Steve is a skilled problem-solver who never lets ego get in the way of a successful shoot. He always keeps his client’s success as his top priority, understanding that his role is to help them expand their brand and make money. No matter the conditions, whether it’s scorching hot, freezing cold, or pouring rain, Steve remains focused on the job at hand, only thinking about comfort once the shoot is over.

“I really enjoy digging into the details of a visual problem or an unexpected situation. Solving it is the best part—but the journey to the solution is a lot of fun too!”

Steve’s talent has been recognized with the ASMP ‘Best of’ award. The ASMP is a prestigious international guild of professional photographers, boasting over 7,000 members.

He also brings a working knowledge of both French and Italian to the table, making him an asset in multilingual or international settings.

Major client list for stills and/or motion:
UPS, Invesco, American Express, General Motors, Valvoline, Hallmark, Citizens, Hyatt, Trane and Ferguson.

He travels 175 days a year on average. Steve has been in all but 2 of the 50 states plus 18 countries from North America to the Caribbean, to Europe to Asia and the Middle East.

He works efficiently, always seeking fresh perspectives and varied angles to capture each scene—helping clients rapidly build a diverse image library. A true explorer of light, he creatively harnesses it to elevate every shot. Alongside a talented crew, he fosters a fun, energetic atmosphere on set, making projects enjoyable for everyone involved. (See below) Yet, the team never loses sight of their mission: to solve problems and deliver outstanding imagery that meets the client’s needs.

We Solve Problems

This was one of the "Less than Fun" days. Bitter cold, high humidity and, except for the horses, everyone was just miserable. BUT!!! We got great imagery & footage!

Below, Oberstdorf, the southernmost point in Germany in a light rain.

Problem Solving

Steve says, “In a previous life, I worked as an electrician, welder, fabricator, I can run machine tools but I do not say that I am a machinist, mechanic, and electronic technician. So, being around electricity and machinery feels second nature to me, in fact, I genuinely enjoy it! I can usually recognize what I’m looking at, and my hands-on experience means I’m often able to troubleshoot and fix equipment right on set.”

He goes on to tell a story about being on location in a warehouse that just did not have enough electrical outlets and how the strobes kept tripping the circuit breakers.

This is the rest of story from Steve: "I saw the main electrical distribution panel in the warehouse, and always with tools, I pulled off the distribution panel (Circuit breaker panel) cover. About now my client is deeply concerned, I noted it was a Square D panel, I pulled out one of the circuit breakers so I could confirm the type it was, wrote up a short list of electrical parts: 1 each 4x4x2 handy box, 1 each 3/4 x close pipe nipple, 4 ea 3/4" lock washers, 2 duplex outlets, 2 Sq. D 20 amp circuit breakers, a double duplex handy box cover, 4' 12 gauge solid wire, green, THHN. Plus 9' of 12 gauge wire in white and 9' black, also THHN."

Then he sent his lead assistant to the closest Home Depot and when he returned Steve punched out a pre-stamped "knockout" on the distribution panel, installed the pipe nipple with the locking nuts, the handy box, the wire, the breakers, both duplex outlets and the cover plate. This solved the electrical problem.

More Problem Solving

Steve was on a project in Mexico and the Art Direction Team decided they wanted a fire on the beach. So his crew found some driftwood and a newspaper but the wood was wet. Steve asked the crew to cut the wood as it was too long then grabbed his tool bag, found an empty Coke bottle and had one of his assistants sit in the VW bug he had rented.

Having another assistant hold a flashlight, Steve removed the gas line running to the carburetor and poked the open end of the gas line into the Coke bottle. He then asked the assistant to make sure the car was in neutral and had his foot on the brake. Then Steve asked him to crank the car, which made the mechanical fuel pump work. When the bottle was getting close to full he said, "turn off the engine". He put the gas line back on, tightened the clamp and headed to the beach where he then had a blaze going in about 2 minutes.

One More Problem Solved

This project was shot in middle Georgia in mid February. The first items Steve ordered? Chemical hand warmers and toe warmers and had them shipped overnight. These were for the clients & crew as 80% of the job was going to be shot outside (Ad clients frequently wait until the last moment to approve a job, then they want to shoot the next day!) As another photographer said to Steve, "It is not rush... it's advertising".

This shot was to help our client tell their clients that they are there for them, even after hours. Around mid-day we met with the operator of a small municipal water company, asked them if we could: Shoot here, could they ask the police to block the road, could they have a police car with the blue lights going and 2 police officers directing traffic? The answer was yes to all of this.

Originally Steve was going to shoot this with strobe but, within minutes after we started to set up, it started to rain. Rain and high voltage strobe packs do not mix and it's exceedingly dangerous. Another problem was time, Steve wanted the sky to still have light to add depth. This "Magic" time of day only lasts a very few minutes... like 8-10 minutes.

Rapidly running out of time and thinking quickly, Steve pulled his Explorer with its headlights on the back of the blue truck and had the 2 clients pull their car's headlights to hit the left side of the blue truck and Steve asked his assistant to aim his car's headlights to hit the white pickup truck. It worked. In the words of our client "Cinematic Lighting with car headlights."

He would be delighted to answer any questions you may have and there are no strings attached, just answers and suggestions. When working he is focused and funny, when not working he is funny. So if you have problems, ask Steve if he can help.

Steve at Phoenix Airport

Steve at Phoenix Airport

Here he is petting a 2300 lb. (1045 Kilogram) Bull Buffalo, DO NOT try this! It can be fatal. For a sense of scale Steve is 6'6" (2 meters) tall.

Here Steve is giving instructions to the stagecoach driver where to go for the next series of shots.

Steve has been shooting Motion for almost as long as he has been a still photographer, starting with Super 8mm film, then to 35mm film to SD Video and now HD video. This is Steve shooting with his Arriflex 2C, a 35mm film motion picture camera.

All images and this entire website is © Steve Thornton