
Leon Neal
Ambassador•Photojournalism

From an early age, Leon was encouraged by his parents to experiment with photography, who hosted a family ‘competition’ for them to enter each year. As part of this, Leon regularly visited the same spot, looking for different angles to take stand-out shots to impress his family. Clearly seeing his interest in the field, his father bought him his first SLR camera – a gift that went on to shape his career.
Photojournalism is such an extraordinary job, in that you become trusted to be the eyes of the reader.
Nikon has been with me for the majority of my career, with my first Nikon camera being the D1, which I bought alongside a NIKKOR zoom lens. I have a clear memory of collecting it back in 2001 and marvelling at the ability to instantly preview an image on the screen – back then it was a total game-changer. That’s what has always inspired me with Nikon, their ability to disrupt the industry and continuously innovate. I now mainly work with my mirrorless cameras including the Z 9 and the Z 8.