Rolfe Horn was born in Walnut Creek, California in 1971. His fascination with photography began as a child when he used his father’s camera to capture memories of hikes around the trails of the East Bay and Lake Tahoe. His passion for photography blossomed in high school, when he enrolled in his first photography class. Within a couple of months, he constructed a darkroom in his father’s workshop, where he spent much of his free time. This passion earned him several first place awards for images of Yosemite Valley and the Mt. Diablo area. His High School graduation honors include Awards for Excellence in photography.

Rolfe received his Associate of Arts degree from Diablo Valley College in 1993. During his years as a student, he worked as an assistant to Don Corning, a commercial photographer, where he learned a great deal about the zone system, as well as printing techniques.

Rolfe studied landscape photography with Mark Citret, an associate of Ansel Adams, prior to entering Brooks Institute of Photograph, in Santa Barbara, California, in 1993. While a student at Brooks Institute, he studied with Nick Dekker, who introduced him to alternative processes and pushed him to create powerful images. He received multiple awards for his black and white photographs of the California landscape and recognition for pioneering interactive digital photography. When Rolfe received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Brooks Institute in the fall of 1996, he was named as the most outstanding graduate of his class and presented with a plaque in recognition of his accumulated achievements in landscape and digital photography.

After graduation, Rolfe assisted renowned photographer, Michael Kenna, from 1998 to 2002. During that time, Rolfe continued to make photographs and seek out new gallery representation. By the time Rolfe "retired" from assisting, he had the groundwork laid for his emerging career.

Rolfe photographs have been highlighted in various books, classical music albums, and magazine articles over the past few years. His photos have been shown in numerous exhibitions since 1989 and is held in many private and public collections such as the Santa Barbara Museum of Art as well as the Houston Museum of Art.