Craig Payne was born in Cleveland, Ohio. He attended Reed College in Portland, Oregon, where he earned a degree in Physics.

Craig Payne photographs the modern landscape in which we are forced to live, exposing images often so common they are overlooked. He pays attention to details of the physical world that many ignore - the way sodium vapor light dances on snow, a homeless man's outdoor bedroom, or the fiery glow of the factory where his grandfather worked with pride. Craig Payne feels he is doing his job as a photographer, when he reminds people to slow down and pay attention to the subtle beauty that surrounds us.