Digital Leaf Photographics

“Steve has a knack for understanding his subject, and then capturing that understanding in his photographs. That's a rare talent."

Mark Johnson

Strut Productions

"From photography to digital art, Steve's work supersedes any and all of my expectations. He has impeccable eye for detail and a constant pursuit of perfection in all his creations. I wouldn’t want anyone else creating my artwork and photographic materials."

Elaine Huras

EDH Productions, Toronto

"Steve is the only photographer I know whose superior professional and photographic skills are only matched by his personable skills. In the photography industry, that's an almost impossible find."

Leonard J. Provenzano

Photographer

"In the last 27 years it's unimaginable how many photographers we've worked with. Too many to count.

But the past few years we've been working with Steve Gardner and the level of quality and style has jumped up to a whole new level.

Steve combines the best equipment for the best outcome of our performances and not only makes us look good, but makes us look good doing what we do.

Always perceiving more than just the shot, he brings out nuances rarely seen in this business.

If you're lucky enough to work with him, you can be sure that when his ball cap is on backwards and his face is behind the lens, you'll be thrilled with the results."

Mark Benson

1964 The Tribute

"There are two people in every photograph: The viewer and the photographer." Ansel Adams

"Every other artist begins with a blank canvas,

a piece of paper, the photographer begins with the finished product." Edward Steichen

Being the grandson of a commercial artist and photographer I got my start in photography at quite a young age. Some of my earliest recollections are of me sitting the darkroom with my grandfather, watching my grandfather's glowing watch dial moving around the room as he performed the many tasks of developing pictures. To this day I have that watch, which is very dear to me.

Being raised by grandparents afforded me many advantages that other kids my age did not have, like having 24hr access to a full photo studio and darkroom.

My first camera was a Fujica Auto-M Rangefinder, and in classic Grandpa style I had to learn ALL my picture taking MANUALLY. To top it off, I had to develop and print all of my own work too.

Whenever I see that old camera I am always reminded of a story that happened to me in Elementary School:

You see, my bus "route" number was 7, but the bus would always have a different number on it, as it was only the route number, the physical bus number was something like 23. Nevertheless, there was a another bus that had the physical number #7 also, which contained a few real rowdy kids on it.

I remember several instances where the Principal would get on our bus and tell us that there have been lots of complaints of bus 7 being a problem to drivers on the road and other pedestrians.

We (the kids on the bus) would relentlessly tell the Principal and other teachers that is was not our bus. We brought up the point to the Principal, as to "how could a bystander know it was route 7 when our bus number was 23", but it fell upon dense cement head ears.

One day, when we were on the bus being driven home from school, we happened to be behind the actual bus 7. You would never guess what we saw. Kids throwing bottles out of the bus at people walking the streets, and yelling obscenities at them. Additionally, we saw kids sticking out of half opened windows making obscene gestures to other drivers on the road.

Needless to say, we were not shocked, but now we had a lot of proof.

The next day I set out with my Fujica Auto-M Rangefinder camera to capture pictures of the event and PROVE to the cement head Principal that it was not us.

On the ride home that day, we managed to get behind bus #7 and lo and behold they were at it again. So I snapped 5-10 pictures of one of the kids giving obscene gestures to other cars. In fact, he was pretty much hanging out to his waist while doing it, and it was totally undeniable who it was too.

So the minute the bus dropped me off, I ran home to develop my "evidence". There were good clean shots, crystal clear and obvious, also clearly showing bus #7 on the bus. I enlarged it, printed it, and brought it to the cement head Principal who was totally stunned! I remember him remarking that he could not believe the quality of the shot, let alone the speed at which I was able to get it done.

Somebody got in big trouble that week, and it was not us! The Principal apologized and told me that the father of kid sticking out the window defended his kid like crazy, until the photo was shown. After that, he just shut up. I am sure his son got in a lot of trouble, because bus #7 was never a problem after that.

And with that, so started my career as a photographer.