To say Steve moved around a lot would be an understatement. His dad worked for ARAMCO, the Arabian American Oil Company, organizing housing for the drillers. He spent his childhood bouncing around the planet and landing in places like Pennsylvania, Nigeria, Virginia, Indonesia, and Saudi Arabia. If you get him started, he’ll spout a never ending series of stories like: “There was a banana tree in our back yard. We would eat breakfast on the screened porch and monkeys would run across the back yard to snatch bananas and then haul tail back to the jungle.” At age 13, the family was living half-way around the world. But Steve’s parents wanted him to have a good education. So they sent him to Valley Forge, PA to attend military school. Looking back, Steve didn’t love the experience. But at least he learned to be an expert at playing good practical jokes on his classmates while he was there! Near the end of high-school, he transferred to a more liberal co-ed boarding school, which suited him well, and helped prepare him for college. By this point, Steve had fallen in love with photography. His parents were now working in Saudi Arabia. So he spent every summer there, off on wild adventures, riding bikes, taking pictures, and getting his hands dirty on projects like building a dune buggy out of a Volkswagen Bug. While studying photography at Coker College, one of his professors had taken notice of Steve’s talent. After graduating with his degree in Photographic Technology, Steve purchased Ashcraft Studio from professor Ashcraft, and the rest is history! Steve has successfully operated the studio ever since. At over 65 years old, Ashcraft Studio is one of the oldest continuously operating businesses in Hartsville. Yet in spite of finally putting down roots in this quiet South Carolina town, and marrying his sweetheart, Kim…Steve retains the same sense of adventure and mischief that he has had since he was a child hiking in the jungles of Indonesia.