasko

What she teaches ...

Elisha Stasko teaches introductory photography to undergraduate and graduate students, including camera usage, post-production editing, and principles of storytelling and visual communication. Weaving together relevant stories and experiences from history and present-day, Stasko helps students develop a foundation and context for their own vision while fostering curiosity, creativity and confidence. Stasko is most passionate about empowering and equipping students—as photographers and as people—to gain a deeper understanding and respect for their own stories as well as the stories of others.

Bio

Elisha Stasko is an independent photographer and videographer whose passion is to tell stories that inform, empower and bring to light our shared human experience. Partnering with nonprofit and fair-trade organizations, she has traveled to more than a dozen countries over the past decade to discover and document stories that connect us all, with her most notable work focusing on Ghana, Ethiopia, Jordan and Syracuse.

Deeply invested in her local community as well, Stasko especially enjoys working one-on-one with photography students of all ages to help them develop their vision and hands-on skills. To that end, she is a mentor for the academic photo programs at several Syracuse high schools and regularly offers workshops for students and the community as well as courses and workshops at Light Work, a nationally recognized center for photographers.

Stasko’s most recent clients have included Three Roots International, a community and economic development group; From the Earth, an international fair-trade organization that works with farmers and artisans; and Hopeprint, a Syracuse nonprofit focused on helping resettled refugees thrive. Her work also has been published by the state of New York, and International Justice Mission, an NGO focused on human rights and slavery, used still and video work she produced independently in a report about its work with human trafficking in Ghana.

Besides her work, Elisha loves her family, kayaking, exploring all things creative and rocking her role as aunt to her 10 incredible nieces and nephews.