During his decades-long career as a photographer and photojournalist, Wiener consistently produced front page pictures and photo essays for the world's most prestigious newspapers and news magazines such as
Life,
Paris-Match,
Fortune,
Time,
The Saturday Evening Post, and
Sports Illustrated.
Wiener formed his own company in 1958. He became noted for his innovative combination of cameras and lenses; setups he designed himself to achieve the images he desired.
When photographing people, Wiener had the keen ability to capture the context of the moment while focusing squarely on the subject, inherently isolating the essential from the non-essential; the emotional state of the subject at the precise moment of the shutter-click expressed. This was the hallmark of his work.
"For this reason, the photographs are not only significant records of celebrities and other important people, at critical moments in history, but more especially, they offer the interested student a glimpse into the human psyche. They tell us something about people and what it means to be alive."—Armand Labbe, Chief Curator, Bowers Museum
On assignment for
Life during the 1960 presidential primaries he would capture iconic images of John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson. He extensively documented Kennedy's bid for the presidency when the senator retained him to record his campaign. Wiener traveled with Kennedy on the campaign trail through the Pacific Northwest.
He later expanded into the world of TV documentaries. The Eddy Award-winning “A Slice of Sunday” was his 1967 production on professional football shot with camera-optical systems of his own design. It would serve as the prototype for many of the sports programs on network television in the years to follow such as The NFL Today. In 1979, the Motion Picture Editors Guild recognized it as one of the three most innovative documentaries in the prior 25 years of broadcasting.
In 1975, Wiener created and produced the Emmy award-winning NBC-TV series “Talk About Pictures.” He co-hosted the program with George Fenneman. The series featured an eclectic cross-section of photographers and photo enthusiasts exploring photographs and photography. Guests included professionals such as Ansel Adams, Alfred Eisenstaedt, Edmund Teske, and Mario Casilli and buffs such as Edgar Bergen, Betty White, Richard Chamberlain, David Cassidy and Bob Crane.
In considering the decisive moment, he said:
In 1987 he was selected by the Vatican to photograph Pope John Paul II's visit to Los Angeles during his trip to the United States.
He produced nine books including "Here Comes Me", "Marilyn: A Hollywood Farewell; The Death and Funeral of Marilyn Monroe", "How Do You Photograph People?", and "Tijuana Sunday".
Wiener's work has been spotlighted in photographic art circles, viewed in solo and group exhibitions in museums and galleries across the U.S. Three of his photographs—of Sandy Koufax, Willie Mays and President John F. Kennedy...were acquired by the National Portrait Gallery in Washington.
He taught classes in photography at UCLA, and held lectures and seminars in the U.S. and abroad.