Stephen Harrison began studies in photography in 1967 in the Department of Fine Arts at Purdue University where he was an Engineering student. He later continued in Photographic Fine Art at the University of Illinois in 1971. He worked in silver gelatin until 1996 when he changed to platinum. In 1996 through 2000 he traveled alone to India with 500 pounds of photo gear, and in 2000 he completed his book: “Whispered Prayers: Portraits and Prose of Tibetans in Exile” He created and printed a 48-print platinum exhibition along with  a companion 22-minute film. The film received several awards. The exhibition opened in New York and San Francisco. He was one of three founding members of The Multicultural Education Center, a free school for young exile refugees, in Dharmasala, Harrison sponsored / mentored ten young Tibetan adults. Ten years later, all are thriving and several are successful far beyond all reasonable expectations. One, for example, has gone on to establish and construct an entire two-story hospital in Tibet that serves a farming community of 3,000 people.

Photography continues to be Harrison’s consuming passion. Harrison began work on Visualizing Earth in 2004, and that project continues to be his primary focus. Visualizing Earth is a Blue Earth sponsored project.

 In 2007, Harrison created sixty images based on the story “ Island of the Blue Dolphin” The prominent Peter Madlem was the composer,  and both were commissioned by the Santa Barbara Symphony to produce the work.  The 23-minute film was projected above the symphony in four live symphonic performances.

In 2007, Harrison proposed and organized the keynote event for PhotoExpoPlus at the Javits in New York City and several of his photographs were featured