Dustin Ellison

Photographer & Graphic Designer

Originally my background is in graphic design. After majoring in it in college, I worked for many years within the design industry from larger corporate structures to smaller more personalized graphic design firms. I’ve always felt inspired while being able to create and work with other creative individuals. My graphic design experience gave me a strong foundation to be able to branch out and try photography as another creative outlet.

I arrived in India for the first time in 2006, carrying a borrowed 3mp Sony point-and-shoot camera from my then-girlfriend. The images I returned with sparked my passion for photography. 

A year later, I packed all my belongings in San Diego and moved to South India, this time with a camera of my own! I spent the next three years traveling the length and breadth of Karnataka and the Konkan coast, discovering places, people and moments, and capturing their essence through my lens.

With this new exciting way of seeing the world, I eventually headed back West—but instead of going home, I continued my travels abroad and landed in Mexico. By this time, it was evident that photography had evolved into more than just a hobby. I was holding photo exhibitions and my images were getting published in the pages of newspapers and magazines, reaching way more people than I had ever imagined. 

Once I returned back to the US I embarked on the path to a career as a professional property photographer, through trusted connections of family and friends. During the next five years, I honed my craft and was able to establish many connections within the industry. Yet, overtime I began to feel the pull back to where it all began: travel photography. To this day, it’s what inspires me the most—the chance to interact with people, finding beauty in everyday life, and sharing it in its truest form. 

Since 2022, I am back once again in India, now living at an ashram in the sacred town of Vrindavan in Uttar Pradesh, with a spiritual community of close friends. Our goal is to become self-sustainable through regenerative farming, growing food forests, living harmoniously with our cows, maintaining a daily spiritual practice, and sharing this path with others who seek it. 

For every client I have the opportunity to work with, I find it most important to deliver fresh, contemporary, and quality imagery and design that they are proud to show off. The process of working personally with each collaborator, understanding their needs, and developing their vision to fruition brings me so much fulfillment by seeing them. And for this very reason, I continue to pursue photography and design so I can bring more beauty into the world by helping other people.

With gratitude,
Dustin