“While my older brother slept off a late night, I ‘borrowed’ his Nikon SLR and shot my first roll of B&W film. I was about 10 at the time.” With the help of his brother, that roll was developed and printed in a make-shift darkroom in their parent’s basement. The 10-Speed Bike image shown below came from that fateful roll. Complex lighting ... high contrast ... tack sharp ... he was hooked – no more point and shoot cameras for him!

At age 16, money from his first part-time job paid for his own Nikon. “I bought a fully manual camera so that I had to control every shot ... one without an automatic setting to fall back on”. With a driver’s license, some spare cash, and his own camera, Steve finally had the freedom to get creative. The Old Mill self-portrait was the fruit of one such outing. "To get this photo, I had to run around a 10ft deep pit filled with rusty scrap metal, then look relaxed before the timer expired. It became one of my favourite shots".

By his late teens, he was developing and printing his own colour photos, taking over more of the basement in the process. “The pool table was a great place to lay prints out to dry”.

35 years after that “first roll”, Steve has had images published in news papers, technical publications, corporate newsletters, and brochures. He has photographed weddings, concerts, sporting events, and a variety of commercial products including spaceflight hardware for NASA's Space Shuttle fleet and the International Space Station. In 2008 and 2009, Steve's images were finalist out of over 10,000 entries in international photo competitions.

"Many photographers name their businesses after themselves. For me, photography isn't about me, it's about my subjects. The name I chose merely indicates that it's my company, period. I also refuse to offer set packages ... my clients are free to select what they want from the many unique products I offer. This is part of my satisfaction guarantee."

Steve Cain – Principal Photographer, CainCo Photography