About — Leon Neal

When I was around 13 years old, my dad bought me a secondhand Zenit SLR camera, and I took great pleasure in pretending I was a proper photographer. Very little has changed in the following years.

I spent about a decade playing drums in various bands, even managing to get on the bill at the Glastonbury festival with Sheffield-based group Elfin. When I say on the bill, you'd need the special Enormo-Version of the poster that not only listed every single act playing on every stage, but also supplied a magnifying glass.

Post-percussion, I looked at what else I enjoyed and returned to photography. Having completed a basic NCTJ Foundation Course during my A Levels, I returned to the college eight years later to take the NCTJ's Pre-Entry course under Paul Delmar. Towards the end of the course, we were all encouraged to enter "The Times/Tabasco Young Photographer of the Year" competition and with the help of a powerful portrait idea, I managed to win.

Leaping straight from college to The Times newspaper, I honed my skills while working around some of the best photographers in the country. With the results being seen in an internationally-respected newspaper, it's a hell of a way to learn quickly. After my prize of six months at The Times under the nurturing wonders of Picture Editor Paul Sanders, I managed to stay on for nearly two years before looking for work with the news agencies, securing a staff position at the world's oldest global news agency, Agence France-Presse.

After nearly ten years with AFP, I joined the Getty Images editorial news team, based in London in September, 2016.

I’m currently a brand ambassador for Nikon photographic equipment, and 3 Legged Thing support systems.

The views and opinions expressed on this site are strictly those of the author. The contents of this page have not been reviewed or approved by Agence France-Presse (AFP) or Getty Images.