After studying at MIT and Harvard Graduate School of Design, Blain moved to New York and established himself as a commercial photographer.  He moved to California in 1996 where he has been the Director of Photography on feature films (including American Kickboxer 2, Double Deception, Shadow Fury, and Shades of Gray), commercials, music videos and documentaries.  He wrote the books Motion Picture and Video Lighting and Cinematography: Imagemaking for Cinematographers, Directors and Videographers (both used as textbooks in several film schools).  Blain has written and directed two low-budget features and several commercials and music videos, and has three produced screenplays.