Born in Jaffa, Israel, in 1973, Eli Ashkenazi served in the Israeli military. He is a self-taught photographer who began taking photographs in his childhood after receiving a camera as a gift from his sister. Ashkenazi has been working as a freelance photographer based in New York. His work includes New York, Latin America and Israel. His photographs documenting September 11, 2001 are part of the permanent collections in the New York Historical Society, The Museum of the City of New York and The National September Memorial and Museum.