By Donna Wilson
John O’Leary first walked into a photography dark room as a student at Purdue University. He learned how to develop film and make prints. “I got so excited. It is just so fun when you first learn photography,” John says. During his college years, John earned a press pass by being a part of the newspaper staff. This gave him access to almost everything – permitting him to meet astronauts, Simon and Garfunkle, and many people coming through his university’s area.
John graduated from Purdue with a degree in engineering. After that, he had to make a choice of going with photography or staying in engineering. Needing a paycheck, John stuck with the less risky choice of engineering. He continued to photograph on the side while being an engineer and teacher. Photography has always been a part of his life.
In 1978, John moved from Rochester, New York to Tokyo. He taught science in Japan, but was also very involved by taking photographs for the yearbook, dances, and other school events. In 2010, he moved to Olympia and started teaching physics at Olympia High School.
At Olympia High School, John snaps portraits and candids for sports teams. John enjoys taking candids of the OHS students at Homecoming dances and proms and shares the images via his Facebook page. After John left Olympia High School, he accepted a physics position at Saint Martin’s University and retired from there in May 2015. He enjoyed shooting sports teams while at Saint Martin’s as well as local high school sports.
Currently, John focuses his photography on our community. During the summer, he captures senior portraits and also aims his lens at families during weddings, parties, and other events. While some photographers book hundreds of seniors and family portrait sessions in the summer, John limits his bookings to only a few dozen. He feels this gives each senior and family a unique set of images, keeping them fresh and creative.
Photo credit: Photos by John O’Leary.
John tries to help out the community by volunteering to take photos for charity events, concerts, sports events, and other community events. When talking about Westwood Baptist Church’s Summer Hummer, John says “It’s fun to capture the smiles of the people that are engaged in activities around the South Sound and share them with the community.”
“I just love doing portraits,” John states. “Portraits are hard because the lighting here is different. Every time you take pictures the situation changes. Part of the unique challenge of photography is the lighting, background, and mood. And you want them to look great. I really want people to be proud of the picture whether it’s a portrait, family reunion, wedding, engagement, or a new baby. Each one has got a unique challenge to it. You are always thinking, how can I make this really good so that they’ll be happy with it?”
John focuses his sports photography on high school athletics for Olympia High School, Capital High School and Tumwater High School.
John is passionate about his work and it shows through his pictures. He really likes that photography puts him in contact with people and their energy, especially in the case of high school students. “It puts me into the community. If you don’t have something where you’re interfacing with different people that live around you, you’re kind of isolated. To me it would be really boring,” John says about photography.
“Your memories fade very quickly, but a good photograph can take you back and you remember the situation,” he continues. “It just brings up all those good things about what happened and that’s what I like. “
For portraits, he is always looking for new locations so that people get a unique look. He focuses on using the setting to bring out the beauty of people with lighting and poses. “I’m trying to bring out the best parts of people,” John explains.
Friendly and professional at the same time, John really enjoys meeting a variety of unique people. He enjoys talking with them when he is not taking pictures. “I try to give people a really quality product at a very reasonable price,” John says about his photos. He provides a DVD of pictures so that you can make all the prints you want and share the pictures online.
To learn more about John O’Leary’s professional photography business, visit his website.
John’s photos make up most of the banner photos on the Olympia High School homepage. He shares many photos on his Facebook page, as well as his professional website.
