[3] sd His first job after graduation in 1979 was as a cameraman on the Logie Award-winning Australian magazine-style afternoon TV show Simon Townsend's Wonder World.

After two years of working on the show, Lesnie moved on to numerous Australian film and television productions, including the mini-series Bodyline.

[3] Lesnie would then go on to develop his craft as he photographed films such as Stations (1983), The Delinquents (1989), Temptation of the Monk (1993), and Spider and Rose (1994).

[5] Lesnie planned far ahead into the production with Peter Jackson with previsualisation programs to help establish frame sizes and angles, as well as construction of sets.

[8] For production, Lesnie used Red Digital Cinema's Epic cameras as well as Carl Zeiss Ultra Prime Lenses to photograph the film.

[10][11] Lesnie's final film, The Water Diviner, directed by and starring Russell Crowe, was released in Australia in December 2014 and in America in April 2015, one week before his death.