The son of a newspaper reporter, Leigh Wiener grew up in New York City. A close family friend, news photographer Arthur Felig – better known as Weege – was influential in his education by teaching the young man how to capture the essence of a scene. Wiener proved his innate talent by making his first commercial sale to Collier’s magazine at the age of 14.

He moved to Los Angeles in 1946, finding work as a library clerk for the Los Angeles Times. He ultimately became a staff photographer and enjoyed his first great success with a symbolic 1949 photograph – the empty swing of a young girl who had fallen into a well and died – that was used by newspapers across the country.

Wiener was also a successful freelance photographer for virtually all of the leading illustrated periodicals of the day, including Life, Fortune, and Sports Illustrated. With George Fenneman, he co-hosted "Talk About Pictures," an award-winning teleision show about photography that included interviews with many leading masters. He extensively documented the American industrial landscape and photographed every president from Truman to Reagan. His work is included in several photography books, and is represented in the collections of several museums, including The National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C. He died in Los Angeles.