Life & Work with Eli Stack of Lee’s Summit

Today we’d like to introduce you to Eli Stack.

Hi Eli, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
I received a Minolta film SLR camera for a birthday one year. I had no prior experience with photography and mainly used it for family snaps and travel photos. When digital SLRs started becoming more mainstream and were within my budget, I purchased a Minolta 5D, as that was compatible with the two lenses I owned. Having the instant feedback of a digital camera allowed me to experiment and helped me learn what to do (and what not to do) more quickly. I started getting into landscape and cityscapes when I traveled to new cities. In 2008, I decided to upgrade my gear in preparation for a trip to New Zealand and to my native Australia. As with any good tool, it’s worth it to buy quality gear, a lot of which I still own today.

I joined some local Meetup groups around 2013, where I met other photographers who were also learning as we went along and some who had been semi-professional or professional for years. At one event, I was able to work with Pat Paulsen, who had a studio in Kansas City. He taught me a lot in learning about studio lighting and helped me organize my first studio fashion shoot.

Stepping completely out of my comfort zone in 2014, I applied to be a photographer at Kansas City Fashion Week. I shot two shows that season and learned so much on the fly and from the other photographers. I was an official photographer for KCFW from 2014 to 2019. I joined the planning team as the Photography Coordinator in 2019, although I still photograph almost every show and several promotional and magazine shoots.

In 2020, I was privileged to be able to photograph the Flying Solo shows during New York Fashion Week for Georgina Jewelry. I was able to network with many other designers with from Pakistan, UK, Australia, and multiple US-based designers. It was an amazing experience, with multiple photoshoots, photographing two NYFW shows, and attending two shows with the Georgina Jewelry team.

Since early 2020, I haven’t been able to do as much photography. I was still able to photograph the KCFW virtual shows and participated in Kansas City Fashion Week Adventures’ trip out to the salt flats in Utah this summer.

Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I think the biggest hurdle for me was breaking out of my introverted tendencies. Getting up hours before dawn to hike alone to the right spot for the best light in a given locale is vastly different from the hustle of fashion shows and shoots. Photographing my first KCFW was a great experience that really helped me begin networking with local photographers, designers, stylists, and models.

My main profession is in product design and development, and while it requires creativity at times, photography really pushed me to think more artistically.

Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I used to primarily shoot landscape and cityscapes. I have had several of my shots published in the Kansas City and Missouri visitor guides, and I had my first cover shot published in the 2015 VisitKC guide. Most people would now know me for fashion photography, either through Kansas City Fashion Week, Kansas City Fashion Council, or other shows I have shot in the past and designer shoots I have done.

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
I really enjoy seeing my work published, whether in traditional print such as magazines or model portfolios or digitally on designer’s websites and model agency sites. I appreciate when the entire creative team involved in a shoot can work together to get the look they are after.

Contact Info:

• Email: [email protected]
• Website: elistack.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/elistackphoto/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elistackphoto

Image Credits
Headshot by Jason Atherton