Ned Leary is having a huge Summer Sale, signing event and bringing in a ton of new merchandise, August 29th – 31st!! He will be here if you want to have a piece signed or just meet the artist on Thursday and Friday from 4-6 and Saturday from 3-5.
From a corporate business man to retired, from a hobby to his own business, Ned Leary is a self-taught photographer. His work is displayed in the Catch Restaurant on Market and in South Beach Grill on Wrightsville Beach. He retired from the corporate world in 2004 and photography became his niche. No matter how many bad photos he shot, he kept shooting. Perseverance is a requirement in any discipline, but he loves photography and is always motivated and enthusiastic to shoot more.
Ned gives credit to Google for providing him knowledge in a lot of aspects of photography. His advice to everyone is that if there is something you want to do in your life, just do it and never look back. No job is a simple photo or recording, but he insists “on the unexpected or the perspective never captured before.”
Ned offers high impact local landscape photography, portraits, private home shoots and wildlife photography as well. His shoots start with hundreds of frames that are individually edited and optimized before the client receives them. Leary will sometimes even combine his landscapes and portraits, demonstrating members of the family doing water sports, etc.
He does portrait photos, which are “a beast of their own” and more of a “performance art” to Ned. With babies crying and fathers not wanting to be there, making sure every hand is in the right place, Ned tries to minimize distractions as much as possible and embraces the torment. Landscape photography is speculative, meaning he picks the ones he likes, prints them and hopes other people like them as well. Portraits are the opposite, clients are very specific in what they want, but usually pay on the spot.
The irony of working in the field of photography is that one day you can go out on a seemingly good day, shoot hundreds and end up with nothing really useable. On the other hand, you may be walking down the street, see a reflection in the puddle on the street, take a few shots of it and end up with a masterpiece.
This was the case with the Robert’s Reflection piece and the Lone Pelican photos were taken on a seemingly boring day as well.
Ned compares landscape photography to fishing: waiting and moving around for the perfect angle and moment to take the shot, never knowing if it is good or not until you make it home to look at them. Even when it seems like a normal, boring day, something amazing will happen and hopefully you are ready to photograph it.
If you ask Ned, 90% of the work is just being there and paying attention. According to Ned, the type of camera you use is the least important factor in photography, it is simply the vessel. You have to look, the light changes all the time and to “have a good eye” you have to work at it. It helps to have a loyal companion to take on these photo “fishing trips,” like his dog Bella who loves being included.
“It is all about perspective, I’m always trying to be either up higher or down lower.” “Most of the time I will bring a 12 foot ladder on the set with me, but when photographing small children you have to get on your knees. ” When possible, it is good to have permission to be where you are taking photos like if you plan to be on the roof, etc.
You must be willing to go the extra mile, to areas that you may not be authorized and areas that may be dangerous. You may have to buy an orange vest and stand on the Cape Fear Memorial Bridge with 18-wheelers speeding past you at about 60 mph, with no emergency pullover lane.
You must do everything you can in order to get the perfect shot, which could be something as simple as throwing up saltines to get the seagulls in the right light. You may have to stand in river water knee deep in liquor bottles, in fear of alligators and snakes for an hour or two. You may have to go back to Lowes and buy a weed whacker to get the electrical tower in Scott’s Hill for the best view or rent a room at the Blockade Runner to shoot the flotilla.
According to Leary, “the pros to working for yourself is that you do not have ‘The Man’ looking over your shoulder, putting pressure on you all the time. The security and pay of a corporate job was nice, but working for yourself is a completely different story. I retired from the corporate world and never looked back.” It is all on you so self-motivation is key, but Ned doesn’t seem to have an issue with enthusiasm.
He turned his hobby into a business and loves every minute of it. It is his own business, he is the boss and that makes it even more special. Even though Ned is happy to be out of the corporate world, he admits that his corporate career is what pays for him to keep up his hobby. He has optimized the trial and error method to his advantage and even though his weekends have seemed to disappear, he loves the chase.