Eli Hartman Email & Phone Number

Eli Hartman is a West Texas photojournalist and storyteller currently based between Austin and the Permian Basin. He began his career in 2020 at The Odessa American, where he covered his hometown and learned the importance of local journalism. In late 2022, driven by his passion for visual arts, he relocated to Central Texas to pursue a bachelor's degree in Fine Arts, at Texas State University.In 2023, Eli was selected as a Poynter-Koch Media and Journalism Fellow and joined The Texas Tribune as a Photo Assignment Editor and Enterprise Photographer. There, he has edited photo stories alongside the Tribune’s expansive freelance roster and developed multiple enterprise projects. He also spearheaded a project on news deserts that led the Tribune to host a listening session with West Texas communities on the importance of news and media literacy.Eli’s photography has focused on life inside the Permian Basin’s oil and gas industry, the environmental impact of Texas’ growing energy sector and the effects of water insecurity on rural Texans and regional economies. He has also developed multiple personal projects such as I Dream of Caliche, a reflective photo essay that catalogs family life using personal oil and gas archives, and In the Arms of My Desert, a photographic collection of oddities across Far West Texas that explores the undertones of religion in the region’s heritage.His work has been published in the New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, The Washington Post, Bloomberg, VICE News, The Texas Tribune, Texas Monthly, WIRED and more.