Leon began his photography journey in 1970 at the age of 12, processing film and making prints in his closet. Portrait photography occupied his career early. He has been published nationally and has sold his work at galleries and art shows since 1994.

Over the decades, Leon has had numerous commercial assignments, and in 2012, designed and published "The Kentucky Bourbon Experience." The book is a visual display of eight of Kentucky's major distilleries and showcases the beautiful countryside of Kentucky. The book won a Gold Addy award for book design that same year. It is currently under revision and will soon be available.

Recently, Leon began the process you see in the images here. He alters the image by removing the background of the environment where he photographed the subject.

"As a portrait photographer at the beginning of my professional career, I photographed in the studio with painted canvas backgrounds of dark, muted colors. Without a distracting background, the individuals and families were the complete focus of the image."

Here, the goal is the same: to eliminate distractions and allow the viewer to concentrate wholly on the animal.