Fighting Sea Lions

Leighton O’Connor’s strong love of the ocean must come from his Irish heritage. His Great-Grandfather was a fisherman and brought his family from Ireland to live in Salem, Massachusetts. Leighton was born in the neighboring historic seaport of Beverly and lives there now. Beverly is a quaint ocean side town located north of Boston.

Leighton’s photography career started when he picked up a 35mm camera at the age of 14 to photograph a football game for a newspaper. He has been involved in photography ever since. He started his career in sports photography and was added to the Sports Illustrated stringers list at the young age of 17.

Leighton expanded the passion of his craft to include travel photography after spending a month of shooting in Europe at the age of 25. His photo assignments have brought him to Ireland, France, Germany, England, Italy, Austria, Switzerland, Tortola, Grenada, Alaska, Ecuador, the islands of the Galapagos and numerous locations in North America. He has photographed people on remote islands, grizzly bears, glaciers and the flora and fauna of a rainforest 15,000 feet above sea level.